Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Monterey Bay Spice Company
Tea Description:
Abundant with tropical treats, Gold Rush Tea is as appetizing as it is visually appealing! Chunks of delicious mango improve your mood while bits of passion fruit inject vitality into your body! Amongst the high floral notes of the colorful and aromatic blossoms are cornflowers, blue mallow flowers, safflowers, and marigolds. Completing this blend is robust black tea that provides body and warmth to this savory selection!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I first tried this Gold Rush Black Tea Blend from Monterey Bay Spice Company hot, and while it was enjoyable served hot, it is really best served as an iced tea! It’s so refreshing and thirst-quenching!
The black tea base is strong and somewhat astringent. I would classify the astringency as a “fair” amount of astringency, not overly astringent and this should not be confused with bitterness, but, there is that tangy sensation toward the tail of the sip. This tea is not bitter when brewed properly, although I did notice hints of bitterness in the sip that suggest to me that if you were to over-brew this tea, you might end up with a bitter cup. I brewed it for 2 1/2 minutes, and this was long enough to produce a fairly robust tasting tea without the bitterness that a longer brew time might have created.
The flowers in this blend provide a very colorful, appealing dry leaf appearance, but, I don’t think they add a whole lot of flavor to the cup. I do notice the faintest whisper of a floral presence to the sip, but, it is very slight.
The flavors are very pleasantly tropical with lovely notes of mango and passion fruit. Sweet and just a hint of tangy fruit taste. The sip is primarily sweet and fruity … with the tangy notes coming through more in the aftertaste than during the actual sip. The fruit flavors are delicious and sweet, but I like that they are not overwhelming the cup. The tea comes first … the fruit is an accent flavor. Just a little fruity note to complement the natural fruit tones of the black tea!
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable cup – and as I mentioned at the start, this is much better iced than hot. It’s still good hot, too – but it’s spectacular iced!
Mellow Mango Peach Black Tea from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
When it’s time to relax and “mellow out” it’s time for our Mellow Mango Peach. Perfect for summertime, the real pieces of mango and peach along with the rose petals also make this perfect for anytime.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Mellow Mango Peach Black Tea from Della Terra Teas is aptly named – it really does have a very delicious, mellow kind of taste to it that seems to enhance a sense of calm.
Black tea tends to be an invigorating tea … with some types of black tea being more invigorating than others. And even though the tea used for the base of this blend is indeed a black tea … it is a very mild tasting black tea. It has a smooth flavor with a certain brightness to it, but, it isn’t overly stimulating.
Oh, there is caffeine in this blend so if you’re looking for something caffeine free – this isn’t it! But, even with this caffeinated drink, I’m not feeling that certain PUSH to get going like I’d experience with say, an Assam or a Yunnan. This is probably a Ceylon tea, which tends to be a gentler black tea leaf. However, I wouldn’t recommend brewing up a pot of any Ceylon black tea if you’re planning on heading to bed right away, I can’t guarantee that it won’t keep you alert. My alertness level is elevated from this tea … I just don’t feel overstimulated.
The flavors here are really delightful – a combination of sweet, luscious peach and juicy, delicious mango. There are also some rose petals scattered in this blend, but these seem to be present more for appearance sake (they do make the dry leaf look pretty!) than for the sake of flavor. I do taste very faint, vague notes of flower in the sip, but, these are so barely there that if I’m casually sipping, I don’t notice them. It’s only when I’m really focused on the tastes that I’m experiencing that I notice them peeking out.
But what I do notice is the peach and the mango. It tastes sweet and fruity with a pleasing tropical flair. The flavors are strong with this blend, and I would say that the flavors sort of overpower the black tea … but the black tea is still certainly present. It might be nice to have just a tad less peach and mango flavor and a little more black tea in the sip, but, as it is, it’s really very enjoyable. Della Terra Teas has managed to capture the flavors quite well.
A very pleasing cup of tea – a nice afternoon cuppa! It would also make a stunning iced tea … and those hot summer days are quickly approaching (too soon for me … can we just reset Autumn, please?)
Cranberry Mango Green Tea from Zen Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zen Tea
Tea Description:
Tart and tangy cranberries meet the rich sweetness of ripe mangos. Sweet, invigorating and exceptional!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh YUM! This Cranberry Mango Green Tea from Zen Tea is oh-so-delicious!
The contrast between the cranberry and mango is fantastic! This cup is at once sweet, tart, fruity, and of course, mildly invigorating with a lovely green tea lushness that I’m finding absolutely captivating.
I recommend letting this tea cool just a minute or two after pouring the cup, when it’s still right from the teapot hot, the flavors seemed to be hiding. But after a minute or two, the flavors really POPPED!
I’m loving the fruit flavor here. This tastes like authentic cranberry and mango – its not that artificial, chemical kind of fruit taste that some teas possess. The mango tastes sweet and juicy, like a fresh, ripe mango! Pair that with the robust tartness of the cranberry and BAM! You have a really delightful combination of fruits that work amazingly well together. Mango and cranberry are two flavors I wouldn’t have ordinarily thought of combining, but they work astonishingly well together!
And the green tea is not hidden in this blend either. The Chinese green tea tastes sweet, a little creamy (as if it were “kissed” with just a touch of butter) and slightly vegetative. I wouldn’t call it a grassy vegetative taste, more like the taste of steamed vegetables … but, a very mild vegetable … and the taste is very subtle. If you’re one who tends to shy away from green teas because of the sometimes aggressive vegetative taste … I’d recommend trying this one. The vegetative taste here is delicate.
This is really good – one that I’ll want to stock up on when it gets warm out … it’s going to make an AWESOMELY refreshing iced tea!
Strawberry Mango Green Tea from Trail Lodge Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Trail Lodge Tea
Tea Description:
This a Trail Lodge Tea Blend. It combines strawberries, mangos, and green tea. It makes a refreshing and fruity iced tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Strawberry Mango Green Tea from Trail Lodge Tea smells INSANELY good! From the moment I opened the pouch, I can’t seem to stop smelling it. The dry leaf smells sweet and fruity and fresh … reminding me of fruit candy. And as the tea brewed, it filled my kitchen with the luscious aroma of strawberry and mango. The brewed tea smells much less like “candy” and more like fruit. Still very sweet, but not quite as sugary sweet as the dry leaf. (Hey, I’m not even complaining about the sugary sweetness … I’ve got a sweet tooth that was trying to convince me to just start munching on the dry leaf!)
With as good as the tea smells, I was sure that the tea tasted good too. I mean, if it only tastes half as good as it smells, I knew I’d love this. And fortunately, it does taste as good as it smells. The flavor is sweet strawberry with hints of tartness from the berry … luscious and tropical from the mango, and the green tea tastes sweet and fresh.
The strawberry is the most prominent flavor, but, the mango comes in strong as well. It’s almost an even balance of the two flavors, but I think it’s in the aftertaste where the strawberry ultimately wins out, because I taste that tingly berry note in the aftertaste. You know that sensation you taste and feel on your tongue after you’ve eaten a fresh berry? Yeah, that.
The green tea is a little overpowered by the flavors here, but it can be tasted, and it adds a certain buttery creaminess to the cup that melds well with the fruit flavors. It also adds a light vegetative note that I notice especially toward the finish. There is very little astringency to this cup, and no bitterness. Just wonderfully sweet, delicious, fruity taste.
The flavors are indeed sweet … it is almost too sweet. Some might find cloying, but, as for me, I love the sweetness. But I do recommend trying this one before you add sweetener because I think it’s plenty sweet without any addition. It is a perfect sweet-tooth kind of treat when you’d rather not over-indulge in something fattening!
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Wulong
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Wulong tea has become quite popular in recent years, owing mostly to its reputed weight reducing properties. In any case, Wulong offers a brisk, strong flavor and vibrant aftertaste that will make it a delicious choice even if you are not trying to lose weight. This particular blend has added fruity touches courtesy of the passion fruit and other assorted real fruit pieces for a tea that is exceptional in flavor and aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea is a gentle, delicate, dainty tea! How perfect that I decided to use my gorgeous pink with golden swirl teacups! I feel dainty drinking this sweet, juicy, fruity tea!
The Wulong aroma is present but it may have needed more steep time to give me that Wulong punch I am used to.
This is so subtle yet enticing with its flavoring. I could see this being the perfect tea for a young girls tea party, to introduce new tea drinkers to finer teas, etc. Brewed double strength I can absolutely see how this would be a wonderful iced tea as well.
Yes, I do like this one quite a bit. I tend to lean toward stronger flavors personally but this tea has really hit its mark with a soft warm gentle glow.
Passion Fruit Wulong has a strong buttery aroma, with fruity notes jumping up for attention. The flavor of passion fruit, and mango, perhaps even some papaya come out to play then to finish there is a lingering flavor of melon, perhaps honeydew or cantaloupe.
At 4.99 for 1.6 ounce its a steal!
Next time you are picking up some of the amazing matcha from Red Leaf Tea be sure to snag some of this as well!
