Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Piper & Leaf
Tea Description:
An Incredible Fruit & Herbal Infusion of Tart Apples, Sweet Strawberries, Rosehips, & Special Herbs
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I enjoyed a fantastic day today with my parents, boyfriend, aunt, grandparents and kiddos. We celebrated Mother’s Day and just had a great time together. My dad was in a tea drinking mood and I was excited to share with him. We plowed thru the tea I brought and had fun doing it. We even received samples of herbs from Litehouse Foods for a fun addition to the tea. (A full spread on the amazing Litehouse Foods samples will be coming soon).
What better to pair with a Strawberry Herbal tea? Lemongrass and Mint from Litehouse Foods.
Threw my sample of this strawberry tisane into my tea pot and threw in a couple pinches of both the spices. These spices are so much fun. They actually expand with water and are freeze dried. I brought the water to boil in the ol whistling kettle and then let it steep for about 10 minutes. Grabbed two glasses out of the cupboard and dumped some ice in and served. I had wanted to garnish the cup with a strawberry but my mom had already cut them up for strawberry shortcake. At that point, I wasn’t going to complain. I had strawberry shortcake in my future.
Before I could even take my first sip, my dad had downed the cup. I asked him what he thought of it and he said it was good and that it felt good on his tummy. Crisp and fresh like. I agree. The tea had this fantastic strawberry flavor with a hint of lemon and mint. The apple flavor was very subtle and in the background. It reminded me of something you would serve to little girls while they are having a tea party. The chunks of fruit are huge in this tisane and nothing in this sample was crushed up. You can tell Piper & Leaf take time creating their teas. Each tea I have sampled from them so far has had giant chunks of fruit or herbs. The tea has tasted fresh and crisp. Definitely impressive so far.
I can’t say I would buy anymore of this particular tisane. It was good and adding the herbs was a lot of fun. Even though it was really good, I just can’t say it wowed me to the point of thinking I need more.
What I can see myself doing is picking up more of these herbs and seeing what I can come up with or what creative ways I can use them to freshen up tea that may need a simple tweak here and there.
Peaches and Cream from Piper & Leaf
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.