Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Green tea blended with juicy Mango. An exotic complement to a chutney turkey sandwich, vegetable quiche, or other buttery delights.
Ingredients: Green tea, pineapple pieces, mallow petals, natural flavors
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I have really enjoyed the teas that I’ve tried from The Secret Garden. It makes me wish that I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia instead of Vancouver, Washington so that I could visit their tea room and have high tea with them. I mean seriously, take a look at some of these sweets and savories! YUM!
But since I don’t live in the Vancouver of British Columbia and instead live in the Vancouver of Washington State in the U.S., I must be content with enjoying the lovely teas that they offer and sell online. Like this Mango Green Tea, for example.
To brew it, I put 2 bamboo scoops of tea in the basket of my Breville One-Touch tea maker and added 500ml of freshly filtered water to the jug. Then I set the timer for 2 minutes and the temperature for 175° and I let the tea maker do it’s magic. I came back about five minutes later and a perfectly brewed tea waited for me.
It’s really tasty. There is a really delightful balance between the fruit flavor and the sweet green tea. I taste both of these components and neither seems to be competing with the other for the palate’s attention. They work together quite beautifully.
The green tea looks to me a bit like a Chinese Sencha and it tastes quite a bit like it too. It’s sweet and buttery and smooth. I’m picking up on very little to no astringency. There’s a light vegetal note that melds nicely with the fruit notes.
The mango is sweet and has a flavor that reminds me of fresh mango. It has a very authentic fruit flavor. It doesn’t taste overly sweet or artificial.
The fruit bits in the dry leaf are actually dried pineapple rather than dried mango – which was used, I suspect, because dried mango is a little more difficult to come by than dried pineapple. And since the dried fruit in a tea blend like this really adds very little to the finished flavor, the dried fruit is more for appearance sake than for taste.
And the proof of that is in the taste. I have attempted to taste pineapple in this and every once in a while I pick up on the slightest – ever so slight! – note of pineapple’s tart. I can’t even be sure if it’s something I’m actually tasting or if it’s in my head because I’m trying to see if I can taste it. Really, what I’m tasting is mango.
Delicious mango!
Green Pineapple Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Enjoy our tasty low-caffeine Green Pineapple tea any time of day. This sweet and refreshing tea mixes organic green loose-leaf tea leaves with tropical flavors of pineapple, mango and papaya. Pour over ice, add a splash of fresh pineapple juice and crushed mint for a deliciously unique summer beverage.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The first thing that I want to say about this Green Pineapple Tea from The Persimmon Tree is that it’s a very forgiving tea! I brewed this tea in my Kati Tumbler and after I poured in the hot water (180°F), I forgot to set the timer! Normally, I’d steep this for 2 minutes, but I’m quite sure that it brewed longer than that, probably closer to 3 1/2 to 4 minutes! But as I sip this tea, I am detecting no bitterness. It’s sweet and fruity and delicious!
I had expected some bitterness from an oversteeped green tea, but, I’m not getting any. There is a slight astringency to the cup, but even then, I’m experiencing less astringency than I expected from it.
What I am experiencing is a fresh, vibrant tea with delightful tropical fruit notes. The green tea is sweet and vegetal. The vegetal note is somewhere between a grassy taste and steamed spinach. There is a light creaminess to it too. Somewhat buttery.
The pineapple offers a sweet-tart flavor and it is complemented with a little more tropical flair with notes of mango and papaya. It’s a pleasant medley of tropical fruit that sends your taste buds on an exotic getaway!
When served warm, I find this to be very relaxing and soothing. And it’s especially tasty iced.
Tropical Sorbet Black Tea from Tea of Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Description:
Black tea with natural banana, pineapple, passion fruit & mango flavors.
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the tastier teas that I’ve received from Tea of Life. I’ve enjoyed a few of their teas and there were some that I didn’t really care for but this one moves its way right toward the top of the list. It’s got a good flavor: a background of brisk black tea with a pleasant tropical fruit note. As summer has come to an end and fall has just begun, this tea takes my taste buds on a summer-y holiday to the tropics.
I like that I can taste each of the fruit flavors: I taste notes of banana and mango, hints of pineapple-y sweetness and a touch of passion fruit, but these flavors do not overpower the black tea base. The black tea tastes smooth and I’m tasting more of the sweeter notes of the black tea emerge thanks to the sweetness of the fruit notes. It’s a very harmonious taste.
It’s sweet but not too sweet and the fruity flavors are not overwhelming. There is no doubt that what I’m drinking is tea that has been flavored with fruit rather than fruit flavors rather than fruit flavors with a little bit of black tea mixed in. This is tea first!
It’s a tasty cuppa served hot but I like this one best when it cools because the fruity notes give it a very refreshing taste that is more “iced tea” to me. An enjoyable tea from Tea of Life.
Mountain Of Mango Tisane from Inca Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Blend
Where to Buy: Inca Tea
Tea Description:
Mango has always been a favorite fruit of the founder so he decided to add a little twist to the original blend. Its a refreshing blend of mango, sweet herbs, and citrus.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve said (many times!) before, I’m not always thrilled when it comes to trying fruit and/or herbal tisanes. But because I’ve come to realize that I need to lighten up on the caffeine intake later in the evening, I’ve begun to embrace the tisane even though I’d much rather partake of Camellia Sinensis. So, when I opened the pouch for this Mountain of Mango tisane, I wasn’t exactly excited about it.
But … wow! I can definitely smell the mango in the dry leaf. No other tea/tisane immediately comes to mind where I smelled such a strong, distinct mango aroma. All of the sudden, my dismay over trying yet another tisane disappeared and I got excited about trying this!
I steeped the silky pyramid sachet in 8 ounces of 195°F water for 6 minutes. The brewed tisane is a light ruby color (a good sign, it doesn’t look like there’s too much hibiscus in this!) and it offers a light fruity fragrance. The mango notes are less distinct than in the dry leaf, but they’re still there.
This is pretty good. The mango isn’t as strong as I hoped for, but, it’s a clear and focused flavor. It is an obvious mango flavor. The apple offers subtle hints of sweetness but not a strong apple-y flavor. I think it’s probably present in this cup mostly to provide some sweet, juicy flavor to the cup without it adding too much to the flavor profile, and that’s what it seems to do here.
The ingredient list does not show any citrus-y ingredients that would provide the citrus that’s suggested in the above description, but I can taste a hint of tangy citrus toward the tail and this flavor lingers into the aftertaste. I’m not sure where this flavor is coming from unless it’s one of the “natural flavors.”
In the Peruvian Spiced Berry Tisane, I could taste the notes of purple corn, but I’m finding that flavor to be a little less distinct here. If I slurp the cup, I can pick up on a slight corn-like taste, but it’s much softer than in the Spiced Berry blend. I kind of liked that purple corn taste, it made that tisane significantly different from any other that I’ve tried, so I was kind of hoping for a little more purple corn flavor in this tisane as well.
That said, I really enjoyed this. The mango flavor is delicious and authentic and strong, and the hibiscus is not strong. Two big bonus points for these attributes. It’s a very tasty served hot, and it’s awesome iced!
White Calypso Tea from White Lion Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: White Lion Tea
Tea Description:
Exotic white tea leaves with tropical temptations! Mango, sweet guava, and a splash of grapefruit gave this tea its island soul.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, YUM! This White Calypso Tea from White Lion Tea is really tasty.
The Mango and guava are sweet and luscious, while the grapefruit notes are bright and uplifting. It’s tropical, it’s sweet and a little bit tart, and it’s well-balanced. It’s a taste of the tropics in a teacup.
I like that while the fruit flavors are strong, the white tea is not overpowered. I’m not sure what type of white tea is used for this blend, but based on the color of the leaf, I suspect it’s a Shou Mei, or perhaps a blend of Shou Mei and White Peony. The flavor tastes a bit more like a Shou Mei than a White Peony to me.
The mango and guava meld together seamlessly. It’s a very unified flavor. The grapefruit is the star of this fruit medley, in my opinion, because it shines bright. The mango and guava tastes sweet and juicy, but the tartness (and that hint of bitterness) from the grapefruit bring this flavored tea to life. The grapefruit seems to dance on my palate!
I steeped this tea for 4 minutes in 170°F water. When it comes to white teas, I usually I use 1 1/2 to 2 bamboo scoops of tea to 12 ounces of water (I have a bamboo scoop similar to this one), however, with this tea, the leaves are cut to a smaller size so I only used 1 scoop of tea to 12 ounces of hot water, and this worked out perfectly. A very flavorful cup!
This tea would be an excellent choice for mid-day, when you’re looking for a tea on the lighter side but one that will give you a little energy boost to keep you going.