Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Gurman’s
Tea Description:
Green tea with mango bits, papaya bits, pink pepper, flavouring, chili pepper, sunflower blossoms, safflower.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a very pretty tea to look at! It reminds me of a forest floor. The peppercorns look like ripe berries laying in a field of dried green grass that the green tea offers, along with the bits of mango giving off such an eye pleasing palate of color! The smell is intoxicating as well.
Don’t fear the peppercorns! This is such a well blended tea that you do not need to worry about a gentle palette being lit afire! The peppercorns do exactly what they should do, add a gentle presence that gives the tea a nice lift, and the dried mango does its job in sweetening up the cup! Truly you do not need to add any sweetener to this tea! While it does not have stevia or any added sweeteners to it, the mango is naturally and perfectly sweet enough to give this tea just the level of sugary goodness it needs!
The aroma while steeped is so amazing, even our own LiberTeas likened it to asian food, saying (not a direct quote) that it was savory yet sweet with a good balance. I absolutely agree here that Gurman’s managed to get this tea just right!
Originally I received this tea in a tea trade, but when I went to the site to purchase it – in great anticipation mind you, it was not on the site! I wrote Gurman’s and within days they had it back up on their site for me to buy! Now that is some good customer service if you ask me!
I have had several of their teas and every one has been excellent!
Now keep in mind as strongly flavored as this tea sounds with all the peppers, mango, etc… it is really quite a light tea, both in the color of the brew and the flavor. It is certainly now what I call a “punch in the face” flavored tea, I think many times we expect a tea with such ingredients to be so. Not this one, this is actually quite mellow and laid back. It may have peppers in it but it has manners!
Now I should say that peppers and I are friends. I don’t mind them one bit, in fact I love them. I can eat jalapenos in the raw form and often fill them with peanut butter as a snack. Granted jalapenos are not the hottest peppers out there but this is for frame of reference only. I have read a few tasting notes here and there that do say this is a spicy tea, however I just can’t honestly say it is. It only has a kick in my opinion but then you can also now see where my opinions come from!
I don’t want to give anyone a false idea that this tea is for everyone, but at the same time I don’t want to scare anyone away as it is truly a tea, and a tea company worth checking into!
Mango Ice Cream from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
My wife and I have a favorite Chinese restaurant here in Wichita (if you live here or plan to visit, you HAVE to check out Oh Yeah; It really is awesome. Tell Shu that Frank sent you). Anyway, the food there is amazing, but I think my wife’s favorite part is the Mango ice cream. It does strike me as the perfect, sweet, creamy ending to a fabulous meal. Anyway, it inspired me to make this week’s Tea of the Week. I hope you enjoy it.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Every once in a while, Frank from 52Teas puts out a tea that kind of makes me go “eh, that sounds alright.” I don’t get tremendously excited over it, but, at the same time I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
This is one such tea. I wasn’t all that excited … it seems like everyone has a mango flavored tea these days. The ice cream aspect, yeah, that changes it up a little bit, but, it’s still basically mango. But, I like mango, and I’ve loved the other ice cream flavored teas that Frank has developed so I was pretty sure I’d enjoy this. But this wasn’t something I was super eager to try … I knew I’d like it, but, it wasn’t all that exciting to me.
But then, WHAM! I taste it, and it blows me away! This is amazing!
I am sure that Frank’s new black tea base has a little something to do with my enjoyment of this tea – it tastes rich and bold. He developed a new black tea base back in May, I think. And it is big improvement over the standard go-to base he was using for most of his black teas. It is slightly astringent, not too much. No real bitter notes. Just smooth, pleasant tasting black tea that melds well with the creamy notes and the sweetness of the Mango.
The mango is strong and tastes true to the fruit, deliciously sweet with just a hint of tart. And the creaminess of the ice cream flavor tastes so smooth and rich. I find that this particular tea tastes best when it’s cool (this tea is MADE for iced tea!) but, if you just can’t wait until the tea cools off before you try it, do allow it to cool slightly in your cup for a few moments before you taste it. I found that if I let it sit for just three or four minutes, the flavor is infinitely better than my initial first couple of sips just after I poured the cup. It tastes creamier, more mango-y, and just … moreish! (And I have a feeling that if I were to try the mango ice cream that inspired this tea, I’d have moreish feelings about it too!)
A really delightful cup of tea, and a surprising one, too. I love it when a tea surprises me like this!
Mango Iced Green Tea from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Mango is a flavorful tropical fruit. The only improvement we could think of is to combine it with our rich Sencha. Fresh Sencha flavor and sweet Mango will bring a tropical summer treat to your tea time.
Learn more about this cold-brewed tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Refreshing!
Of the different cold-brewed iced teas offered from Den’s Tea, this one might just be my new favorite!
What I’m liking so much about it is that just like the others that I’ve tried, the green tea is the strongest flavor… and here, the green tea tastes a bit more vegetative than the others that I’ve tried, and I’m really liking the rich flavor of the Japanese Sencha. Sweet, slightly grassy, and a buttery background note. Delicious!
The mango flavor is not a super strong flavor, but it is by no means what I’d call delicate, either. I’d say it’s pretty evenly matched, with the vegetative taste of the Sencha and hint of Matcha edging out the mango just a bit. The mango tastes lusciously sweet, like a very ripe mango (no under-ripe fruit flavors here!)
I love these cold-brewed iced teas from Den’s. They are so refreshing, and I love how they go so well with a meal, but also taste so good that I want to drink them on their own too. I also like that they don’t need to be sweetened! These cold-brewed tea bags are simple, convenient, and produce a really flavorful iced tea. That’s a win-win… or should I say win-win-win?
Tropical Delight (Iced Tea) from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Mango, Passion Fruit and Kiwi flavors with Ceylon tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I brewed this earlier this morning and let it chill in the fridge until this afternoon, because I knew I’d be out and about running errands, and I wanted to be able to enjoy this tea as it was intended – as an iced tea.
I did manage to take a quick sip or two as a hot tea, though, and enjoyed it that way as well. But, I do think that this is much better as an iced tea. The flavor was a bit strong as a hot tea, but because flavors tend to soften as they cool, those big, bold flavors had become just right when it chilled.
This is really tasty. The flavor of the Ceylon tea is prominent, and what I like here is that this is not some wimpy, lackluster Ceylon – this is a robustly flavored, brisk Ceylon that is tasty enough to stand on its own. As a chilled tea, it has a pleasant level of astringency, and has a very thirst-quenching, refreshing quality to it.
The flavors start out a little bit subtle. After the first sip or two, while I can smell the fragrance of the fruit … the flavors are slow to emerge. The first note that I taste is the mango and then after another sip, I begin to notice the passion fruit. The kiwi is the last to come forward, and at first I wished I could taste the kiwi flavor a bit more, but, by the time I reached the end of the glass, the kiwi had reached a very satisfying level.
I like how the flavors develop. They start out soft, and now as I am nearly finished, I can taste the sweet tropical flavors in the aftertaste … making me want more!
Nice and refreshing – a great treat as these hot summer days begin to wane into the cooler autumn months ahead; I like that it’s still warm enough to fully enjoy a delicious glass of iced tea, and this tea makes a great iced tea, indeed!
Rooibos Noir from Vintage TeaWorks
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Vintage Teaworks
Tisane Description:
Inspired by Pinot Noir, we blended natural ingredients to create a rooibos herbal tea blend that is light, fruity and fun, with hints of mango, blueberry, raspberry and hibiscus.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to wine. I wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference between a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay … or any other kind of wine for that matter. But I do like to think I know a thing or two about teas and tisanes! So with this wine-inspired line of teas from Vintage TeaWorks, I get to taste something that I’m familiar with, and still explore something that’s outside my realm of expertise. I like that … it challenges me a little bit!
The dry leaf smells like wine. It has a strong, fermented grape kind of aroma. And I can see big pieces of fruit and flower petals tossed in with the needle-thin leaves of the red rooibos, creating a very stunning visual presentation.
The brewed tisane still has a bit of the wine-like scent, but, it is significantly softer as a brewed tisane. It still smells pleasantly grape-like: sweet and fruity.
And this translates to the flavor. It is deliciously sweet and fruity, with well-defined notes of wine grapes, with notes of berry and a hint of mango. I love the sweetness that the mango adds without detracting from the overall concept. It still tastes like a wine-inspired tisane, even though when I think of wine, I don’t think of mango. This makes me think that the minds at Vintage TeaWorks must be geniuses! The way they find just the right flavors to meld together to create such a unique tisane that is delicious served hot or iced.
I personally find this more refreshing as an iced tea – but, it has a very soothing, relaxing quality as a hot tisane. Something that is fun to curl up with and watch TV later in the evening.
Surprisingly, I don’t taste much hibsicus from this at all. I even steeped this for a full 10 minutes, and I don’t taste or feel the syrupy quality of the hibiscus, nor do I taste the pungent tartness of it. I do taste hints of tartness, sure, and these can be attributed to the hibiscus… but they accentuate the flavors of the berry, grape, and mango so well that it becomes not a disruptive flavor but instead something that works toward offering the best flavor possible.
Also surprisingly, I don’t taste much from the rooibos here. I do taste hints of nut and wood from the rooibos, but, it isn’t that funky, sour woody taste. And there isn’t that weird sweet aftertaste from the rooibos.
This tisane makes me very happy, indeed! I’m so impressed with what I’ve tasted from Vintage TeaWorks so far! I highly recommend their teas and tisanes!