Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Green & White Teas
Where to Buy: Kaleisia Tea
Tea Description:
The most popular blend of all times. This blend consist of white peony white tea, sencha green tea, darjeeling black tea, gunpowder green tea, dragonwell green tea, jasmine pearl green tea, mango, pineaple, papaya, orange peels, strawberry, red currants, sour cherry bits, and apricot bits. A very well rounded fruity tea that is sure to please anyone.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Secret Garden Tea Blend from Kaleisia Tea has a little bit of EVERYTHING in it! White tea, green tea, black tea … fruit bits … and a whole lot of flavor!
Since this blend seems to be primarily green tea, I went with a lower brew temperature (185°F) and steeped the tea for 2 1/2 minutes in my Breville One- Touch. And the results are tasty!
Fruit flavor hits the palate first, although … it is more like a “medley” of fruit flavors rather than one specific fruit note. Kind of like a bite of ambrosia salad where you taste several fruit notes all at once and it’s difficult to pin-point exactly which fruit you’re tasting. It’s a very refreshing fruit taste though!
As far as tea flavor goes, green tea is what I taste most. That sweet, sort of leafy/grassy note that is very fresh and crisp. It’s a nice contrast with the sweet and sour fruit notes that tantalize the palate at the start of the sip. There is a sweet, creaminess to the tea notes as well, is that the white tea or the buttery notes from the Sencha? I can’t be sure, but, I like the way it comes together with the fruit notes. I don’t taste a whole lot of white tea here, nor do I notice much from the Darjeeling black tea, although I can’t say that this blend would taste the same without those tea leaves being a part of this blend.
As I continue to sip, I realize that I’m tasting mostly a “tropical” sort of taste: notes of pineapple, mango, and papaya, with a strawberry background note. I taste the sweetness of the apricot too. The sour tones of the currant and the cherry come through near the finish, but these are not very strong flavors. The fruit notes, overall, are more “melded” together as a unified flavor … like some kind of “ultra-fruit” but, if I aerate the sip by slurping, I can pick out individual fruit notes.
I like that this blend is more sweet than it is sour, because I’m not a huge fan of the sour taste as I’ve said many times. While this does seem to be a rather “busy” blend … I find it enjoyable. I like it better iced than hot, so, I’ll be brewing more of this later for my iced tea pitcher and enjoy it all day long tomorrow!
The Road To Hana White Tea Blend from Indie Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
TeaDescription:
The subtlety of the added flavours is what we love about this tea! The white peony is the star with its delicate hay, fruit and floral aromas. You have the leaf’s natural round mouthfeel coupled with the coconut flakes that makes for a creamy cup of tea. Hints of the dried mango and tart hibiscus = a seriously delicious tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
I was very happy when I received this month’s Tea Tasting Box from Amoda Tea and discovered that Indie Tea was the featured tea purveyor for July. Indie Tea is one of my favorite tea purveyors because I love their fun, fresh and funky attitude toward tea! Their packaging is fun and their blends are deliciously different – with cool names to match their unique flavors.
One of the teas that was included in this month’s box – Lover’s Lane – is one that I’ve previously tried and reviewed. So, I won’t be writing another review for that tea, but, I am certainly happy to be tasting it again! In the meantime, I am going to tell you a little bit about this blend that I’m sipping right now – The Road to Hana White Tea Blend from Indie Tea.
And it is YUM! It’s got a great tropical flavor to it with the coconut and the mango notes, as well as the hibiscus. (Which is also quite tropical!) The hibiscus, gratefully, is not overdone here. It didn’t even really color the brewed tea very much … there was a slight pinkish hue but really, this looked more like a white tea than a hibiscus-y tea.
And it TASTES more like a white tea than a hibiscus-y tea too. And I’m very happy about that.
The white tea has a soft, delicate flavor (no surprise there, right?) and lends an earthy, sweet base for the additional sweetness of the fruity mango and creamy coconut notes. The hibiscus adds just a hint of tartness and it’s just enough of a contrasting note to offset the sweeter tropical fruits. Indie Tea has managed to achieve a nice balance of tart and sweet that leans more toward the sweet than the tart.
This has a nice mango flavor. The coconut is more “creamy” than coconut-y tasting … and I like the creaminess as it complements the white tea nicely. The result is a sweet and creamy cup of tropical lusciousness that has just a subtle tart note. Tasty!
A really nice choice by Amoda Tea. I like this one, and I’m glad I got to try it.
Cucumber Mango Flavored Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Yeah, I’m guilty. I got a little mango crazy this month, but this is the last one (for now). I kept thinking about those yummy cucumber mango salsas and it occurred to me that a nice white tea with some mango and cucumber would make a super refreshing iced tea.
I do tend to think in terms of iced teas most of the time, but I know I’m not alone now that the weather is getting warmer.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this Cucumber Mango Flavored Shou Mei from 52Teas smells absolutely INCREDIBLE! It smells so good that I almost want to pour the whole pouch into a bowl and put it out as potpourri.
But, I won’t do that, because, I’d rather drink it!
When this tea was announced for the week of May 20th, I was instantly intrigued. I really enjoyed the other cucumber blends that 52Teas has created, and I wanted to see how well the flavors of Cucumber and Mango stood up against such rivals as Cucumber Strawberry (just to name one of several cucumber blends that 52Teas has come out with!)
And I’d like to say that this is definitely a tasty addition to 52Teas cucumber collection. The Shou Mei is sweet, vegetative (in a hay-like sort of way) and earthy, and I like the way this tea showcases the delicate flavor of the cucumber, which has a crisp, vegetal, and sweet flavor.
The mango is the strongest component of this combination of flavors. It tastes sweet and juicy, and even though it IS the strongest flavor here, it is not so strong that it overwhelms the entire cup. I taste the other flavors. I like that.
This is really refreshing. I am sipping it hot at the moment, but I can hardly wait for my iced tea pitcher to be empty again so that I can brew some of this for iced tea! YUM!
Southern Boy Teas Mango Peach Flavored Black Iced Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Premium Organic black tea with organic flavors. Each 14g teabag will make one 2-quart pitcher of DELICIOUS iced tea. Re-steep the teabag and you can get a full gallon out of each one.
Ingredients: Premium Black Teas, Natural Flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When 52Teas announced the new Southern Boy Teas for this summer, you know I was all over it! I love cold-brewing tea, and as much as I prefer loose leaf tea when it comes to a hot cuppa, when it comes to cold-brewing some iced tea, I want the convenience of a bagged tea. And I loved the Southern Boy Teas from last summer … so I couldn’t wait to try the new flavors for this summer.
This Mango Peach Flavored Black Iced Tea from 52Teas is the first of this summer’s Southern Boy Teas that I’ve tried. And while I can’t say that it’s my favorite “SBT” that I’ve had … I’m enjoying it. It’s cold refreshment, and on these hot summer days that’s certainly a welcome thing.
The black tea is a brisk, strong backdrop for the flavors of the peach and the mango. The fruit flavors are sweet and juicy tasting, I guess I’m just wishing that the flavors were more distinct. I taste notes of mango and I taste notes of peach … but, they aren’t really clear and focused flavors. I want to be able to take a sip and say “oh yes, that’s mango!” or “oh yes, that’s peach!” … but instead, it’s more like “that’s a fruity taste.”
I’m still really enjoying it … I’m just wishing for MORE peach and MORE mango. But, I do like that the black tea flavor is good and strong. It’s a smooth, rich flavored tea – not like those icky grocery-store teabags (you know the ones I’m talking about, right? They come in a yellow, white and red box.) I like that there’s plenty of room in these tea bags for the tea to expand. And I like that I don’t have to clean up the loose leaf tea when I cold-brew this!
Overall, this one is good. Not great … but it’s really good, and one I’d drink again!
Mango Watermelon Honeybush Tisane from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
On to the tea: it’s one of our awesome caffeine-free honeybush blends, a sweet refreshing blend of organic watermelon and mango flavors with real freeze-dried mango. This is pure, sweet nectar. I’m sure it’s good hot too, but as an iced tea it is a thing of true beauty, just pure refreshment.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Yummy! This Mango Watermelon Honeybush Tisane from 52Teas is so yummy! I was pretty sure I’d like it, I mean, I love mango, I love watermelon … and I like honeybush … so I had every confidence that I’d enjoy this tisane.
The mango and the watermelon are really quite nicely suited for one another. I can taste both of these fruits, and they are sweet. The watermelon flavor here reminds me of the taste of watermelon candy, and the mango reminds me of the mango nectar that you can buy in the cans in the fruit juice aisle. It is juicy and refreshing!
And even though honeybush tends to be sweet (hence the name) it does seem to cut through some of the sweeter “candy-like” notes here, adding some earthiness and a nutty flavor to the cup, and creating a nice, round taste.
Overall, this is a winner – one that will be great iced and one that kids as well as adults can enjoy (and it’s naturally caffeine-free so you don’t have to worry about overstimulating the kids!)