Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Design A Tea
About Design A Tea:
Design a Tea brings choice to the marketplace. The simple concept of offering choices is the number one difference between Design a Tea and other artisan tea blending companies. Who doesn’t like choices in life? The feeling of creating and personalizing a product you order. We want consumers that deal with us to know they are dealing with a caring company. Caring, in that we hand package each order, and we pride ourselves on customer service. It doesn’t stop there.
Design a Tea even cares about the environmental issues around us. We use recycled paper products, labels, even environmentally friendly inks. We make every attempt to purchase from Tea Wholesalers that support Ethical Tea Partnerships (ETP) with the growers. We try and purchase organically grown teas when possible. All our flavorings are 100% from natural, organic and gluten free!!
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried several of Design A Tea’s signature blends, but, I had not, until now, designed a tea for myself. And since they make it so easy to do so (it costs just $1.00 for shipping to create 2 of your own samples!) I decided to finally go for it.
This is the first of the two teas I created for myself – a green tea flavored with apple and hazelnut flavors. My “Pacific Northwest” blend. And it’s really yummy!
The apple flavor is reminiscent of a green apple, it’s a little tart and has a juicy, sweet apple-y flavor. The hazelnut is a bit more subtle, although I suspect I should have allowed the flavoring to settle onto the leaves a little longer than I did – I was just so excited to try it out! With my next sample, I think I’ll wait at least a couple of weeks before I try it, so that the flavors have a chance to absorb.
But as it is, the tea is quite delicious. The green tea tastes light, and there isn’t a strong grassy taste. Instead, it just tastes fresh and it marries quite nicely with the green apple flavor.
If you’ve not yet tried designing your own tea with Design A Tea … well, all I have to say to that is: What are you waiting for? It’s affordable and fun … and who knows, you might just discover a phenomenal new flavor combination!
Douglas Fir Tip Tea from Juniper Ridge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Product Description:
When my first herbal-medicine teacher had us try Douglas Fir tea on a class camping trip, I thought it would taste, well, like a tree. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by its refreshing, lemony flavor and sweet, forest-like aroma. This tea is made from 100% Douglas Fir spring tips from the coastal mountains of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Nothing else has been added to it, so you can experience the pure, wild taste and foresty aroma of this distinctly Northwestern wild herb delicacy.
Taster’s Review:
This is definitely one of the more unusual teas that I’ve encountered in a long time. It is so unusual – at least to me! – that I was quite unsure if I really wanted to try it. I am glad that my hesitancy finally gave way though, because, I am really enjoying this tisane.
This tea smells like outside. I mean… seriously, it smells like my back yard! I live in the Pacific Northwest and the Douglas Fir Tips that were harvested to make this tea were harvested in this area (as well as Northern California). I’m surrounded by Douglas Fir trees!
But it doesn’t taste the way I expected it to taste. Not that I really knew what I expected it to taste like. I guess I expected it to taste like wood. Like smoke, maybe? Or perhaps even a little damp (it sometimes gets a little damp up here) But it doesn’t taste woody, or smoky or even damp.
The overall taste is light. It has a sweet lemony taste to it as well as a background of a mint-like flavor. But… it isn’t quite mint, if that makes sense. It is as though someone attempted to duplicate the taste of peppermint and wintergreen and didn’t quite make it, but got real close. It tastes winter-y and fresh.
What this really tastes like to me is the way the air feels when my husband and I visit the Columbia Gorge. We get out, walk among the trees and enjoy the crisp, clean air. And that is what this tastes like. Crisp, clean and fresh. Slightly sweet and invigorating – like a walk through the woods!
I like this tisane, and it is one I am very glad I had the opportunity to taste. I like it so much, in fact, that it is one that I could see myself keeping in stock – it has such a refreshingly different flavor!