Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Adagio
Tea Description:
You’ll lose your head over your loyalty to this kingly brew!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
WARNING: POTENTIAL GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS
(But really this is season one so if you’re not aware of this you might be living under a rock…)
I have to say, I’m quite happy I watched enough GoT to understand the character reference here! I’ve really only seen the first two seasons and part of the third. I think the ingredients picked out by this blender are pretty well thought out too; though I do think there might just be a bit more “Fire” than “Ice” – although to be fair there certainly are a lot of very visable candy cane pieces in the dry leaf. Aun-Juli Riddle is a pretty good blender; in particular her Doctor Who blends tend to be pretty good and well thought out.
This is essentially a Chai, though an unconventional one, so I wasn’t the most excited about this blend because I’m not a Chai fan myself, but it came out pretty tasty! The clove is easily the strongest flavour here, and since that’s the one ‘conventional’ Chai spice that I personally feel you can never have too much of that works very well in my favor.
The rest of the flavour is pretty nice too; there’s an even dispersal of ginger, cardamom and cinnamon with just the faintest little touch of smoke from the Lapsang. It’s not enough smoke for people who are fearful of Lapsang to be worried about, though. The candy cane isn’t as strong as I expected given how much I could see in the leaf and the fact that this is inspired by Ned Stark which obviously ties into the whole “Winter Is Coming”/Ice thing. It is present, but subtly so and it’s more acting as a sweetener than really contributing any strong mint flavour. The finish is a little bit peppery, with maybe a touch too much cardamom.
Overall I think this is better than most Adagio fan blends though; they tend to get pretty muddled because blenders pick out ingredients that are either too similar so there’s no contrast or playing off one another or they pick ingredients that fit the ‘character’ but clash with one another/don’t compliment each flavour. This kind of avoids that for the most part, while still being fairly thoughtful.
I definitely wanted more “ice” – but maybe it’s poetic irony that the “fire” was the most dominant thing…
Casablanca Twist by Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
An interesting twist on classic Moroccan Mint tea, which traditionally combines Gunpowder green tea from China with fresh mint. We kept the latter, and replaced the smoky notes of Gunpowder with the muscatel highlights of a Darjeeling from India. The result is very a refreshing cup, with bold, cool minty notes, smooth and relaxing texture and flavor. Very intriguing cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is a mint lovers dream! It screams mint from the moment you open the package until you take your last sip. I love mint teas. I especially love green tea with mint, but this tea takes the award for being the tea with the most mint flavor that I have ever had.
I picked this one up at the Chicago store when I was there for work a couple months ago. I had never had it but with it being a Darjeeling with mint, I knew I would love it. So I went with the 2 oz package. Glad I did.
I prepped this one up per the instructions on the bag, throwing a few more tsps in since I knew I wanted to try this one iced. (I’ve been in a huge iced tea sort of mood lately). So refreshing! I just shared a bacon breakfast with my boyfriend so this was the perfect tea to try right after that heavy meal.
The Darjeeling takes a step aside while the mint (which is peppermint) dominates this tea. I like it, just wish you could taste more of the base tea. But saying that, I think this would be a great base tea to mix with some herbal teas to bring out a brighter flavor or to spruce up a tea that you might not have liked the first go around. I have a few of those sitting around. This would also be a good one to have with some honey for a tea to drink while you aren’t feeling your best.
I can’t say that I would drink this tea by itself again, but I’m eyeing a package of Blood Orange herbal from Adagio that is right next to my computer and my brain is starting to create some other blends I could throw a tsp of this into to make a few new concoctions of my own.
Serenity Now Herbal from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
So maybe you burned dinner. Maybe the dishwasher broke. Again. Maybe you just forgot to hit “save.” Life is full of stressful surprises. But lucky for us, life is also full of tea. And this oh-so-soothing blend is a guaranteed one-way ticket to your happy place. It’s got serene strawberries, harmonious hibiscus and restful rosehips, all in a base of low-key lavender. So get that kettle started and brace yourself for the rush of calm. Bring it on, life. We got this.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Serenity Now is the April ‘Tea of the Month’ from DAVIDsTEA.
Despite really liking the tea’s description (except for the part that called hibiscus ‘harmonious’ – that part is a total fib) I was very skeptical about this blend; I don’t much care for lavender myself, and I couldn’t see it going well with the strawberry, blueberry or other fruity things in the blend either. However, the quince was certainly an intriguing aspect; I’ve only had one other Quince tea but I really, really enjoyed it. As well, I do quite like the pairing of strawberry and spearmint! So despite reservations, it was worth a go.
I purchased this one in store as a Tea To Go; I decided on iced because the associate I asked said that hot was better for relaxing to/brought out the lavender more and iced was more refreshing and fruity. I actually initially didn’t really taste the lavender at all; my first few sips were almost entirely strawberry with a bit of a crisper spearmint backdrop. Hints of blueberry were present as well. The rosehips/hibiscus in this are pretty toned down; I think they just contributed a very slight tartness that blended in near seamlessly with the natural tang of the strawberry. Sadly, I didn’t pick up on the quince at all which is probably what I was most excited about.
About half way through drinking this one I sort of couldn’t help but burp a little bit? Something wasn’t sitting quite right with me and it resulted in this weird hiccup/reflux sort of cross. And that’s when I started to taste the lavender. Every time I’d ‘hiccup’ I get this flood of gnarly lavender flavour in my mouth. Very strong; borderline perfume-y. So, I’d take another sip to get my the taste out of my mouth – and then like thirty seconds later it’d hit me again and I’d get that nasty lavender breath. Repeated the cycle until the tea was gone – and then a few minutes later I was fine again.
Overall; this was better than anticipated for sure – I thought that the strawberry in particular was well executed, and the spearmint pairing definitely made for a light, fun fruity treat. It wasn’t “in your face” juicy – just a nice, softer and very refreshing drink like the associate I spoke to had described. I’d be interested in trying this one again to see if the same reflux type thing happened again – if it’s something caused by the lavender and going to be a regular occurrence when I drink this tea, then that definitely negatively impacts how I view this one (that lavender breath was NASTY), but if it was a one time deal then I think I could maybe get behind this one a bit better because the floral aspects were pretty in check, hiccups aside.
Green Tea & Peppermint from Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Description:
Everything that goes in our teas is organic and traditionally grown at the farm. Just like the peppermint in this amazing blend. As green tea boosts the metabolism and reduces appetite, it may help burn calories. Meanwhile, peppermint can improve your workouts by allowing higher brain oxygen concentration and reducing lactate build-up, while also helping your digestion. Oh, did we mention it smells and tastes delicious, hot or on ice?
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I generally enjoy minty teas, but I especially like it when the mint isn’t so powerful that it ends up tasting more like mouthwash than tea. This Green Tea & Peppermint from Chiang Rai Tea House has got the balance of flavors just right!
It’s minty, but not overly so. It is more like a soft, subtle whisper of mint that accents the sweet green tea. It has that cool, refreshing flavor that I want from mint teas, but, I’m tasting more green tea here than I’m tasting mint and for that, Chiang Rai Tea House gets bonus points.
The green tea leaves are large and whole and I could see the fine, fuzzy hairs on the leaves. I was kind of surprised at the appearance of the leaves because I’m used to Chinese or Japanese green teas that are much greener – these are a pale green with silvery tips! In fact, these looked more like a Bai Mu Dan tea than most green teas I’ve seen.
Then again, these tea leaves are from Thailand and I can’t say that I’ve experienced a whole lot of teas from Thailand.
But I like what I’m tasting – I’m enjoying this tea a lot! It’s sweet and it tastes fresh and lightly vegetal. The vegetal notes aren’t so much like grass. It has a slight ‘hay-like’ flavor (another nod to the previous Bai Mu Dan comparison) and there are notes of sweet fruit – evoking thoughts of honeydew melon.
A really surprising tea on many different levels. And it’s been a very happy set of surprises! A really delightful tea!
Ginger Twist Herbal Tisane from Sloane Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Tea Description:
This tea is incredibly warming and comforting. A herbal blend that’s both sweet and spicy. Lemongrass gives a dominant , but smooth, citrus flavour. Hints of mint and tropical fruit blend seamlessly, making individual ingredients subtle to detect. The sweet comforts of the liquorice root coat the throat and help the flavours of the tea linger.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I admit that I entered into my experience with this Ginger Twist Herbal Tisane from Sloane Tea with a little bit of intrepidation because I had heard from a friend of mine who is also an Amoda Tea subscriber that she was a little less than thrilled with this tea. And after reading the ingredient list, yeah, I was a little nervous about this one.
What’s In It: Lemongrass, mint, ginger, ginseng, licorice root, apple, papaya, citrus peel, cornflower petals, natural flavour.
Lemongrass, mint, ginger? OK. Ginseng … ugh. Licorice root – in most cases, I’d be enthusiastic about it, but it’s been my experience when ginseng and licorice root are blended together the result is a flavor that … evokes thoughts of dirty socks. The rest of the flavors seemed OK to me. It’s the ginseng with the licorice root that was causing my anxiety about this blend.
But, despite my intrepidation, the tea beckoned to me to try it and since my friend was asking for suggestions on how best to brew and serve this tea, I figured I needed to try it.
What’s the worst that could happen? Since I’m not allergic to any of the ingredients, an allergic reaction isn’t the worst thing that could happen and I trusted Amoda Tea not to send me poison so I didn’t fear for my life if I were to drink this tea. I surmised that the worst thing that could happen is that I hate this and after I take a sip or two, I unceremoniously dump the rest of it down the drain.
So I brewed it. I decided to go with a ‘light’ brew and only steeped it for 6 minutes rather than my usual 8 – 10 minutes for a non-hibiscus tisane. Then I let it cool for a few minutes and took my first sip.
Here goes…
This isn’t horrible. As suggested by Amoda in the above description, it is a warming drink. The ginger is the strongest component to the cup and the peppery warmth of the ginger is accentuated by the snappy flavor of the licorice root.
Fortunately, it doesn’t taste of dirty socks. Or what I think dirty socks might taste like if I were to brew them. This is not something that really appeals to me so I’ve never actually attempted to brew my socks. Plus, I usually wear wool socks and if I were to put them in boiling water, the wool might fuse.
The lemongrass and mint are very subtle to the point where it’s really difficult to identify them in the sip. If I had been given this brewed tisane blindly – not knowing what was in it – and then asked what I ingredients I thought were in it based on what I was tasting, I don’t know that I would immediately pick up on the lemongrass and the mint. I would definitely pick up on the ginger and the licorice. I wouldn’t notice the apple or papaya, nor would I immediately notice the citrus peel.
Now that I’m about halfway through the cup, I do notice some light citrus-y tones to this. I can also taste the faint earthiness of the ginseng, which I find myself wishing wasn’t there. If I inhale sharply so that a breath of air floats over my palate after I take a sip, I can taste some minty notes, but I don’t actually get much of anything that resembles mint in the sip unless I slurp the sip, and even then, it’s more like a faint hint of mint that could just as easily be mistaken for a faint hint of basil in this tisane.
Overall, I have to say that this isn’t my favorite cuppa from Amoda Tea. Rarely am I disappointed by a tea from Amoda (they’re my favorite subscription) and I don’t know if I’d say that I find this tea disappointing but rather, I’d say it’s perplexing and not necessarily in a good way. I think that there are about a hundred other tisanes out there in this great big world of tea that Amoda could have chosen for the box that I would have appreciated more than I have this.
But I guess they can’t all have me jumping for joy, can they?