Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Tisane Description:
A warm holiday spice blend of rooibos, coconut, nuts and warm spices. This dessert in a cup is one of our favourites.
Learn more about Spire Tea on their website.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t usually get excited to try a rooibos blend, but, I’ve got to tell you that when I opened the pouch of this Spiced Rooibos Blend from Spire Tea (also known as Mowbray Ridge Rooibos Blend), I got a little excited about it. It smells so good – so deliciously warm and nutty, spicy with just a hint of coconut goodness in there too. My mouth started watering when I smelled the dry leaf! That’s how good it smells!
The brewed tisane smells really delicious too. It smells like warm spices and toasted nuts … it smells like the holidays!
My first sip, my initial reaction is: this tastes like something called a Sin Dawg. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have a bread company called Dave’s Killer Bread Company. Imagine the love child of a cinnamon roll and a delicious, whole grain bread that is loaded with seeds and nuts. That’s a Sin Dawg. They are so good that there simply are not words adequate enough to explain how unbelievably delicious they are. It takes a great deal of willpower not to buy one every time I’m at the grocery store!
And that’s what I tasted with my first sip of this tea. I tasted the sweet, nutty flavor, the cinnamon, and … the coconut … isn’t really screaming out “coconut” … it’s more like a sweet, creamy flavor that goes together so well with the rest of the Sin Dawg … err… tisane. At least, the coconut wasn’t screaming out coconut in those first two or three sips. Now that I’m about one third of the way through the cup, I’m noticing more coconut flavor. It’s still not a strong, dominate flavor of the cup, but, it’s more distinguished than it was at the start.
The rooibos is also distinguishable here, usually that’s something I consider a bad thing as I usually prefer the flavors to overwhelm the rooibos taste … but the nutty, sweet flavor of the rooibos really works well with these flavors. It just ties in really well.
This is just a really well conceived cup of rooibos! I really like this one a lot!
Bilberry Chamomile Bliss from The Whistling Kettle
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: The Whistling Kettle
Tisane Description:
Our Dr. Oz inspired bilberry blend helps stem dinner cravings and relax the body. Wild bilberry balances blood sugar, resulting in reduced sweet craving. Organic chamomile and lavender soothes and relaxes. Rose hip gives this tea a vitamin C boost.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Huzzah! I am so thrilled that there is NO hibiscus in this Bilberry Chamomile Bliss herbal tisane from The Whistling Kettle! All too often with a tisane such as this one, tea companies feel the need to add hibiscus to it. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not fond of hibiscus and it’s tartness or its tendency to create a thick, syrupy liquid when infused.
But that isn’t a worry with this blend, because there is NO hibiscus!
And this is actually quite enjoyable. It has a sweet, floral taste, and because there is no hibiscus, I can really taste that lovely apple-like note of the chamomile. I taste a gentle lavender note – and I do wish there was just a tad more lavender to this. Then again, I love lavender. But for those of you who are less fond of lavender than I, I think you’ll find that the amount of lavender here is on the light side.
The bilberry adds a delightful berry note that imparts that berry tart tingle in the aftertaste. The rose adds a really pleasant touch too – not too strong – just enough to add contrast to the floral notes of this cup. The tisane does not taste overly berry, nor does it taste overly chamomile, lavender or rose. It has a really nice balance of all the different flavors here.
I don’t taste much from the peppercorns. When I slurp the cup, allowing the liquid to be experienced throughout the palate, I notice hints of a peppery flavor … especially toward the finish. In the aftertaste, I notice a whisper of a peppery tingle on the tip of my tongue, but the peppery taste overall is really very subtle, so, if you’re one who tends to shy away from peppercorns in your teas and/or tisanes, you needn’t really worry much about their inclusion in this blend.
This is a really pleasant cup of tea. One that’s nice close to bedtime … it does help me relax as I sip it … be sure to deeply inhale the fragrance before you sip and enjoy the relaxing qualities of the aromatic lavender and chamomile, this enhances that sense of calm.
Love Affair Rooibos Blend from Defthlesen & Balk
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Amoda Teas
Tisane Description:
Maybe it’s the unusual addition of rhubarb, maybe it’s the cute little candy hearts… but there is something making this a chocolate and strawberries blend like no other. It’s creamy, chocolate-y, fruity and honeyed without being overly sweet. You could sip this with your V-day dessert and not go into a sugar coma.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn how to subscribe to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the second of the three teas/tisanes that I received in this month’s Tea Tasting Box from Amoda Teas. (Have you subscribed yet? You can do so with the link above, and you really should! It’s really fun to receive a package form Amoda Teas!)
I admit to finding myself a wee bit disappointed by this Love Affair Rooibos Blend from Defthlesen & Balk. Oh, it tastes alright, but, it’s not quite as good as I hoped for. When I see “Chocolate and Strawberries” in the description, I’m hoping for some seriously yummy tea. You know what I mean?
And I must confess that I am a little spoiled, because for Valentine’s Day this year, my hubby bought me a dozen chocolate covered strawberries. So, my tasting of this tisane comes off of indulging in juicy, ripe strawberries that had been generously coated in various types of chocolate (some were dark chocolate, others were milk chocolate and some had white chocolate drizzle) … and they were just sinfully decadent.
And … unfortunately, this tisane just isn’t nearly as decadent. The rooibos blend tastes mostly of strawberries and rooibos, and the result is a nutty, sweet, fruity, tisane with hints of chocolate. The strawberry tastes sweet with a tartness that reveals itself in the aftertaste … the tart notes are further accentuated with the rhubarb … even so, this is definitely more sweet than tart. (That is a good thing in my opinion!)
The chocolate is rather subtle, and a bit too subtle in the opinion of this chocoholic. If someone says chocolate … I want CHOCOLATE. I don’t want hints of chocolate. I don’t want a subdued undertone of chocolate. I want CHOCOLATE. And I’m not getting that here. As the tisane continues to cool, I notice the chocolate a little more, but it never becomes a strong enough flavor to please my chocoholic palate.
The rose presents a very gentle floral note, and I do like that … it’s a nice contrast to the sweet and fruity notes. Overall, a pleasant enough cup, it just doesn’t live up to my expectations.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
As for this week’s tea, imagine homemade Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, encased in a delicious buttery pastry, full of sweet strawberries and tangy rhubarb. Now imagine that in a comforting mug or icy tumbler full of caffeine- and calorie-free honeybush. Can you imagine it? Well, you don’t have to imagine it, you can order it now.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I haven’t ever had rhubarb (except for rhubarb flavored teas) … at least, not to my recollection. I am pretty sure that I’ve never had Strawberry Rhubarb pie. But if this Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas is any indication of what I’m missing, I think I need to try some soon!
This is really tasty! The nutty, sweet flavor of the honeybush is not a strong, distinct flavor but, I do notice it, and it melds nicely with the slightly buttery taste of the tisane … giving it a sort of freshly baked pastry shell kind of flavor.
The strawberry tastes sweet … in fact, it might be a tad too sweet for me to say that it tastes of authentic strawberry … it tastes a bit more like a glazed strawberry or like the strawberries that my gramma would mash with sugar for strawberry shortcake. There is a tart note to this too, but it isn’t that “berry tart” … so I can only presume that the tartness comes from the rhubarb. The aftertaste imparts a slight “berry tingle” on the tip of my tongue.
I find that I like the fruit taste here … it is smooth, sweet and delicious. It doesn’t really POP as a strawberry flavor … the strawberry is more of a smooth, soft flavor, and again, I can only presume this is due to the rhubarb presence. But I do find this to be an enjoyable tisane, one that is nice to sip later in the evening when I want something sweet and dessert-like. I like this one … it’s not my favorite from 52Teas, but, I’m enjoying it.
Serenity Herbal Tisane from Sanctuary T
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Sanctuary T
Tisane Description:
Life is crazy, so calm your nerves with this herbal blend. Take a moment just for yourself.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Whenever I come across a tisane with chamomile, I sort of cringe. And that’s just what I did with this Serenity Herbal Tisane from Sanctuary T.
It’s not that I dislike chamomile, because, I’ve come across many a blend with chamomile in it that I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve even had pure chamomile and enjoyed it. I think the problem stems from encountering in my “pre-loose leaf” days too many chamomile tisanes that were stuffed into teabags, comprised of crushed chamomile that ended up tasting so … off. Those memories continue to plague me.
But that just isn’t fair to this tisane, because this is really so good. And the chamomile is really so … barely there. I taste it, of course, but the flavor melds with the crisp flavor of peppermint, the sweet notes of lavender, the exotic flavor of jasmine blossoms, and the buttery, citrus-y notes of lemongrass. I like how each of these flavors are represented in my cup, but, not one really emerges as an overpowering flavor. Everything is nicely balanced.
It tastes lightly minty … not mouthwash-y. The citrus tones are mostly present in the aftertaste. The jasmine and lavender taste sweet and floral without tasting perfume-ish. And the chamomile adds to that floral tone, and adds a light fruitiness to the cup that accents the citrus notes quite nicely. This is a tisane that I could drink again and again!