Steeping specs: 170° with one teabag in one cup of water for about 2 to 3 minutes
This green tea is a great responsible option for travelers who need the convenience of a teabag but don’t want to go with a low-quality commercialized option. This one has fair trade certified ingredients (tea leaves infused with jasmine that is also certified organic) and a biodegradable teabag. So there’s some social responsibility for you.
The tea water while steeping turns a yellowish color and immediately gives off a very very floral scent from all that jasmine. Jasmine is actually quite a piercing sent, unlike the green tea flavor in the tea (which I can’t smell at all due to the heady flower fragrance). This particular batch of jasmine flavor, though, is actually much more approachable than some that I’ve tried recently. It’s not so penetrating that you want to run and hide, and it doesn’t make you feel like a perfume shop. It just lingers around the tea and makes everything sweeter.
I should probably also mention that I am almost unable to taste any green tea flavor over the jasmine once I start drinking it. Not quite unable, though. I am finding a bit of astringency that could only come from the tea itself, and there are a couple of other notes that may be tea-related, although it’s a little hard to tell this point. In addition, the Jasmine actually makes this tea really really sweet, which means it doesn’t need sugar (making it even healthier to drink and even more convenient for traveling).
Overall I’d say this is a very exceptional option considering that it came from a tea bag (I try not to be too much of a loose leaf snob, but some teabags make it so easy). The leaves in the teabag are chopped up pretty finely but still manage to deliver excellent flavor, especially excellent Jasmine flavor.
I would be careful with the directions given on the packet though, since they’re a little unspecific. It says to boil your water and then allow to cool slightly before steeping. What you really need to do is allow to cool significantly to about 170-180° or you’re likely to end up with bitter tea. My tea was steeped at about 170F and is almost verging on bitter already. Of course you can always add sugar if it starts to get bitter too.
So as mentioned above, I think this is a great option for traveling, what with its socially responsible packaging and convenience of use (and higher-quality ingredients than other conveniently packaged teas), or you could even keep it around the house for a great flowery-tasting option when you’re in a hurry or don’t want to bother with loose leaves.
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Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Numi Tea
Description
This tea is not currently on the website but click below for teas that are.
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Caramel Apple Oolong V.2 from 52Teas. . . .
Charcoal baked oolong….interesting! Ive never heard of charcoal baked oolong before or seen it in any other blends so of course this was an intriguing blend to me.
The dry leaf of this one smelled like apple crisp! Once steeped, it smelled slightly grassy and like green apples. I’m not quite sure what charcoal tastes like, but I can taste a slight smokiness to this blend and i’m going to attribute it to the charcoal baked oolong. The taste also was slightly grassy like green tea and i’m going to attribute that to the oolong as well. As far as caramel goes, I could taste it as I swallowed and definitely on the aftertaste. But, cinnamon apple? Honestly I feel like the charcoal baked oolong and the caramel kind of overpowered the cinnamon apple flavor a bit. I really couldn’t detect as much of the cinnamon or the apple as I had been hoping for.
However, I did find this blend comforting and delicious regardless. It was perfect for being snowed in. I was also really glad I tried this oolong because now I can say I’ve had charcoal baked oolong! It just sounds so unique and it is definitely a must try. I saw that this blend was actually re-blend, as it was named “version 2”. I wish I had tried version 1 so that I could compare it, but I never had. In any case, I will definitely be finishing up my sample of this one and would recommend that you give it a try!
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
Some time ago, shortly after I started doing this thing as the Mad Tea Artist, one of my online friends suggested that I create a caramel apple Oolong and he suggested using a roasted Oolong base. I liked the idea but the thing was that Frank had already crafted a Caramel Apple Oolong using a Fujian Oolong. (Click here to read my original review* of that tea.)
So here is a tea that was previously imagined and then later re-imagined based on an inspiration from a tea friend. I started with a charcoal roasted TieGuanYin which is delightfully nutty and sweet. To this, I added a combination of freeze-dried apples: Granny Smith and Fuji (which, interestingly enough, are my two daughter’s favorite apples. Amethyst loves Granny Smith and Lilith loves Fuji.) I added some caramel essence and then – just because I felt that it needed some warmth, I added some cinnamon.
This is a tea that’s deliciously, apple-y sweet but also pleasantly spiced – with a creamy, nutty background of a truly delightful Oolong tea.
Taster size is approximately 15g
ingredients: oolong tea, organic apples, organic cinnamon and organic natural flavors
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Organic Red Chai from Steenberg’s Organics. . ..
I’m always super excited when I find Chai tea that is caffeine free. And when it’s made with rooibos or redbush tea it’s even better. Rooibos tea is so healthy, but drinking it plain isn’t always my favorite. But Chai spices definitely help mask the earthiness of plain rooibos. I brewed this tea and added a little raw sugar and a splash of coconut milk.
It’s a very mellow Chai, not spicy at all. This is the perfect tea for someone who isn’t a huge fan of spice. It’s a very soothing and warming chai, with all of the spices kind of blending together, nothing stands out or is too much.
Since this is caffeine free it’s also perfect to drink anytime of the day. It would be a really tasty after dinner tea.
I like that all of the ingredients including the spices are organic. This chai has redbush tea, cinnamon quills, cardamom pods, cloves, ginger, black pepper and lemongrass. Even though that seems like a lot of spices, as I mentioned it’s very mellow. I could still definitely taste the earthiness of the rooibos tea. So, if you like rooibos and chai, this is definitely the tea for you.
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Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Steenberg’s
Description
Steenbergs Organic Redbush Chai Tea combines with a delicious blend of Steenbergs organic spices with organic redbush tea to create our own wonderful organic redbush chai tea. You brew Steenbergs Organic Redbush Chai Tea in the same way as normal chai tea and can add sugar, honey or milk to taste.
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Fresh and Easygoing Green: Tian Mu Mao #FengGreen Tea from @Teavivre
There’s a lot of green teas out there: potent matcha, sour kukicha, toasted hojicha, or smoky gunpowder, to name just a few. After trying this offering from Teavivre, now I can add Feng Green tea to my list.
First of all, the leaves of Feng Green tea were unlike any of the green teas I mentioned. The Feng Green tea leaves were long and tightly curled, tangling into each other as I tried to scoop some tea into my teapot. This was certainly a different shape than the rolled pellets of gunpowder green, or the flattened hojicha leaves, or the powdered matcha.
The Feng Green dry leaf smelled lightly floral and just a touch sour, like an aged forest floor. There was just a hint of something spicier, like pine resin or citrus, almost making the leaves smell like a box of Christmas potpourri. Brewed, the tea is well-balanced, with the expected grassy green notes, a hint of sour fermentation, and a full scent and aftertaste of sweet apple and green grape.
I don’t often reach for green teas, but Feng Green from Teavivre was so drinkable and naturally sweet that I found myself making a cup to help take the edge off my long afternoons.
Try Feng Green when you need something pleasant and easygoing, like sitting on your porch and taking in the fresh grass of spring and the fresh fruits of summer.
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Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Description:
Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea is one of the ten famous Chinese teas. This Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea origins in organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain in Lin’an, Hangzhou. The organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain, has passed the organic certification of European, USA and Japan, is a significant base of planting organic dragon well and green tea. When brewing, it tastes light sweet and fragrance. In Chinese, Mao Feng refers to the hairy buds—to be covered by pekoes means a super quality of the tea leaves.
This Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea is produced by traditional manual frying method and the idea of modern crafts of tea making. Combined with the advantages of organic tea and high grade tea, it is suitable for tea lovers of organic tea,
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Don Quixotea by Novelteas
I steeped one very heaping teaspoon of dry leaves in one cup of 210 degree water for about 4.5 minutes. (I decided to be generous with the amount of leaves I put in, probably because it just smelled so amazing and I was in the mood for something strong.) I could see whole cloves and bits of cinnamon bark in the dry leaves of this tea–lots of them.
I always enjoy trying out new chai blends and seeing which spices come to the front and how the chosen spices blend together and so on. This one seems to be heavy on the spice bits and relatively light on the black tea bits, and the spices include plenty of cinnamon and ginger.
After steeping: Cinnamon does seem to be a prominent flavor, going by the smell of the steeped tea. It’s remarkably light in color for a chai, with a sweet rich smell (not just spicy but deeper and sweeter) and has an orangey tint also.
First sip: As foreshadowed by the scent, some of the spices are sweet! The sweet smoothness is what I notice first. The spiciness isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t hit until the sip reaches the back of the mouth. I think I’m mostly tasting clove, cinnamon, and ginger. (There’s pepper in the blend too but not too much.)
With milk: as expected, this delivers a much more well-rounded cup. It’s still not very spicy though. My personal preference would be to steep this one much stronger next time as I consider it fairly mild when steeped to these specs. And I’d probably steep it in milk instead of steeping it first and then adding milk.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description
Join book-lovers and tea-lovers alike and take up your arms to a cup of our traditional organic chai spices – red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!