Wise Ape Company might be best known for its Chocolate Hustle tea blend, a high-caffeine yerba mate blend, but recently, the Wise Ape has branched out to feature an assam black tea blend and an herbal blend as well. Orange Dreamsicle is the new herbal tea offering from Wise Ape.
I love the names and designs from Wise Ape, not to mention their videos featuring a big ape hand brewing tea. Orange Dreamsicle is a great name for a bedtime tea, evoking the flavors of a favorite ice cream bar.
The blend itself is very chamomile-driven, with the gentle lemony tones from that herb taking the lead. Behind the chamomile, I taste vanilla and orange as well, contributing to the creamy ice-cream-inspired flavors in the blend’s name. The vanilla and orange add sweetness without being too artificial or sugary; they are gentle yet flavorful and let you add more sweetness to suit your own tastes. For my personal preferences, I will say that I wish there was a bit more citrus and a bit less chamomile, but it makes sense that there is lots of chamomile for a sleepytime brew.
Smooth and easy-drinking, a great cup of tea to ease you into sweet dreams.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Wise Ape Tea Co.
Description: A dreamy blend of chamomile flowers with subtle hints of orange and cream, combined with adaptogenic super-herbs to support your nightly zen. This relaxing elixir is designed to calm the mind, ease the body, and help you sink into a restorative night’s sleep.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Peppermint Rooibos (and bergamot!) from Rishi Tea
Sometimes you need a clean and fresh cup of tea to help you relax or clear your mind. When I needed something like that, I reached for Peppermint Roobios from Rishi Tea. This was a new tea for me, though it didn’t feel out of my comfort zone. Peppermint and roobios: I know both of these ingredients and I know they make a fine combination.
When I brewed this tea, I read the packaging and noticed that there was another flavor in the blend as well: bergamot oil. Bergamot is what provides the citrus flavor in earl grey blends. This little citrus pop is what makes this blend appealing for me. It adds a brightness to the earthy red rooibos and a nice counterpoint to the cool peppermint.
This is a great naturally caffeine-free flavor for a day when you need something soothing. The citrus-mint combination makes this much more complex and enjoyable, with lots mouthfeel sensations from the sharp citrus, cool mint, and sour rooibos. This is a great all-purpose blend to brighten a grey day or help bring some cooling inspiration to a busy day.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Description:
Peppermint Rooibos makes a deep red infusion with a smooth, rich mouthfeel and fresh minty sweetness that underlines the finer points of peppermint. The slightest touch of bergamot harmonizes these herbs, highlighting the soothing aroma of peppermint with the sweet and silky character of rooibos.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Orange Spice from PaperBoxGoodies. . . .
One of my favorite things with the cold weather is being able to add spice to everything: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, the more the merrier! One of the best partners to all this spice, is juicy orange and citrus flavors. I love the idea of decorating my home with clove-studded oranges for the holidays to release their sweet and spicy aromas throughout the house. Not to mention, a nice slice of orange is the perfect garnish for a chai-based hot-toddy, with honey and lemon.
These are all the delicious orange and spice combinations I think of when brewing a cup of Orange Spice from PaperBoxGoodies. I’m not entirely sure what all is in this brew, since it’s not currently active on the PBG Etsy shop, but I believe it is an herbal blend from its amber color and sweet taste.
The best part of this blend is that the dry leaf does not contain hibiscus, so the tangy, pink herb can’t take over the blend. The orange is the main ingredient, adding plenty of sweet and tart flavor. This fruity, juiciness is balanced by a large helping of cinnamon, adding its warm, herbal tones. I think I see bits of ginger in the dry leaf, but the flavor is very gentle in the actual brew.
Juicy orange is the main flavor, closely followed by warm cinnamon. Neither ingredient gets too tart or too spicy, and they don’t overpower each other. It’s hard to go wrong with a classic taste combination like orange and cinnamon, so support a special tea Etsy shop and give one of the PaperBoxGoodies teas a try today.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: PaperBoxGoodies Etsy shop
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Vivacious Vitalitea by Vampyre Tea Company (Cup of Love). . . . .
Steeping: 3 g at 212° in 1 cup for two minutes. . .
This is my first tea of the day so let’s hope it lives up to its name! It’s a rooibos-based blend, but it does have green tea as well so it’s not caffeine-free.
As the tea steeps, I’m watching it and catching a sniff here and there. I’m catching some whiffs of rooibos fragrance and, leaning closer, some honeylike flavor as well (which I at first thought came from honeybush, although I later discovered honeybush does not seem to be in the ingredients list). The liquid is turning dark reddish orange and I notice that a few bits of tea have escaped the mesh as well. (I would recommend using a finer mesh if you don’t prefer having small bits in your tea). It also smells a little bit acidic. The first sip has an interesting hint of flavor that I can’t quite place – citrus maybe? Or perhaps it’s from the rose petal I saw in the tea leaves before steeping. The overall flavor is sweet and not bitter at all or very astringent either; the flavor is welcoming but not too exciting. It doesn’t need any sugar, though, because it’s already so sweet. This tea could be a nice intro to rooibos; it does have some other flavors such as rose petals too, but they’re not too overpowering so you can still taste the rooibos flavor.
It’s good with milk too! Adding milk was actually a very interesting experiment because it ended up bringing out a completely different side of the flavor profile. I’d almost think that I was drinking a totally different kind of tea! That doesn’t happen often (and I do almost always add milk to my tea so I have plenty of experience).
Overall, I’d say this is a great, enjoyable rooibos combination with plenty of sweetness, perhaps a little citrus and/or rose flavor, and definitely no need for sugar. And according to the label it’s also organic and fair trade!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Cup of Love
Description
A revitalizing blend of herbs, flowers, and Green & Rooibos Teas to give you a boost of energy throughout your day. Its effervescent flavor is smooth without the bitter crash of an energy
drink. It leaves the body feeling clean, refreshed, and renewed for all of life’s adventures.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cacao Shell Trio from Oliver Pluff. . . . .
The Oliver Pluff tea company focuses on colonial-styled teas, like those leaves thrown into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea party. But is also has a variety of other products like mulling spices, pressed tea cakes, and more. Being both an American history-lover and a tea-fanatic, I’ve had my eye on Oliver Pluff products for a little while, and this post-holiday shopping season seemed like the time to give them a try.
I ordered the Cacao Shell Trio from Oliver Pluff and it arrived promptly at my doorstep. The tins were as sleek and stylish as they appeared online, with nicely embossed, heavy paper labels, and dark metal lids. Careful when opening– these tins were filled to the brim!
According to Oliver Pluff, cacao shell tea was a big hit with our first First Lady, Martha Washington. Neither black tea nor coffee, cacao shells make for a roasty blend with chocolate overtones. I’ve reviewed other cacao shell tea on SororiTea Sisters before, and I’ll reiterate that I think they taste like chocolate-drizzled popcorn. The cacao shells are surprisingly more buttery and savory than you would expect. (Also, be aware that while the cacao shells don’t contain caffeine, they are technically stimulants, so make sure you brew this at a time that works around your sleep schedule).
The Cacao Shell Trio has three different blends, plan cacao shells, cacao and mint, and cacao citrus. The plan cacao shells were comparable to other cacao teas I’ve tried in the past, a nice change of pace for the coffee-lover, or a lower-calorie take on a warm, chocolate beverage.
In the cacao mint blend the mint was very strong, like a less-sweet peppermint mocha. It was a great blend to drink around christmas time, when everything is flavored like candy canes. I would advise not over-steeping this blend, or else the mint really takes over. Keep the steep times short to let the cacao shine through.
The cacao citrus blend had both cacao shells and orange peels. This was my favorite blend of the trio. The orange peels were mild, but helped add dimension to the chocolate cacao. This reminded me a bit of those chocolate oranges that come out around this time of year, or like some chocolate and orange pu erh teas I’ve tried in the past. The buttery cacao shells were a nice pair with the tart and fruity orange peels.
Overall this trio was a great purchase and I’ll have to give more Oliver Pluff products a try in the future.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Oliver Pluff
Description: Martha Washington enjoyed steeping the shells of roasted cocoa nuts from the cacao tree for the interesting flavor and health benefits.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!