Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Inspired Leaf
Tea Description:
Crisp, refreshing mint and lime mojo. Amazing on the rocks! Inspiration No. 26: Tea makes your eyes twinkle.
Ingredients: Organic green tea, peppermint, cucumber, lime pieces, lime leaves, lime juice, stevia, natural flavors.
Caffeine level-low.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is very refreshing! Perfect for this time of year, when the weather is warm and you’re in search of a bright-tasting, cooling, vibrant cup of tea! This tea is definitely all that!
I am sipping a small cup of this hot at the moment (mostly because I couldn’t wait for it to cool!) and saving the rest to let it cool so that I can enjoy it iced. I don’t like to add ice to my tea, because even if I brew it at double or triple strength, I find that the ice just waters it down too much for my liking, and I suppose I could go through all the trouble to make tea ice cubes, but, that seems like more trouble than it’s worth in this household, since I’m the only one who drinks tea on a regular basis, and there are other people who are using the ice cube trays!
Instead, I prefer to brew the tea at normal strength and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating, and then serving it chilled, straight, no ice. Sometimes, I might add a thin slice of citrus, but with this tea – no need. The lime is already in there!
And the lime is zesty without being too tart. It isn’t overly assertive, and neither is the peppermint. The mint IS the strongest flavor here, but, I like that it’s been tempered with the other ingredients, and it isn’t overthrowing the whole balance. I can even taste the cucumber here! I had, of course, hoped to taste the cucumber, but, I wasn’t so sure that the delicate, refreshing taste of cucumber would shine through the strong notes of lime and peppermint. It certainly doesn’t overpower them, but, its there, and it adds a very lovely element to the overall cup.
And, let us not forget about the tea! This IS a tea, after all, and I expect to taste it. The green tea adds a fresh, slightly vegetal taste to the cup. It is somewhat buttery and sweet, the mouthfeel is soft, and I like the way that the green tea seems to complete the cup in a very enjoyable way.
One thing I would like to point out here though, is that I wish that they did not add stevia to this blend. In fact, I wish that other tea companies would stop doing this too. It seems to be a growing trend, adding stevia to enhance the sweetness. I like to decide on my own how sweet I want the tea to be, and then I like to add the sweetener of my choice. I find that most stevia leaves a funky, somewhat metallic aftertaste that I’m not crazy about, and while the aftertaste here is not badly affected, I do taste the stevia, and I wish I didn’t.
While this cup is delicious served hot, it is best enjoyed iced, in my opinion, served as I indicated above: brewing at normal strength, bringing to room temperature and chilling in the fridge. It is a perfectly refreshing drink for these warm summer months that await us!
Watermelon Lime Green Tea from Inspired Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Inspired Leaf
Tea Description:
A little sip of summer…sans seeds!
Inspiration No. 11: The next time it rains, jump in a puddle, just because.
Ingredients: Apples, rosehips, organic green tea, hibiscus, pomegranate, carrots, lime leaves, lime pieces, lime juice, watermelon seeds
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first opened this sample pouch, I had to double check to see if it was, in fact, a green tea. It had so many fruit and herb chunks in it that I thought it was a fruit tisane rather than a green tea … but, it is a green tea … with lots and lots of chunky bits!
One might think that with so many fruit bits, that the green tea flavor would be lost – and it is a little lost. Beneath the strong fruity tones is the sweet, refreshing flavor of the green tea – it is not a strong flavor, and the tea lover in me wishes it were stronger, but the way the two fruit flavors play together in this cup tastes so incredible that it’s hard to complain!
I do recommend using extra leaf with this one, however. If you’d usually use 1 teaspoon of tea per cup, use at least 2 teaspoons of this blend.
But, it’s worth that extra effort, because it really tastes delicious! The lime is the strongest note, and it is tangy … almost to the point of being a bit sour, but then the sweetness of the watermelon comes through and softens the tart lime. The hibiscus seems to accent the lime flavor without making the tea too tart or syrupy. It also gives the cup a pretty, rosy “watermelon” colored hue. The other fruits listed in the ingredients (apple and pomegranate) do not offer strong, individual flavors. That is, I don’t taste “apple” or “pomegranate” distinctly, but I do think that these two fruits enhance the overall fruity flavor of the cup.
I am definitely going to need more of this tea for summer – it’s AWESOME iced!
Coconut Truffle from Inspired Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Tea & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Inspired Leaf
Tea Description:
Cocoa nibs and indulgent flavors of the islands. Brew up a vacation!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM!
This is the first tea that I’ve tried from Inspired Leaf, but I must say that I’m a fan. My experience with them has been very positive, and this tea is like the cherry on top of the sundae! I would say coconut on top of the sundae but that didn’t seem as illuminating as cherry on top.
The base is a blend of black tea and honeybush which I find enjoyable because I have the rich flavor of the black tea – lightened somewhat by the presence of the honeybush, but not too much. It is light enough to enjoy the complexity of the tea while adding a delicate sweetness from the honeybush. There is a hint of nutty flavor to this as well, and this compliments the coconut in this blend.
The chocolate flavor is at a pleasing level, but, I (being the chocoholic that I am) still find myself wanting MORE chocolate. Some cacao shells would give this more of a truffle-ish flavor, I think. As it is, it is quite delicious, but even more chocolate would make it over-the-top indulgently awesome. (Remember my simple equation? more chocolate = better)
The coconut is creamy and sweet and luscious … and definitely the star of this cup. Sure, I love the chocolate, but, its the coconut that makes this so remarkably good.
And that’s exactly what it is!