Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Design a Tea
Tea Description:
A nice hardy blend of pumpkin and nutmeg with a black tea base. Served hot, will fill the room with the aroma of a “beautiful pumpkin”. Those were his words- I know, lame! .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I hate to admit it, but I have a double standard when it comes to tea names. I absolutely hate it when a company will skirt around what type of tea something is, “It’s a deeply shaded fukamushi sencha harvested in the summer, steamed to perfection.” I get it. Just say it’s a gyokuro already! But when it comes to blended and flavored teas, the more ridiculous the better.
That is why I had to try this tea from Design a tea. I have so many questions. Why is this pumpkin angry? What happened in this tea’s life to make it so furious? Will it make me angry when I drink it? There is only one way to find out.
I brewed up 5g in my 12oz teapot for around 4 minutes. The resulting brew was like an autumn hug. Usually pumpkin flavorings fall short for me, but in this tea, the pumpkin was at the forefront of the brew. Luckily, it wasn’t an aggressive pumpkin. It was sweet and complimented the spices and the black tea base.
I suppose you cannot have a pumpkin tea without putting in some pumpkin pie spices. This particular blend highlighted the use of nutmeg. It was a good idea in theory, but the blend also had cinnamon chips. Yes, it is listed as the last ingredient, but the cinnamon tried it’s hardest to overpower the nutmeg. Throughout all this fighting for attention, what I get is a sweet slice of pumpkin pie. For my first fall-themed tea of the year, it definitely gets me pumped up for more. Bring it on!
I still don’t know what makes this pumpkin so angry, and the other flavors are not that aggressive either. The black tea base is mellow, sweet, with notes of sweet potato. This is a tea with a soothing profile, but I think the name Mellow Pumpkin would not sell as well. Thankfully, it did not make me angry to drink it, and I happily gulped down my pot of Angry Pumpkin to celebrate the beginning of October!
Passion Fruit Flavored Rooibos Blend from Octavia Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Octavia Tea
Tisane Description:
Lemon myrtle is more lemony than a lemon itself. If you didn’t know that already, this tea will show you! The citrus hits you, mingles with the tropical fruit and continues to linger. The hibiscus plays its part in adding beautiful colour and a tartness that tones down the sweetness of the tropical fruit, creating a more true fruit flavour.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of this Passion Fruit Flavored Rooibos Blend from Octavia Tea really blew me away! It smells AMAZING! The combination of the passion fruit, peach and mango essences, together with the notes of citrus from the lemon myrtle … create a really ambrosial fragrance that … knocked my socks off!
OK … so my socks are still on, but you get what I’m saying, right?
And … I’m loving what I’m tasting here too. This is really yummy. But … for the purists out there who think that tea should taste like tea and not like a sweet, fruity drink … this tisane is NOT for you! This is a sweet, fruity drink!
In fact, one of the things I like best about it is that I’m not tasting much of the rooibos base. As I’ve said on numerous occasions, I’m not a big fan of the woodsy tasting herb. Here, just hints of the nutty, honeyed taste of rooibos comes through.
And I’m also happy to say that even though I steeped this for seven minutes, I didn’t get a heavy hibiscus note … nor did I get that heavy syrupy thickness that comes with steeping hibiscus a long time. The hibiscus here has been thoughtfully blended … adding just enough to give the cup just a touch of tart flavor without overpowering the blend.
The lemon-y notes from the lemon myrtle is bright and flavorful, and it really perks up the other fruit notes. The passion fruit, the peach and the mango … make delightful partners in this blend … so sweet and juicy!
This is a tisane that kids would love because it has a lot of sweet, fruity flavor. And it would certainly be better for them than that sugar-y soda … not only would it be less sugar, but rooibos have some great health benefits, as does hibiscus. And I love that the ingredients in this tisane are organic, too!
A really tasty tisane! This one gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from me.
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, October’s Shipment, Part 4: T.T.E.S. No. 18: Ruby Black Tea
Leaf Type: Black
Produced By Yuan Shiang
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
This is an incredible black tea, unlike others I’ve tasted. And that is something that I am enjoying so much about the Global Tea Taster’s Club: it offers the amazing opportunity to try teas that I probably would not have otherwise tasted, and these teas never fail to impress!
And this Ruby Black Tea is certainly impressive. It brews up incredibly dark, and the aroma of the brewed liquor is fascinating. It has a spiced tone to it that intrigues me, beckoning me to take a sip.
The tea is strong and intensely flavored. In one sip, I taste notes of earth, fruit, malt, spice and even the slightest hints of smoke. Each of these flavors meld together so well. There is a pleasing sweetness to the cup too, somewhat caramel-y as it melds with the malty tones, but I wouldn’t really characterize it as a caramel undertone in comparison to other black teas that I’ve tasted. That is to say, it’s not like a buttery caramel flavor, it is more like burnt sugar, sweet but with a hint of bitterness to it as well. There is a fair amount of astringency to the cup – not too much, but it is certainly noticeable.
This tea offers two very splendid infusions (perhaps more!), the first tasting bold and hearty, while the second is a bit smoother with more malty notes. This is a very pleasant black tea, and one that I’m very honored to have tried and to be able to recommend to others.
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, October’s Shipment, Part 3: Chi-Sin Oolong Tea
Leaf Type: Oolong
Produced By GoeTea
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
Have I mentioned lately how much I love the Global Tea Taster’s Club? I have absolutely loved every single tea that I’ve tried thus far (all five in the first shipment, and so far, I’ve tried 3 of the four teas sent in the second shipment), and I also love that it not only offers me the opportunity to try these teas that I would likely never have tried otherwise, but it also offers the opportunity to learn more about the teas and the processes each tea undergoes through the literature that is included with each shipment.
With this October Shipment (where we “visit” the tea farms of Taiwan), we received two teas from GoeTea. The first was the Oolong Tea with a High Degree of Fermentation, and in comparison, this tea is much sweeter and less on the savory side. Whereas the Oolong Tea with a High Degree of Fermentation had a consistency and flavor that reminded me a bit of a thin broth, this one has a heady, floral aroma and a flavor to match.
Hints of sweet apple linger in the distance, along with a honey-esque undertone. The floral notes remind me a bit of honeysuckle – so much so it evokes memories of springtime at my gramma’s house … where the honeysuckle bloomed and the Santa Ana winds would come in and sweep that fragrance through the air.
Definitely a lovely tea to sip and to recall fond memories!
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, October’s Shipment, Part 1: SiaoSyue – Winter Jin Syuan
Leaf Type: Oolong
Produced By Dignitea Garden
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
October’s shipment of teas for ITFA’s Global Tea Taster’s Club brought me teas produced in Taiwan. And when I think of teas from Taiwan, I immediately think Oolong! And, yes, this shipment featured three different Oolong teas (as well as one Black tea). Yay! I do love Oolong!
And of course, my favorite Oolong is Ali Shan! And so what better way to start off these tastings from October’s shipment than with an Ali Shan Oolong?
This Ali Shan Jin Shuan SianSyue Oolong from the Dignitea Gardens is the first tea that I selected from my October package, and it is LOVELY. It has a remarkably light roast to it, giving it a hint of nutty, buttery flavor without a strong roasty-toasty taste. 
It is remarkably fragrant, with a beautiful floral note that reminds me of something between orchid and lily. This floral note translates to the flavor, but while the floral taste is there, it is in keeping with the overall lightness to the cup, and does not overwhelm.
In one sip, I notice not only the delightful floral notes, and the nutty flavor, but hints of buttered popcorn, and a very subtle undertone of spice. For such a light tea, there is a surprising amount of flavor and body to the cup.
This tea is a perfect example of why I adore Ali Shan so much.