The elderflower flowers look like micro chamomile blossoms, yellow and spherical. Though the elderflowers are so tiny, it almost like a bag of pollen. The small blossoms are a golden color and very fine in texture. When brewing this tea, be sure to use your infuser with the finest mesh or smallest holes.
Brewed, this tea is surprisingly earthy and savory, and not very floral. The tea has a woodsy fragrance like crushed dried flowers or cut hay. Some of the flavor notes remind me of the brighter pu erh teas I’ve tried, so if you aren’t a floral tea fan, this blend might just be your favorite exception.
The taste of the brew continues to support the earthy, dried grass tones, but coupled with a new, buttery flavor. The taste is a bit more vegetal than the scent, with a crisp, celery note. As the brew cools, and the more I drink, the more I detect a sweeter, brown sugar undertone. Plum Deluxe recommends the brew with a bit of sweetener, which helps bring forward the toasted sugar or brown butter flavors even further.
Just Elderflower is a unique blend in appearance and taste, making for a thoughtful and flavorful one-ingredient brewing experience.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Description:
Just Elderflower is part of our “just” line of thoughtfully-source, single ingredient herbal teas. Elderflower is a curious, floral, and fragrant tea ingredient. Despite its delicate nature, it steeps up for a wonderful, calming, curing beverage.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Honey Pear Tea by Nelson’s Tea
Following steeping recommendations, I steeped 1 tsp of this with about a cup of water at approximately 195-200 degrees F for 3 minutes.
My first thought was that this tea smells like bee pollen, although I don’t actually have all that much experience with bee pollen, lol. But when I looked up the ingredients I discovered that bee pollen is actually one of them so I guess I was right!
It steeps up a nice golden/amber color, but interestingly cloudy. Instead of a clear amber like many teas are, it had lots of tiny specks like golden dust floating around in the depths. (That would be from the bee pollen, I guess. It’s a great special effect.) The fragrance is probably also courtesy of the bee pollen, so if you know what that smells like, just imagine that. At any rate, it doesn’t smell much like black tea when steeped (or before steeping either).
The first taste is mostly of pollen-ish honey flavor. It’s got a hint of pear but not a lot of conventional “fruity” taste. It doesn’t taste overly sweet either; I mean, it’s a bit sweet but not as sweet as I expected from something honey-flavored. It also doesn’t have an overpowering black-tea flavor.
After trying it plain I added sugar, about a teaspoon, and now it’s way too sweet for my taste. It definitely tastes of honey rather than sugar though, which is interesting given that I just put a bunch of sugar in. So then I added some milk to balance it back out again and now I’m finally catching a hint of the “black tea” flavor; still, though, it mostly just tastes of warm honey-milk and a slight fruity depth from the pear (which is quite nice but not very conspicuous; you don’t really notice it unless you’re trying). It’s very warm and comforting and great for rainy afternoons.
So I’d say overall my impression of this tea is that it’s quite subtle (other than the cool dissolving-pollen bit). There’s a lot to appreciate if you’re willing to take your time with it. I’m thinking of steeping it up more strongly next time to see if I like it better that way or not.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Nelson’s Tea
Description
Just like biting into a sweet, succulent pear, this tea is sure to please. Enjoy it hot or iced!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 16 from Teanzo 1856
It’s Day 16 of this Advent Calendar/Holiday Countdown with Teanzo 1856. There are eight days left to shop! Every year, I tell myself that I’ll start my shopping early, but every year, I end up waiting until the last minute. (Sigh!)
For today’s artistic inspiration, I am turning to another piece that I received in a 12 Days of Christmas mail art swap. The artist I’m featuring today is Gwynn Thoma, and she made this beautiful rustic heart ornament for my tree.
This is another one of those ornaments that’s just FUN to discover every year when I start “unwrapping” all my ornaments for the tree. It’s so cute and there are so many neat little details about it that I seem to keep finding something new about it every year. I also like the bit of rustic whimsy it adds to my tree.
Another thing that really stood out to me about this particular ornament was the packaging. Gwynn stitched together little “envelopes out of Kraft paper and adorned them with bits of aged sheet music and a swatch of the burlap that she used to create the heart ornament. It’s a very clever and lovely package and I love how it “matches” the gift that was tucked inside.
I hope that you guys are enjoying my art “roundup” as well as the countdown to Christmas with teas from Teanzo this year!
Seasonal Relief Herbal Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tulsi
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
In India, licorice root is used to soothe sore throats, and the tulsi plant is revered for its many health benefits. In this delicious herbal wellness tea, we’ve combined licorice root and tulsi with a powerhouse of helpers: peppermint, hibiscus, honey bee pollen, and eucalyptus. Not only is the tea delicious, but it is soothing too. Enjoy this tea hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I suffer from seasonal allergies that seem to last all year long now. I never used to! Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, I didn’t have allergies. But I guess with all the pollen in this area, I soon started feeling unwell in the spring with allergy symptoms, but because I never had allergies before, I thought maybe it was something else.
Then I started taking allergy medication and my symptoms disappeared. At first, I only needed these toward the end of winter, through spring and at the very start of summer. Then I started needing it through summer. Now, I need the medication year round or I start sneezing, eyes start watering and I’m just really uncomfortable with my symptoms.
So, I am always looking for a tisane that I enjoy that might help me alleviate my symptoms so that I don’t have to take so much allergy medication. So when I saw that this was a Seasonal Relief blend, I was excited to try it.
Unfortunately, I’m just not enjoying this one very much. Perhaps it’s the eucalyptus, but I feel like I’m sipping on liquefied VapoRub.
At first, I enjoyed the peppermint and licorice-y notes, and I could taste notes of tulsi that I enjoyed. But after drinking about 1/4th of the cup, the flavor of the eucalyptus seemed to build and it got to the point where all I could taste was the eucalyptus and this does not create a very pleasant cup for me.
On the plus side, the hibiscus is not a heavy flavor or texture. I think that this could be much nicer if maybe there was less eucalyptus, and maybe a little more peppermint and tulsi.
Overall, this just wasn’t my cup of tea. They can’t all be, though. Teanzo has had some real winners with this Advent Calender, this just didn’t do it for me, so hopefully tomorrow, we’ll have something yummy!
