I love brewing up tea with fresh herbs from the garden or from the kitchen. With all the turkey and holiday meals in the wintertime, I feel like sage is an especially appropriate herb to be brewing this time of year, so I ordered a bag of Sage Wellness tea from Plum Deluxe.
This is a tea with a green rooibos base, which provides the perfect, gentle background for the other herbs and flavors. In the dry leaf, there are plenty of fuzzy, grey-green leaves from the sage, a pleasure to touch and smell. Rose petals and lemon peel add to the dreamy fragrance.
Beyond the rooibos and sage, this blend also features fruit pieces like strawberry and rosehips, and fruit flavoring from strawberries and peaches. The sage feels like Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing, but the strawberry feels like a summer harvest. With the two fragrant, flavorful factors of sage and strawberry, the whole blend is reminiscent of a fresh, blooming herb garden.
Not too sweet and not too savory, the fruit and herbs come together to make an atypical take on familiar flavors. With a blend so beautiful to look at and so tasty to brew, I like to pretend that I was wandering in a fantasy garden, plucking bits of sage and picking perfect strawberries to add to my perfect cup of tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Description:
Nourish body + soul with the wisdom and healing of fresh herbs and fruits! Our sage + green rooibos herbal tea artfully blends lemon and orange with a pinch of strawberry and peach to make a delightfully refreshing, flavorful tonic wonderful for when you have those emotional blues or just want a cup of something calm and restorative.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Warming from Balcony Teas
Up in the Midwest, we’ve recently swapped from unseasonably warm days to the kind of bone-chilling, rainy autumn weather that makes me want to take up residence under my coziest blanket for the next five months and not move a muscle.
One particular grey and soggy Sunday, I was forced out of my blanket fort and into the world– and let’s be real, I wasn’t too happy about it. Digging through my teas to choose one to take with me (if I had to face the real, soggy world, of course I was going to do it with tea in hand), this cozy, herbal blend from Balcony Tea looked like just what I was searching for.
Warming is a perfectly-spiced herbal with notes of ginger, lemon verbena, lemon balm, orange blossom & peel, and aromatic cinnamon. Right out of the gate, the leaves in the pyramid bag jumped out to me– this may be a pre-bagged tea, but full leaves are visible, along with slices of orange peel and what I suspect might even be little nubs of ginger. The verdict?
It was the perfect blend to warm me up on a chilly day! No sweetener needed, the ginger and lemon is bright and upfront, with a nice herbal balance on the finish to round it out. I truly felt the warmth in my bones as I ventured into the cold. The encroaching winter might not be quite so intolerable with this tea in your mug!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Balcony Teas
Description
Escape long rainy days on our “Warming Balcony” with sun-kissed citrus flavour and a hint of spice.
Ingredients:
Ginger – Spicy and warming; traditionally used to help circulation and ease stomach issues. Lemon Balm – To help you feel relaxed and refreshed. Lemon Verbena – Bursting with lemon flavour. Cinnamon – Naturally sweet and comforting. Orange peel – Beautifully aromatic with a true Mediterranean feel. Orange blossom – Deliciously fragrant with delicate floral honeyed notes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas
It’s been YEARS since I have Lemon Meringue Pie and because I don’t eat dairy or eggs any more this Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas is the closest thing to the taste I can remember without actually eating a piece of it. HOORAY! Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas you are a wonderful find!
Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas smells like Citronella once infused but prior to infusing I could pick up on the sugary notes, various nods to lemon, a slight herbal connection, and even a speck of vanilla. All that in a smell and we haven’t even gotten to the taste of this Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas yet!
As for the taste of Limóncello Tea from The NecessiTeas it’s just as good if not better than the aroma! I can definitely taste the lemon peel, lemongrass, and green rooibos! Then there is a sweetness and creaminess to boot! I’m chalking that up to the vanilla and brown sugar. This is really fantastic! An outstanding, flavorful surprise that is perfect for evening reflection or as a dessert tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description:
The Italian dessert drink has made its way into a tea. Imagine lemon meringue teasing your taste buds, while sweetly melting in your mouth with a blend of vanilla and brown sugars. The lemony brightness shines through with lemongrass and a sprinkling of golden marigold petals, all topping a green rooibos tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
White Coconut from BlendBee
What is this coconut wizardry White Coconut from BlendBee? Upon opening the bag my nostrils and surrounding were FILLED with the aroma of creamy and dreamy coconut. It was almost like an Almond Joy without the chocolate!
Once infused I was delighted with the delicate white tea shade that filled the steeper! The coconut, lemon, and white tea were a visual treat as well! Because of the shredded coconut it seemed a bit ‘crumby’ but certainly in a GOOD way! The flavor was intense! The coconut, lemon, vanilla, and stevia were having a very loud party in my mouth!
The stevia was a little loud than I would normal enjoy but it seems to make sense here! My cuppa started off as a HOT one but I let it cool at room temperature as I drank more and more! I quickly understood that this would make a FABULOUS iced white flavored tea as well!
WOW! Yeah! White Coconut from BlendBee is surely something to try – and enjoy – and savor! What an eye-opener!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White Tea
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description:
White Tea is by far one of the finest teas in the world. Paired with Coconut, Lemon Peel, Lemon Balm and Stevia leaf, it is a dream. Sit back, relax and linger with this beautiful mix.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here.
Lemon Sherbet Green from Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Green tea with lemon is a classic. In true Bluebird style we have done it a bit different! Sweet + tangy like sherbet on your tounge + two types of lemon to make your mouth water with delight. Another fantastic blend to add to our traditional sweet collection.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Thank you to my SororiTea Sister Scheherazade for sending me a sample of this tea!
Personally speaking, this is one of those blends that I probably wouldn’t have chosen myself just because I’m not drawn to green blends normally and I think the pairing of citrus/lemon and green tea is a little played out, but the dry leaf smelled really strongly of sweet lemon juice or lemon candy, and I do like the simplicity of the tea so I was actually kind of excited regardless.
Because it is something I’ve kind of tried before, though, I wanted to do something a little different than usual – so I made this into a tea soda; while I wont take the time to explain my process of doing that (unless anyone would like me to) I will point out that the process uses sweetener though – and with a tea like this that’s already pre-sweetened due to the stevia in it a preparation method like this negates that aspect of the blend a little bit because when I tasted this tea I knew it would be sweet and expected that; theoretically with a more traditional tasting/preparation method I could have tasted the stevia and been more critical about it’s presence – I don’t typically like when my tea is sweetened for me; I want to have the choice to do that and pre-sweetened blends eliminate that choice.
I think the simplicity of the blend ultimately works against this tea though; the flavour was very monotone and I think the only reason that didn’t read as ‘flat’ was because of the carbonation which makes it hard to view anything as tasting ‘flat’. The green base was eclipsed and instead this had a really strong, distinct taste of lemon verbena or lemon myrtle; not exactly a ‘realistic’ lemon flavour and while strong and steady only really enjoyable if you’re big into those flavours to begin with. And you better be, because it’s all you’re going to taste.
Decent blend overall; the name’s pretty accurate so kudos for that. I just wish it had a little more to offer; I shouldn’t feel like I have to resort to creative methods like tea soda just to make this feel a little less mundane.
