Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Leaf Co.
Tea Description:
A wonderfully bold and smooth organic tea blend of dark oolong and maple, a perfect pairing. While the oolong is bold, full-bodied, and lightly smoked, the maple is light, aromatic, and sweet. The combination of the two flavors results in a well-balanced, featured favorite maple tea blend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve been drinking quite a lot of Oolong recently, and some of it has really challenged my assumptions about the variety. I thought for a long time, for example, that I didn’t like Oolong at all. Then I realised that mostly what I don’t like are dark or roasted oolongs, but lately I’m even beginning to wonder whether that’s true. Mostly because of teas like this one! The dry leaf smells good – just like opening a fresh packet of brown sugar. It’s a mild toffee, molasses-like scent. Sweet and delicious. The leaf is fairly thick and wiry, with red safflowers. So pretty! I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a bright golden brown, the scent heavily vanilla.
All of this gave me very high expectations, but I’m pleased to say that the taste more than lived up to them. This is a truly delicious tea. While drinking it, I almost completely forgot it was an Oolong because the flavour is so strong and accurate. The initial sip is hard to describe. It’s like taking a spoonful of brown sugar and letting it sit on your tongue – there are notes of toffee and vanilla, with a deeper, richer, molasses flavour running underneath. The mid sip is beautifully buttery and smooth, and reminds me a little of toffee popcorn. The flavour lingers long in the aftertaste, fading slowly and gradually into a fudgey, sweet, sugary ghost. I think this is as close to drinking brown sugar as it’s possible to get, and obviously so much healthier! I can hardly taste the base tea at all, which is a good thing in my book when it comes to flavoured teas. I want to be convinced by the flavours I’m drinking, and on this occasion I really, really am.
I think it’s easy to tell that I loved this one. I’d drink it again and again if I could – and I’d unhesitatingly choose it as a desert island tea if it ever came to that. It’s desserty decadence — pure deliciousness in a cup!
Mango Party Coffee Leaf Tea from Wize Monkey
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf Tisane
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Tea Description:
Juicy mangoes all up in your boca!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The packaging of this one didn’t give much away – only the name (Mango Party), and the fact that it’s a test flavour. It’s a bagged tea, but in an unbleached, sizeable bag so there’s plenty of room for leaf expansion. No complaints there. I did a little digging around, and discovered that this is, in fact, a coffee leaf tea. This isn’t something I’ve ever tried before, so it piqued my interest straight off. From what I managed to find out, coffee leaf tea is pretty much exactly what you’d think – a herbal tea made from the shredded leaves of the coffee plant. It contains less caffeine than either tea or coffee, and is described as being similar in flavour to green tea. I added the bag to a cup of boiling water, and gave it 3 minutes. The resulting liquor is a medium golden-brown, and the scent immediately put me in mind of guayusa.
To taste, guayusa is again probably the best comparison I can come up with. It’s quite prominently earthy in the initial sip, but in a good way – anyone that enjoys guayusa would be quite at home here. The flavouring emerges in the mid sip, and adds a creamy, mildly peppery, mango flavour. It’s juicy and fruity, but it’s a little milder and more fleeting than I really would have liked. There’s maybe a second or two in the mid sip where I can really taste it, and then it’s gone and the earthiness returns. For those who were wondering – this doesn’t taste of coffee at all.
This was a new experience for me, and I’m going to say that I liked it. I’d seek out more coffee leaf teas on the strength of this one, that’s for sure. When a tea is flavoured, I like the flavour to be strong and prominent, so this one lost a couple of points for me there. The flavouring is nice, but it’s a little milder and more fleeting than I’d hoped – more of a mango flash than a mango party. Either way, it’s a pleasing, fruity cup with a lovely, smooth creaminess. Definitely worth a try if you’re a mango fan, or if you’ve not tried coffee leaf tea before and are looking for a new tea experience.
Yorkshire Bold Organic Black Tea from AmiTea Organics
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: AmiTea Organics
Tea Description:
Bold, smooth and delicious, this is the perfect, soothing, “start your morning” tea. This is my version of the famous Yorkshire tea. Of course the actual ingredient ratios have long been a secret, but I feel I have unlocked them, and now it is in an all organic version, just for you.
I have blended malty Assam and Nilgiri teas from India, A warm, rich Tanzanian tea and a smidge of smokey Chinese Yunnan, together they make a fabulous tea, hot with milk, or even iced for sippin’ on a hot day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is just delicious.
The malty goodness and rich well balanced flavor of this fantastic unflavored blended black tea is just perfect. Perfect for that first cup of tea to wake you up in the morning or in the afternoon when you need a pick up to get you thru the rest of the day. I really enjoyed this one.
First infusion was strong and rich. Brewed up like a traditional black tea, this tea was such a delight. I didn’t pick up any smoky notes like the description says, but I am fine with that. I have had a lot of smoky teas lately and was happy for a break. Second infusion, the strong malty touch was still there. Not as strong, but still discernible.
I have yet to have a tea from AmiTea Organics that I haven’t just adored.
I didn’t try this one iced. Next time I will. I would love to try this as an iced tea. I couldn’t help but keep brewing this up hot. It was hitting the spot, giving me that warm and cozy feeling.
The best part of this tea was how there wasn’t a high astringency factor. I thought for sure there would be, but this was just smooth black tea deliciousness.
Another winner from AmiTea Organics!
Hydrate from Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/White
Where to Buy: Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Description:
Hydrate is a blend is a rich blend of green tea and white, making this blend high in minerals that fortify the skin and help sustain health and hydration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been in a green tea drinking mood lately. Some of have been good. Some not so much. This particular blend was a hit with me.
Hydrate is a blend of green and white tea from Yellowstone Tea Company, a tea shop I found on Etsy. They have a wide variety of teas and when I saw this blend online, I just had to try it. The picture on the website looks very nice but looks like a blend I’ve seen on other sites. When this tea arrived, I had to do a double take. This tea blend is vibrant and gorgeous! The goji berries popped with a red color and the cornflower had such a deep blue. I couldn’t get over how fantastic and fresh looking this tea appeared. The chunks of fruit were just as impressive. Huge chunks of papaya and orange peel. I was taken with this tea at first sight.
I brewed this blend up like a green tea. As I look more at the ingredients, there is also oolong tea in this. I wasn’t sure which way to go with it so I decided to just go the green tea route. Let it steep for about 3 minutes in my tea pot while I worked away on a project. The smell was so inviting. Fruity goodness was cruising thru the air. One of my co-workers even asked me what I was eating or drinking. They couldn’t get over the fresh tropical like smell that this tea was creating.
I took a sip and BLAM-O! I was hit with all of these fresh fruity tastes and such a clean green tea finish. I really only picked up the green tea which gave a slight earthy grassy taste. The two flavors really worked well. I couldn’t identify every flavor separately but together they created a delicious treat for this afternoon. The tea blend has a tropical like feel to it with the papaya. The ingredients for this blend also listed pomegranate- which was very subtle. I only picked up a slight tart taste.
My only issue with this blend is that there is stevia in it. I couldn’t taste the stevia until the cup had cooled off a bit, but after it did cool, the stevia was a bit overwhelming. I’m not sure how this tea would be cold brewed-but I would love to find out. My only advice with this tea is drink it while the brew is still hot. Letting it cool brings out a stevia flavor that many may not enjoy. Beyond that, I am really happy with this one and plan to pick up more. I love finding new tea companies and this one met all my expectations and then some. Looks like I have a new tea for the summer!
Exotic Floral Green Tea from Mela Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mela Teas
Tea Description:
Ceylon green tea is mixed with Sepalika flowers, a classical Ayurvedic ingredient, said to induce calmness and tranquility. Maintains all the health properties of green tea, with the added benefit and buttery taste of the Sepalika flower.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ever have a day where it feels like nothing is going right? It isn’t like things are going wrong per say. Just that before you have one project finished, another one pops up and another and still yet another. That is my day today.
Every day when I come to work I bring a bag full of different teas along with me. You never know what kind of mood you will be in once you hit the office. My office has a full kitchen in it so I have lots of tea ware goodies. Today was the kind of day that I pulled out the big guns and went for a refreshing soothing green tea that I hoped when get me thru the rest of the day.
I reached for my sample of Exotic Floral Green Tea from Mela Teas. Their Colombo Garlic tea was phenomenal. I know, garlic tea. . but it was so very good. I had high expectations for this tea as well.
I steeped this beauty up per the instructions on the package- 170F-3 min. As the tea steeped at my desk, there was a light floral fragrance in the air. Not overwhelming, just ever so slight. Made me smile and I breathed in deep. Just knowing I was about ready to indulge in this tea made me start to relax.
First sip and I was gone. This tea has such a beautiful quality to it. The green tea is there with a slight bitter edge but it works well and counteracts the sweet floral taste. This blend reminds me almost of a tea you would drink while reading a romance novel or one of my beloved Jane Austen novels. Such a delicate tea all around. Not being a jasmine fan, I really wasn’t sure what I would think of this tea. Before I knew it, my tea cup was empty and I needed more.
This tea is subtle with just the right amount of floral and natural flavors that create a soothing and relaxing atmosphere. I literally have papers all over my desk but I am not freaking out in the slightest. This tea came to my rescue!