Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Piper & Leaf
Tea Description:
This tea is rich and creamy, with bright elements of peaches and apricots. A black tea base, blended with locally grown peaches, apricots, papayas, pineapples, hibiscus, and vanilla. Smooth over ice, brighter served hot. Delicious with a dash of milk! Brew this tea for 3.5-4 minutes. Taste develops nicely as the pot sits(after loose leaf is removed) so make a pot and enjoy the journey. This tea is lightly caffeinated.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about their Tea of the Month program here.
Taster’s Review:
I wish we had a tea shop where I live. About the extent we have are grocery stores and some coffee shops around the area. So when I see shops like Piper & Leaf, I seem to get a wee bit jealous. This has to be one of the cutest shops I’ve seen online in a while. They even sell these very cool drinking jars with their logo on them. (Those might just end up in my cart one of these days)
This tea smells like peach candy! It smells fruity and brews up to a very pretty amber color. I made this tea up per their instructions and then dumped the tea into a huge glass of ice. First taste and I was surprised. I’m not picking up the intended peaches’n cream sort of flavor. This tea comes across as being very tart. I am for sure picking up the hibiscus that is in this blend. It almost seems to over take the tea, which makes me sad. From the description this tea sounds like it would be a great light tea for the summer. The pineapple flavor is also there and shows up more and more as I drink the tea. The black tea base is also pretty overwhelming, giving the tea a slight astringent factor. It is good, just not what I was hoping for. I am completely missing the Peaches ‘N Cream flavor.
I wish the tea tasted more like what the name of it is. A great iced Peaches ‘N Cream tea would be fantastic for the summer. I wonder if it would be better with a green tea base. . . or maybe even a green rooibos base. . .
I probably just need to try again and shake the bag up more. This little bump is in no way going to stop me from placing an order for some more samples. There are some tasty looking blends on their site that I think I just have to try!
NOTE: The second infusion was a lot better than the second. I added in another scoop of tea as well. The creaminess shone thru and the vanilla became a star. I think if you “monkey” around with the steepings and a few other variables a bit you can pull out the Peaches ‘N Cream flavor.
California Sweet Peach Herbal Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Sweet orange peel roasted in honey, real grade-A Madagascar vanilla beans, actual peaches! California Sweet Peach is our signature herbal infusion. We are proud to roast our own orange peel in local honey and use peaches straight from California! Our natural peach flavor is supplied by Silver Cloud Estates and is a blend of different natural extracts and oils, enabling us to boost the taste of peaches. This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends. Note: California Sweet Peach contains no tea, as it is an herbal infusion. We chose to include the term “herbal tea” in the title due to its categorical popularity.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This California Sweet Peach Herbal Tea from M&K’s Tea Company is an interesting tisane. As I sit here, sipping it, I’m trying to determine whether or not I like it. I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I was blown away by it. At the same time, I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I wasn’t intrigued. I felt the need to keep on sipping. It’s interesting enough to keep me sipping but there’s something about it that hasn’t yet ‘won me over’ – at least not yet.
I like that the hibiscus is not a strong presence in this cup. Normally, when I am about to taste a tea or tisane with hibiscus, my thought is “why?” Why hibiscus? But, after drinking about half a cup now, I can see why the hibiscus is in this blend. It adds a little bit of body to the cup (but I wouldn’t recommend steeping it longer than 6 minutes or so to avoid having a thick or syrupy body) and the little bit of tartness that it brings to the cup adds balance to the warm notes of the licorice and the sweetness of the peach, honey and vanilla notes.
The star of this cup is – obviously – the peach. I like the flavor of the peach here and I think that’s what’s keeping my interest. The peach is a genuine peach-y note. It doesn’t taste chemical or artificial. It tastes true to the fruit. I also like the orange in this. The orange adds a touch of bright flavor to the sweet peach notes.
Now that I’ve finished the cup I can say that I enjoyed this. It had a strong peach flavor but there was enough other stuff going on in this that it didn’t end up being all about the peach. I liked the different flavors going on. And even though this does have hibiscus in it – like so many other fruit/herbal tisanes to – this is not your ordinary tisane.
Just as an aside: it’s something when I finish the tea before I finish the review. Take that for what it’s worth, but it doesn’t happen often. I must have enjoyed what I was drinking!
Yeah. I’d drink this again. I enjoyed it. This one has earned my approval. Even if it does have hibiscus in it!
Peaches & Cream Iced Green Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Premium Organic green tea with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about how to subscribe to Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I had high hopes for this particular flavor of iced tea from Southern Boy Teas. The idea of a Peaches & Cream iced green tea sounded oh so yummy!
Unfortunately, I don’t get a strong peach or cream flavor from this one. Not while it’s cold, anyway. I found that after the tea came to room temperature, rather than cold, right out of the fridge, the flavors developed a little bit.
Which was kind of a disappointment, because hey, let’s face it, we drink iced tea because we’re looking for a chilled beverage, right?
The green tea is a light tasting green tea with soft buttery notes. These buttery notes do accentuate the cream flavor, but only slightly. Slight vegetal tones to the green tea. It’s a light and fresh tasting green tea – enjoyable.
As I mentioned earlier, I found the peach to be very difficult to discern when the tea is served cold. I keep the glass of iced tea sitting out on the counter for about fifteen or twenty minutes for the temperature to get out of the “chilly” and a little closer to “room temperature” before I drink it now, because it’s at this temperature that it tastes best. The cream notes are a little easier to discern than the peach, it’s a soft, vanilla-y note and it’s nice.
It’s a pleasant enough iced tea but I enjoyed several other green iced teas from Southern Boy Teas much more than I enjoyed this one. Good … but not great.
To brew: I used the “hot brew” method, heating 1 quart of freshly filtered water to 170°F and steeping for 1 1/2 minutes. Then I poured the brewed tea into my tea pitcher and resteeped the pouch again, 1 quart of water, 170°F and 2 minutes. Then I combined the two quarts of brewed tea together and chilled them in refrigerator until cold.
Peaches & Cream Flavored Genmaicha from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
So anyway, that’s been my week. Hope you and yours are doing well. You know, I could very well be crazy for writing most of this, but sometimes I feel like it might be more interesting to our readers to actually hear what I’ve been up to rather than hearing me go on every week about how each of these teas is awesome and going to sell out fast and you should get yours now. I mean, all of that is true, but how many times does anyone really want to read that?
So, this week’s post is kind of an experiment. I’m anxious to see how people respond to it.
The Tea…
Genmaicha green tea with toasted rice, popped sorghum seeds, freeze-dried peaches and organic peach and cream flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
When this Peaches & Cream Flavored Genmaicha was first announced as the tea of the week for June 9th, I wasn’t really sure how the sweetness of peaches and cream would work with the nutty, roasted flavor of the genmaicha. It sounded intriguing and unique, certainly, and maybe just a little bit crazy, maybe it was crazy enough to work!
And while it IS a tasty cup of tea, I’m not sure I’m as crazy as I want to be for it to say that it “works.” It tastes good, certainly, and I do like how the toasty, nut flavor of the genmaicha plays with the flavors of peaches and cream, but, at the same time, it almost seems to detract from the blend a little bit.
I can taste all the elements: the notes of the green tea are lightly vegetal, the toasty rice adds a pleasant sweetness, and the peaches are juicy and add a really nice fruity note to the cup, while the cream notes melds a little bit with the nutty notes of the toasted rice to create a sweet, deliciously creamy tone. But they almost seem a little disjointed.
It’s a tasty tea, but not the best that I’ve tasted from 52Teas.
Peach Melba from Mahamosa Gourmet Teas, Spices, and Herbs
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Mahamosa Gourmet Teas, Spices, and Herbs
Tea Description:
Peaches, hibiscus, apple bits, elderberries, and sunflower petals with peach cream flavor.
Time: 10-12 minutes; Temperature: 203-212⁰F: 1-2 level tsp./6 oz serving
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Peach Melba from Mahamosa Gourmet Teas, Spices, and Herbs is a sweet, tangy, treat.
I want to address the hibiscus in this blend. Its done so well! I am not one to favor hibiscus in any amount. I see no need for it 99% of the time, however in this blend it actually does something good! To begin, it provides the right amount of tart to make this rather sweet tea balanced. Secondly, it does not cover all the other flavors in the tisane.
Often times I think tea companies add hibiscus because it is so inexpensive and helps to expand the blend, however in this case Mahamosa has done right by this blend.
The peach flavor comes through nicely and the creamy flavor is present. The apple flavors taste as if they were fresh apples picked right from the teas in an orchard! The elderberries, which I love, happen to have a very fresh and slightly tart flavor too but that is okay because there is a deep sweetness in this tea that needs a dash of sour, and tart to help it stay down to earth.
If you enjoy this tea hot you simply must try some on ice! It is something I can see myself serving in place of juice this summer and far more healthy!
