Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Arum Tea
Tea Description:
A sweet and malty flavor that jolts the taste buds, with a caramel undertone and a floral finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have to admit that I was a little surprised when I opened this package of tea. The black tea leaves have been rolled into pellets much like the other teas from Arum Tea that I’ve tried. Why then, did it surprise me to see that this tea has been processed similarly to the others? I guess, mostly, because I’m not accustomed to seeing black tea leaves wound into pellets like this.
The leaves are a dark chocolate-y brown but otherwise look a lot like a Tie Guan Yin type Oolong. The leaves have been wound into small pellets and they have a warm, nutty aroma. Slightly sweet, slightly earthy.
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch. I measured out 2 bamboo scoops of dry leaf into the basket and added 500ml of water. I set the parameters for 205°F and 2 1/2 minutes. The tea brews up to a rich coppery color. The brewed tea has a sweet, nutty, earthy scent that is similar to the dry leaf, although this is a bit softer.
Mmm! This tastes so good. It’s a very rewarding taste. I am finding it reminiscent of a Nilgiri tea because it has a rich, malty tone to it, although it’s not quite as robust as a Nilgiri would be. It is somewhere between a Nilgiri and an Oriental Beauty Oolong. I’m experiencing some of the texture and nutty flavor of an Oriental Beauty while I’m getting that delightfully smooth, malty flavor and rich, buttery caramel-y note from the Nilgiri.
I’d recommend drinking this straight up. While most black teas take the addition of milk and honey well, I think that this tea would be overwhelmed by the additions and the nuances of this tea should be enjoyed to their fullest! For that reason, I wouldn’t make this that first cup of the day. Instead, this would be an excellent choice for a little later in the morning or early afternoon, when you want a delicious pick me up.
The second infusion of these tea leaves was also quite enjoyable – definitely worth the effort of resteeping! This tea is really delightful. It’s a bit different from the typical black tea and that’s what makes it so remarkable. Everyone should try this.
Chocolate Orange Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Caffeine-free organic honeybush blended with organic cacao nibs, freeze-dried orange sections, marigold petals and organic chocolate and orange flavors. I was a bit reluctant to offer a chocolate tea outside of traditional hot tea drinking weather, but one of my helper elves insisted there is no wrong time to make a chocolate tea. After tasting this delicious blend, I have to say I totally agree with her.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I could smell the orange as soon as I opened the pouch! The chocolate notes are less apparent than the orange but then again … oranges are a bit more fragrant than a bar of chocolate. The dry leaf has a lot of petals (these don’t really affect the flavor) and little chunks of cacao nib and dried oranges combined with the oxidized organic honeybush leaves.
When I brew honeybush (or it’s South African “cousin” rooibos), I usually brew it in my Breville One-Touch tea maker and that’s how I brewed this. I measured out 3 bamboo scoops of the tisane and put it in the basket of the tea maker, and then I poured in freshly filtered water up to the 500ml mark. I set the settings to 195°F and 10 minutes and then I left it alone to do its thing. That’s what I love so much about the One-Touch … you just put the tea and water into it, set the settings and the tea maker does the rest! Ten minutes later, I had a pot of Chocolate Orange flavored Honeybush!
The orange notes are a little softer in the brewed liquid, and I can smell notes of chocolate as well as notes of honeybush. It smells sweet, orange-y, chocolate-y and nutty.
The flavor is similar to the fragrance. The sip starts with sweet, orange-y flavors. Then I notice the nutty, honeyed flavor of the honeybush and notes of chocolate. I wish that the chocolate notes were stronger – but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, that wish should come as no surprise to you. I always want more chocolate. More chocolate = better. Always.
As it is though, I feel that the chocolate notes here are lacking. The orange is such an abundant flavor and it seems to overwhelm the chocolate a bit.
Oh, it’s still quite a tasty blend, but this is definitely more orange than it is chocolate. I like how the honeybush melds with these flavors – the nutty, earthy notes of the honeybush work well with the richness of the cacao notes and the sunny notes of orange.
It’s a sweet, dessert-y type of tea, and because it’s naturally caffeine free, this would be a great late night snack for those who are looking for something sweet but don’t want to indulge. This is guilt free sipping!
Just Perfect Peony White Tea from Just.Organic.Tea.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Just.Organic.Tea
Tea Description:
Find your “Zen Moment” with this perfect cup of premium organic white tea.
Taster’s Review:
It seems like it’s been a while since I’ve had a pure, unadulterated White Peony tea. It’s such a lovely tea to enjoy in the evening, because it tastes lighter and it doesn’t leave me feeling overstimulated the way a black tea does. I know that there has been a lot of debate over the caffeine content in the different types of tea, but what I know from the years of experience I’ve had drinking the tea is this: most black teas are much more invigorating than most white teas.
I find that this is true with just about any other tea. You can replace “black tea” with Oolong or Green tea and these two tea types are more invigorating for me than most whites. And you can keep the black tea in it’s place in the original statement and interchange “white teas” with just about any other tea type and the statement would still be ringing true for me.
And that’s why I generally enjoy my black teas earlier in the day when I don’t mind the stimulation, and then I drink less stimulating teas later in the day. White teas I generally keep for evening because they are gentle and calming.
And this White Peony from Just.Organic.Tea. is quite lovely. It’s smooth, sweet and refreshing. I’m picking up on flavors that I don’t always pick up on with Bai Mu Dan teas like this. I’m picking up on the familiar flavors like a light vegetal tone and a pleasing fruit note (a delicate melon note) and the crisp, airy note that reminds me of the air after a cooling rain. How the air is still moist and sweet from the rain.
But I’m also tasting lettuce. I don’t always pick up on a lettuce note, but this Organic White Peony definitely has a crisp lettuce note that is really rather refreshing. As I sip it, it evokes thoughts of summertime and eating a fresh, crisp salad on a hot summer day. I’m thinking of how refreshing that salad is on a day like that and this tea is very much like that. But without the tomatoes, croutons and salad dressing. Just the refreshing, crisp, replenishing sort of taste.
You get what I’m saying, right?
A really excellent pure white tea from Just.Organic.Tea. At the moment, I don’t see this tea on their website. I don’t know if this one has been permanently removed from their collection or if it’s temporarily sold out. If you’re interested in getting some of this tea to try for yourself, try contacting the company to find out what the status is of this tea. I’ve found this company to be very prompt with their responses and very friendly too! The kind of company I like to deal with!
Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Golden Tips Black Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
An incredible black tea made entirely of young buds, the smoothest black tea we have tried with a refined malty taste and no bitterness or astringency.
We are proud to source all our Nepal teas direct from Greenland Organic Farm, who are very much at the forefront of a burgeoning Nepali tea industry dedicated to producing high quality artisanal teas. Greenland Organic Farm are completely pesticide and chemical free farm dedicated to producing tea in an ethical and fair manner. Greenland Organic Farm is located in East Nepal in the shadows of Mt. Kancghenjunga at an altitude of 3,000m.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh my goodness, these Golden Tips from Nepal are so lovely!
The dry leaf is visually stunning. The coloration of the leaves vary from a chocolate brown to a golden brown. The tips are golden (as the name implies!) It’s very fragrant, smelling of fruit and flower with notes of earth. The brewed liquid smells much like the dry leaf.
I steeped this tea in my Breville One-Touch using 500 ml of freshly filtered water and 2 bamboo scoops of tea. I steeped it at 205°F for 2 1/2 minutes and … the tea tastes simply amazing!
Honey! Malt! Cacao! Caramel! Sweet notes of fruit! Hints of flower!
The mouthfeel is pleasant. Thick and smooth, it feels a little bit like thinned honey as the tea glides over the palate. And it tastes like honey too. This tea is rich and full-flavored.
The malty notes marry beautifully with the caramel-y undertone to create a rich, satisfying sweetness. The notes of cacao are bittersweet. As I continue to sip, I start to pick up on warm notes of spice. This is a cozy tasting tea and as the weather has finally begun to cool the warmth from this tea is certainly welcome. It’s a cozy, comforting cup of tea to enjoy.
Many of the Nepalese black teas that I’ve tasted are more reminiscent of Darjeeling but not so with this one. This doesn’t have that crisp, lightness of a Darjeeling, instead, this is richer, reminiscent perhaps of a Golden Yunnan or a Fujian Black.
This tea is also good for two infusions, so be sure to re-steep those leaves and get all the flavor you can out of them! The second infusion is just as delightful as the first!
This is not a tea that I would reach for on the mornings when I need to get up and go. Instead, this is the tea I’d want to reach for on the mornings when I can curl up under a fluffy blanket and just relax a little. The kind of tea that you want to linger over for a while because it tastes so good that you don’t want the cup to end!
It is as I said at the start: this is oh-so-lovely!
Green Pineapple Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Enjoy our tasty low-caffeine Green Pineapple tea any time of day. This sweet and refreshing tea mixes organic green loose-leaf tea leaves with tropical flavors of pineapple, mango and papaya. Pour over ice, add a splash of fresh pineapple juice and crushed mint for a deliciously unique summer beverage.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The first thing that I want to say about this Green Pineapple Tea from The Persimmon Tree is that it’s a very forgiving tea! I brewed this tea in my Kati Tumbler and after I poured in the hot water (180°F), I forgot to set the timer! Normally, I’d steep this for 2 minutes, but I’m quite sure that it brewed longer than that, probably closer to 3 1/2 to 4 minutes! But as I sip this tea, I am detecting no bitterness. It’s sweet and fruity and delicious!
I had expected some bitterness from an oversteeped green tea, but, I’m not getting any. There is a slight astringency to the cup, but even then, I’m experiencing less astringency than I expected from it.
What I am experiencing is a fresh, vibrant tea with delightful tropical fruit notes. The green tea is sweet and vegetal. The vegetal note is somewhere between a grassy taste and steamed spinach. There is a light creaminess to it too. Somewhat buttery.
The pineapple offers a sweet-tart flavor and it is complemented with a little more tropical flair with notes of mango and papaya. It’s a pleasant medley of tropical fruit that sends your taste buds on an exotic getaway!
When served warm, I find this to be very relaxing and soothing. And it’s especially tasty iced.