Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Lime Marshmallow pairs our Organic Bai Mu Dan with gentle lime and creamy marshmallow. The sweet lime flavor is immediately noticeable followed by a marshmallow flavor that lingers. Adding some sugar will create a gooey marshmallow flavor with hints of sweet lime.
Read more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
OK, this was the tea that got me. I wasn’t going to order more teas from Butiki Teas since they did announce that they were going to close. I was sad to hear of their closing, but I figured that I had enough teas that I need to review that I didn’t really need more tea. That is until I saw “Lime Marshmallow.” How do I pass that up?
Answer: I don’t!
And this is delicious. This cup that I’m drinking at the moment is actually the second time that I’ve had the tea. The first cup was a little less flavorful than this one. I steeped that in my Breville One-Touch and I have often stated that white teas shouldn’t be steeped in the tea maker because the leaves just aren’t conducive to the way the tea maker operates. Or something like that.
I’ve found that when I steep white teas in the Breville, not all of the leaves that I’ve put into the basket get submerged into the water. For a white tea, I recommend using a teapot and allowing the leaves to steep loose, or if you’ve just gotta use an infuser basket, try a Kati Tumbler.
This time when I steeped it, I got my ceramic teapot and I measured out 3 bamboo scoops of leaf into the teapot. Then I poured in water heated to 170°F and let the tea steep for 4 minutes. Now we’re talking some tasty tea!
I tasted it first before adding any sweetener. It’s nice with a bright, vibrant lime flavor. But I didn’t get a lot of creamy, marshmallow-y flavor. So I took Butiki’s advice and added a little bit of turbinado sugar to the cup and now I can taste that “gooey” marshmallow flavor. It tastes sweet and fluffy.
The white tea is a good base for these flavors too. It’s light and has a subtle hay-like flavor. It’s delicate enough for the flavors of lime and marshmallow to emerge fully without it becoming a really cloying taste, and I am still tasting tea. The tea doesn’t hide behind the flavoring.
I’m glad that I placed that order!
Christmas Cookie Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
If this tea doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, you might just be the Grinch. With premium shou mei white tea, almonds, ginger, orange peel, cinnamon chips, a few cloves, marshmallow root and organic flavors, combine this tea with a nice crackling fire in the fireplace and someone to snuggle up to on the couch, and you’ll be in holiday heaven.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn how to subscribe to 52Teas’ Tea of the Week program here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! It’s no big surprise to me that this tea is already sold out! With a name like “Christmas Cookie” – who could resist, right? And it’s oh so tasty!
The aroma of the dry leaf was a little off for me. I could smell the spices and those were very pleasant to the nose, but I also picked up on a slight chemical-y note to the dry leaf fragrance. I hoped that this would disappear after brewing (usually, that flavor oil smell does dissipate in the brewing process).
To brew this, I used my Kati tumbler and added 1 heaping bamboo scoop to the basket and 12 ounces of hot water (heated to 170°F) and let the tea steep for 3 minutes.
The brewed tea smells warm and gently spiced. I’m not picking up on any of the aforementioned chemical-y notes – a good thing! It smells like gramma’s kitchen at Christmastime when she’s baking all those magical cookies that she used to bake. I smell spice cookies and almond cookies. I smell hints of orange. My mouth is watering and wishing it was eating cookies right about now!
And the flavor is delightful. I don’t know that I’m actually tasting cookies as much as I’m smelling them from this tea. I think that there should be more of the buttery, cake-y, pastry flavors that 52Teas does so well here. Maybe a tad more marshmallow root to emphasize the cookie aspect rather than the spiced aspect of this tea. As it is, it tastes like a mild chai made with a white tea base rather than a cookie.
I find that as it cools, the flavor improves a bit and the baked goods flavor seems to develop a little. However, it never becomes fully realized. I find myself wanting to taste something more “bake-y” – brown sugar? Buttery cookie? Pastry/cake flavors? Even a hint of icing might help bring the “Christmas Cookie” to life just a little more.
The white tea has a smooth and silky texture. It’s not bitter or overly astringent. It’s sweet and has a delicate flavor that is lightly vegetal (more like hay than grass or steamed veggies). I appreciate that I distinctly taste TEA here and those flavors have not been overpowered by the presence of the strong spice and other flavors.
Since this is a white tea, I decided to resteep it and see how it turns out. YES! There it is! That cookie flavor! This tea MUST be resteeped to get to that yummy cookie flavor. I even taste a hint of frosting!
As I said before, it’s clear to me why this flavor has sold out – not only is the name of the tea tempting but the taste is delightful!
Maple Marshmallow Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Why hasn’t anyone combined these two flavors yet? I don’t know, but I’m not scurred. Here’s our premium organic Indian black teas blended with organic maple and marshmallow flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM! This is seriously good.
My mouth watered when I saw the label on the package. I want those cupcakes.
And while this tea doesn’t have “cupcake-y” flavors to it, it definitely has the maple and the marshmallow! These flavors are strong and very well-defined. And even though they are really strong, I still taste plenty of black tea flavor too.
It’s sweet and refreshing. It’s something that tastes so good that you’d swear you’re cheating on your diet when you drink it, but you aren’t! It’s iced tea! It only TASTES indulgent.
This is one of the best flavors I’ve tasted from SBT thus far. This might even be better than my lime favorites (Lime Cola and Lime Jello).
If you’re one who doesn’t like sweet flavors – this tea probably won’t be to your liking. But for the rest of us, seriously, you’ve got to try this. It’s so good.
AND Southern Boy Teas has a new Kickstarter Campaign going. Please take a moment and check out the campaign and if you can, please consider contributing to this small business!
Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Premium Organic green 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.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow!
The first thing that blew me away with this blend is the smell! The aroma of the dry sachet – it smells like a marshmallow treat! And the brewed tea smells like that too. The brewed tea smells a bit more like genmaicha than the dry sachet did, the dry sachet smells like a fresh batch of marshmallow treats. Mmm!
This is seriously good iced tea. If you liked the original Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas, you’re going to like this iced tea version from Southern Boy Teas. It’s sweet and tastes like the name suggests. It tastes like a marshmallow treat with a little bit of green tea flavor in there too.
Genmaicha is not usually a tea that I usually think of when I think “iced tea” because the toasted rice has a very warm flavor and it’s been something that I think tastes better when served hot. But, this really works well as an iced tea. It does have that delicious roasty-toasty flavor of the Genmaicha, along with the light, fresh green tea taste of the green tea. The rice of the genmaicha gives this just the right amount of warmth to give this marshmallow treat a “homemade” sort of taste (and homemade marshmallow treats taste better than those commercially packaged treats!)
To brew this, I heated a quart of water to 170°F and let the sachet steep for a 1 1/2 minutes. Then I strained the tea into my iced tea pitcher and resteeped the sachet in the second quart of water, adding 30 seconds onto the steep time. (Then I stashed the sachet in an airtight container and put it in the fridge so that I could steep it again for another pitcher of tea.)
Really, really good. I’m glad that this tea is now offered on the website (it was originally created as a “thank you” for the Kickstarter supporters) because I’m going to want more of this!
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Well, you asked for it. Here it is. Our Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha. It’s sweet and savory and delicious, and best of all, it’s a guilt-free treat. Get yours while you can. This one is likely to go fast.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I am a little bit … leery of peanut butter teas. I don’t know why it is. I’ve been pretty open to try just about any other flavor, but peanut butter is one of those flavors that just seems “wrong” to have in a tea. Then one day, I tried something (taffy … not tea!) and something about that taffy suggested to me that maybe, just maybe, I should give peanut butter flavored tea a try. I don’t know why this epiphany came to me after eating a piece of taffy. It doesn’t make sense to me, so if it doesn’t make sense to you … well, it shouldn’t. It doesn’t make sense to me, it shouldn’t make sense to you.
So, I tried a peanut butter tea. Well, ok, it was a tisane with a honeybush base. But, I enjoyed it. So, I decided that maybe peanut butter teas aren’t so strange after all. Yeah … they’re still … weird. Different. Unusual. But, it can be said that I’m a little different and unusual (but not weird!) and so, I guess it’s OK for me to be sipping on this Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas.
I brewed an extra large pot of this tea today, because my youngest daughter has been exploring teas lately (especially green teas) and she has a very keen interest in all things peanut butter. She’s a little different and unusual too. Her ideas about this tea: “It tastes interesting, I like it.”
And, I can say the same thing. It does taste interesting and I am enjoying it. I taste the genmaicha base, and it works really well with the “marshmallow treat” aspect of the concept of this tea (as has been noted with 52Teas’ other marshmallow treat teas). The sweet, toasty rice flavor melds really nicely with the marshmallow.
And the peanut butter comes through in a nice way. It’s not an overly aggressive, in your face flavor, and it strikes just the right balance for my palate. I get a little bit of peanut butter, a little bit of marshmallow, a little bit of sweet green tea and a little bit of toasted rice in every sip.
I can’t say that “peanut butter marshmallow treats” are my favorite type of marshmallow treats out there, I wouldn’t turn one down if it were offered. I mean, YUMMY, right? Personally, I think I’d rather have a Strawberry Marshmallow Treat, and as I type this, I think … what if you were to eat them both together. Would you then have a peanut butter and jelly marshmallow treat? Then again, I’m not a peanut butter and jelly fan. I might be the only person alive who doesn’t like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like peanut butter and marshmallow cream. I like peanut butter and banana. I don’t like peanut butter and jelly.
My point is this: I like this tea. It isn’t my favorite from 52Teas, but, it’s not my least favorite either. It’s enjoyable, and I’m happy I tried it. I think I may be over my irrational fear of peanut butter flavored teas.