Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Creamy Eggnog is part of our holiday series that encompasses a number of holidays from different religions. Many people might not think of eggnog as their number one choice for a Christmas flavor but Eggnog is particularly important in my family’s tradition of celebrating Christmas. Eggnog always marked the beginning of the Christmas season and was the last thing we would drink before we would try to go to sleep Christmas Eve. As a child, getting any sleep Christmas Eve would have been a miracle. There was always so much excitement and anticipation building. Creamy Eggnog pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with a rich creamy eggnog flavor. The tea and flavor work well with each other and neither overshadows the other. This tea is sweet with a heavy cream and eggy quality. Add a little brown crystal sugar and the tea becomes extremely creamy, rich, and very much like eggnog. Some vanilla notes become pronounced and so do the egg notes. We added safflower for a touch of red for a festive Christmas colored tea.
Ingredients: Organic Chinese Tea, Safflower, Organic Natural Flavoring
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 FLearn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Creamy Eggnog from Butiki Teas is a tea that I could drink anytime of day, all year long. I don’t need a holiday to sip on this creamy wonder!
There is such a sweet and subtle spice in this tea but the vanilla cuts it so that it does not come off on the palate as a spiced tea at all. I get just a hint of a note of nutmeg in the cup. The tea sits somewhat heavily on the palate and the mouthful is very creamy indeed. So unexpected from such a light colored tea, which is a clear, and pale, sunny yellow.
The base tea, Huangshan Mao Feng has a nutty, buttery flavor that truly compliments this blend.
Completely organic, and vegan this tea is sure to please anyone and everyone who tastes it.
An excellent flavor for the holidays or to satisfy that sweet tooth! Yes you can add rock sugar, or your favorite sweetener to it and it becomes even more decedent but if you are watching your sugar intake you really do not need it as this tea is stands on its own perfectly.
I tell you, this tea is screaming to be created into a latte with some frothed milk or milk substitute sitting on top! Add a little nutmeg or cinnamon – sinful … I’m going to go do that right now!
Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA Green Tea from UniqTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: UniqTeas
Tea Description:
Delicious nutty genmaicha blended with sweet succulent strawberry green tea. This is Azzrian’s blend. Azzrian loves genmaicha, and strawberry teas are her weakness, so she combined the two. A mix of nutty and sweet, just like her!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am so happy that I finally got around to trying Azzrian’s custom blend from UniqTeas! This Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA Green Tea from UniqTeas is so yummy! I enjoyed the first pot that I brewed of this tea that I made another pot … I’ve been drinking this all afternoon!
The blend that Azzrian created combines the deliciously sweet, toasty taste of genmaicha with the juicy, sweet taste of strawberry flavored green tea. The first few sips of this tea … I didn’t notice a strong strawberry presence and I actually found myself worried that I wouldn’t get a lot of strawberry taste out of this … and was feeling a little disappointed. But after about the fifth sip, the strawberry began to emerge and by the time I was near the end of the cup, I was really thrilled with the way the strawberry notes mingled with the toasty, warm notes of the genmaicha.
The mouthfeel is soft and smooth. The flavor of the green tea is light and slightly buttery, and the genmaicha gives it a deliciously nutty taste that is roasty-toasty and delicious. The strawberry is sweet and a little tart, and the flavors linger on the palate long into the aftertaste.
Another really enjoyable tea experience from UniqTeas! YUM!
Taiwan Muzha Ti Kuan Yin from Nuvola Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Nuvola Tea
Tea Description:
The saffron-coloured Muzha Ti Kuan Yin Tea has a light fruity aroma and a melting creamy mouth-feel. The flavors are strong and long-lasting even after several infusions, which leaves a sweet lingering sensation in the mouth.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Taiwan Muzha Ti Kuan Yin from Nuvola Tea is a complex, multiple layered taste exploration. It captures flavors of sweet, savory, salty, roasty, creamy, and more. There is an undeniable aroma that really captures the senses and makes you sit a moment, cup close to your nose, just breathing in its notes.
Nuvola Tea has some of the finest teas I have come across in my tea discovery. This is no exception. Hints of nuttiness capture my attentions first, followed by a creamy full mouthful and flavor that is captivating as well. While sweet berry notes dance about on my tongue the roasted backdrop comes into focus, but then the berry re-emerges once again. Its like a ferris wheel of flavors here! Flavor notes go up, then down, then round and round playfully dancing and playing on my palette.
Preceding infusions are just as delicious – I am up to infusion 5 and seem to be going strong even still. The berry notes are not as profound in later infusions but still nice when they peek through.
Granted there is a distinct woodsy flavor to this tea and I adore a woodsy roasty tea, but to me, what really springs forth the most is that wonderful berry note! Its so surprising and unexpected. Okay maybe the berry note does not spring forth the most, perhaps it is just that here I have one of my all time favorite flavor profiles of a dark roasted, nutty, woody, deep, oolong, and then that berry comes and zips in with its fresh note illuminating my cup. I mean its just so hard not to notice! Normally I go for a Dong Ding Oolong as my favorite but I am seriously considering this as a replacement for my most beloved oolong! I do have it on my wish list for future tea orders regardless and I look forward to many more infusions with this leaf to come!
Jade Oolong from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our Jade Oolong is a light-medium bodied tea that yields a buttery, pale-green liquor. We taste strong notes of cream and sweet corn.
Very well known among tea drinkers this semi-oxidized tea from the mountainous region of Nantou, Taiwan has a delightful flowery aroma, brisk flavor, smooth body, and fruity finish, all of which combine to make this a pantry stocker.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ohhhh Yes!! This is one of those teas that makes me realize how far I have come as a tea drinker. I remember not too long ago I began my loose leaf journey somewhat haphazardly. I was rather lucky to start off with some really good loose leaf teas but stumbled across a few that were subpar. Along my journey I have went up a few hills and down a few hills, but at the summit of this Mountain Tea is where all good things are found! A tea like this makes me appreciate how far I have come as a tea drinker and what a truly excellent tea experience feels like. Yes, feels like, not just tastes like. A truly excellent tea will make you feel something, be it excited, or refreshed, or soothed, some emotion accompanies the tea drinking experience, and sipping this tea is an experience.
Jade, from The Mountain Tea Company, is a delight! Fresh and refreshing, yet buttery and soothing. Vegetal green notes with the essence of steamed corn on the palate are some of the flavors that just spring forward. The after taste is lingering and delicious. There is somewhat of a high or tea drunk feeling that sneaks in rather quickly with this one. Things just slow down around you. I find myself not quite so annoyed by my doggies incessant barking at the neighbor’s dog, not quite so bothered by the television blasting noise from the other room, not quite so anxious. Through all that noise I rather am picking up on the birds chirping happily outside, the sun is streaming into the house more brightly, and I just feel peaceful.
Isn’t it amazing how this little leaf, from a simple plant, can make something so delicious? I am often bewildered, astounded, that these leaves can be so different, give off such rich flavors, so many varieties to delight us. It makes me want to start steeping everything green I find! I realize that may sound strange, or make no sense, but tea just amazes me. This tea amazes me.
As the tea cools the flavors become a little stronger and there is an almost numbing sensation in the mouth from a herbaceous note. The mouthfeel is lightly creamy. There are subtle notes of peach, somewhat on the bitter side, but enjoyable. A bit like a peach that is not quite ripe enough to be eaten yet but temping nonetheless. There is a subtle sweetness as well somewhat like honey but not cloying. A nutty note plays around but disappears quickly, lingering fresh asparagus, dandelion, and fresh flower notes prevail.
This is a light roast oolong that is tightly rolled and when steeped unfurls into lovely tips with two leaves. Quite beautiful.
Tea like this is why I drink tea!
Sencha Superior Uji from Zen Tea Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green, Sencha
Where to Buy: Zen Tea Life
Tea Description:
Sencha is the most commonly enjoyed variety of Japanese green tea. Sencha contains more of the beneficial nutrient Catechin than other green teas, because it is grown in full sunlight, thus it becomes yellow-green in color. Sencha tastes gently astringent and smells wonderfully fresh. Sencha is harvested three or four times a year. But with each harvest, the tea becomes slightly lower in quality. This is why the first flush, or Ichiban Cha, is the best. All of our Sencha products are made exclusively from Ichiban Cha. You will certainly be delighted with the fine and generously harmonized flavor of our Sencha.
Ingredients: Sencha, Matcha, Brown Rice, Puffed Corn.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The cup steeps into a clear, nearly neon green color. Its bright and cheery, and just what the doctor ordered on a foggy dreary day!
The flavor of this tea is deliciously green, vegetal, sweet, nutty, and fresh.
As described there is a light astringency to the cup but it does not become bitter if brewed correctly.
The directions say to use 1 to 2 teaspoons so I split the difference going 1.5 teaspoons however I am feeling I could have saved some leaf and went with just one. It is a strong tasting tea, not too strong, just strong enough that you don’t need as much leaf as you could use unless you want your sencha to really punch you in the face.
There is a wonderful fresh cut grass after taste that I adore! It lingers just like beautiful clean crisp blades of summer grass from a full lush lawn.
There is a nuttiness to the tea as well which is another of my favorite flavor notes. The matcha in the tea is noticeable in flavor but does not leave matcha “dust” in the bottom of your cup. This brings me to the following: One thing that does confuse me is that on the ingredients listing it says there is puffed rice, matcha, sencha of course, and brown rice, yet in the leaf itself I see none of this so it must be somehow mixed in here perfectly so it is not detected in the dry leaf. To the naked eye it looks simply like a beautiful deep green sencha. Or the labeling on my sample may be incorrect. Regardless, I can taste the flavor notes listed on the ingredients, I just can’t see them. What the label infers to me is a genmaicha.
What one can’t be confused about however is that this particular tea, is delicious.