Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Inspired Leaf
Tea Description:
Crisp, refreshing mint and lime mojo. Amazing on the rocks! Inspiration No. 26: Tea makes your eyes twinkle.
Ingredients: Organic green tea, peppermint, cucumber, lime pieces, lime leaves, lime juice, stevia, natural flavors.
Caffeine level-low.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is very refreshing! Perfect for this time of year, when the weather is warm and you’re in search of a bright-tasting, cooling, vibrant cup of tea! This tea is definitely all that!
I am sipping a small cup of this hot at the moment (mostly because I couldn’t wait for it to cool!) and saving the rest to let it cool so that I can enjoy it iced. I don’t like to add ice to my tea, because even if I brew it at double or triple strength, I find that the ice just waters it down too much for my liking, and I suppose I could go through all the trouble to make tea ice cubes, but, that seems like more trouble than it’s worth in this household, since I’m the only one who drinks tea on a regular basis, and there are other people who are using the ice cube trays!
Instead, I prefer to brew the tea at normal strength and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating, and then serving it chilled, straight, no ice. Sometimes, I might add a thin slice of citrus, but with this tea – no need. The lime is already in there!
And the lime is zesty without being too tart. It isn’t overly assertive, and neither is the peppermint. The mint IS the strongest flavor here, but, I like that it’s been tempered with the other ingredients, and it isn’t overthrowing the whole balance. I can even taste the cucumber here! I had, of course, hoped to taste the cucumber, but, I wasn’t so sure that the delicate, refreshing taste of cucumber would shine through the strong notes of lime and peppermint. It certainly doesn’t overpower them, but, its there, and it adds a very lovely element to the overall cup.
And, let us not forget about the tea! This IS a tea, after all, and I expect to taste it. The green tea adds a fresh, slightly vegetal taste to the cup. It is somewhat buttery and sweet, the mouthfeel is soft, and I like the way that the green tea seems to complete the cup in a very enjoyable way.
One thing I would like to point out here though, is that I wish that they did not add stevia to this blend. In fact, I wish that other tea companies would stop doing this too. It seems to be a growing trend, adding stevia to enhance the sweetness. I like to decide on my own how sweet I want the tea to be, and then I like to add the sweetener of my choice. I find that most stevia leaves a funky, somewhat metallic aftertaste that I’m not crazy about, and while the aftertaste here is not badly affected, I do taste the stevia, and I wish I didn’t.
While this cup is delicious served hot, it is best enjoyed iced, in my opinion, served as I indicated above: brewing at normal strength, bringing to room temperature and chilling in the fridge. It is a perfectly refreshing drink for these warm summer months that await us!
Mexican Wolf Chai from Trail Lodge Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Trail Lodge Tea
Tea Description:
This is a Mexican twist on Chai. It contains vanilla and chocolate, and if you add milk to your cup of tea, it will be just like drinking a cup of Mexican hot chocolate. Ingredients: Fair Trade CertifiedTM black tea, cinnamon, ginger, clove, chocolate, cardamom, vanilla, and mint.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow!
This is one of those chai blends that I sip and elicit an audible response, something like mmmmm~! but with more rapaciousness to it, so I think that the name of this chai – Mexican Wolf Chai – seems a very appropriate name.
The spices are warm but this is not what I’d call a strongly spiced chai. It isn’t exactly a gently warm chai blend either, it’s somewhere happily in between. Warm and delicious, with an emphasis on the cinnamon which I think is actually necessary to this blend, since it is a “Mexican” chocolate chai… and anyone who has enjoyed a Mexican hot chocolate before is familiar with the cinnamon-y taste to it. This blend is vaguely similar to a delicious Mexican hot chocolate thanks to the addition of the chocolate to this blend, and I am really enjoying the chocolate-y notes to this.
But this is not really a strongly chocolate blend, so this isn’t something I’d really recommend to a chocoholic in search of a chocolate fix, this chai wouldn’t satisfy that need. But, it is one that I’d recommend to those looking for a unique twist on chai, because this is definitely one of the more unique blends I’ve tried in a long time.
What makes it really unique is the addition of mint to the blend. Mint flavor can sometimes be a little bit aggressive and overpower a tea, but that doesn’t happen here, it is nicely balanced to offer a hint of mint flavor that complements the chocolate notes nicely as well as highlights some of the spices quite well. To bring it all together, there is a touch of vanilla that gives it a smooth, creamy-sweet taste that negates the need for milk or cream to make this a latte. This is very “latte-ish” on its own, without those additions. I would, however, recommend a little pinch of sugar (I chose turbinado sugar for this), as it does bring out some of the subtle notes of this chai, particularly the spice.
This is a remarkable chai blend – definitely worth keeping on the shelf for the times when you want something warm and comforting and satisfyingly sweet to sip!
Guayusa Tea With Mint from Stash Tea Company
Tea Type:
Guayusa
Where To Buy:
Stash Tea Company
Product Description:
GUAYUSA (gwhy-you-sa) is a rare herbal tea produced from the leaves of a holly tree (ilex guayusa) native to the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador. Guayusa is naturally caffeinated and has an awakening effect similar to coffee and yerba mate. For this signature blend, Guayusa is paired with peppermint and spearmint for a refreshing, rejuvenating blend.
Tasters Review:
Many of you know I LOVE Mint! The MORE Mint the Merrier for me! With this Guayusa with mint from Stash it has more mint than Guayusa and I am totally fine with that! The mint is strong but refreshing! I like this a lot!!! It’s Crisp, clean, helps clear the senses, too! This is a wonderfully flavored Guayusa! NICELY DONE Stash!!
White Sage and Wild Mint Tea from Juniper Ridge
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Tisane Description:
White Sage has a rich, earthy, minty flavor that made it a favorite tea for many of the Native American tribes and early settlers of the Southwest. I like to sip this tea during the wet winters here in Northern California and let my mind drift off to the hot desert country where White Sage grows. So many backpacking trips over the years in that beautiful, sunbaked country—maybe I’ll just sit here in the shade of this Palo Verde tree and let some of the afternoon heat pass while I nod off to sleep with the smell of Wild Sage in the air . . . Now you can enjoy this classic Southwestern tea and dream your own daydreams of the big rock, White Sage desert country.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane has a very rustic feel to it … from the packaging (the labels are printed on recycled kraft paper, which give them a rugged style) to the aroma (earthy sage and mint) to the flavor.
This tisane boasts a fairly simple combination of sage and mint. But, I don’t think I’ve ever tried a sage and mint tea until I tried this one from Juniper Ridge. I know I’ve had teas with sage in them, and definitely teas with mint it them, but I don’t recall trying a blend of just sage and mint. Simple, yes, but also simply delicious!
Not surprisingly, it is a very minty tisane. The wild mint gives it a cool, crisp flavor, and it is definitely the strongest flavor of the cup. But the sage comes in beneath the mint and provides a nice earthy tone with a warm, peppery tone that arrives toward the end of the sip. It is a very enjoyable contrast of warm and cool flavors.
I find this to be very soothing to sip as I start to wind down for the evening, and yet it has an invigorating flavor to it that would be a nice, caffeine free pick-me-up in the afternoon if that’s what you’re after.
Guayusa Tea with Mint from Stash Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Guayusa
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Tea Description:
GUAYUSA (gwhy-you-sa) is a rare herbal tea produced from the leaves of a holly tree (ilex guayusa) native to the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador. Guayusa is naturally caffeinated and has an awakening effect similar to coffee and yerba mate. For this signature blend, Guayusa is paired with peppermint and spearmint for a refreshing, rejuvenating blend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really like this blend. The Guayusa is very invigorating (and I really needed it to help me wake up this morning!) and the mint flavor gives it a very refreshing, crisp taste.
I’ve reviewed a few Guayusa blends now, and I really like this herb. It has a rich, earthy flavor that is neither too vegetal nor too earthy. It reminds me a bit of a light roast coffee. It also reminds me a little of yerba maté, although if given the choice, I’d choose Guayusa over yerba maté, because I like the smooth flavor of Guayusa better than the rather strong (and sometimes a little bitter) taste of yerba maté. Don’t get me wrong, I like yerba maté too, but, I just prefer Guayusa. Guayusa has never been bitter or astringent any time I’ve tasted it – it’s always just been smooth and energizing.
This blend combines the delicious flavor of Guayusa with mint … peppermint and spearmint, to be exact. And the flavor is very minty. It tastes cool and leaves my mouth feeling very clean and fresh. But because of the Guayusa it doesn’t taste too minty. It doesn’t taste like a mouth full of toothpaste, it just tastes refreshing!
While I am drinking this hot at the moment (I prefer my morning teas to be hot), I think it would be very delicious iced too. However, it isn’t a tea that I’d recommend drinking too late in the evening (which I tend to do with iced teas), because it is a highly caffeinated beverage.
Instead, this is the kind of tea you’d want to drink early in the day when you need a super-charged boost of energy. This tea will do that for you, and without all the sugar of the typical energy drink in a can!