Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
Premium Ceylon tea hand blended with organic coconut shred and natural flavourings. Thanks to everyone that came out to our Yelp! Speakeasy tea event to help name this tea. We would like to think we definitely hit a graham slam with this tea. .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
With a new like this one, you can’t help but have high expectations. I adore graham crackers and the flavor they yield. I recently devoured a box of Star Wars Graham crackers so I’ve got a taste for them right now.
I’m not sure where this tea came from, but I was excited to try it. I’ve heard good things about teas from Herbal Infusions and with a tea that is a mix of coconut and graham crackers. . . what could be better?
Brewed this up in my little tea pot with the help of my Breville One Touch to prep the water to the correct temp.
Poured the brew into my tea cup and sat down to enjoy some relax time. First sip in and your taste buds are enveloped with this fabulous coconut flavor. Like intense coconut fresh flavor. The secondary flavors hit you with a gentle and subtle manner. A lovely brown sugar like flavor.
This tea is a delicious black flavored tea for those who enjoy coconut flavors. I would recommend added two scoops instead of just one. With one, the coconut flavors were strong but that was about it. With two I think the other flavors would start to really come thru and pop.
First experience with this company and I’m quite happy!
Halpewatte Ceylon Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: MK’s Tea Co.
Tea Description:
The basis of Earl Grey tea! Ceylon tea is a sweet, brightly orange colored (once-brewed) black tea harvested in the lush hills of the island of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). This is a fantastic introductory tea, a great tea for the black tea lover, and an extraordinary tea for blending purposes. Ceylon tea is just brisk enough to be uplifting, but light enough to not be bitter or off-putting. It truly is a remarkable black tea that belongs in every tea-lover’s collection.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I started the day with this tea, hoping that it would be clean and refreshing. Thankfully I was right, and it made a great choice in lieu of breakfast. The dry leaf is straight and pretty long (I’d say an average of 2cm), and a fairly uniform black-brown with just a few lighter brown leaves. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a vibrant red-brown, and the leaf itself has also taken on an impressive red-brown hue. It’s very autumnal looking! The scent is sweet and a little chocolatey, which wasn’t something I was expecting from a Ceylon.
To taste, this is pretty much a classic Ceylon in many respects. It’s very fresh and clean tasting, with a bright edge of citrus running throughout. It comes across as a “light” tasting tea, to me. There are no thick or heavy flavours that are cloying on the palate, just the delicate, refreshing sweet/citrus play off. There is a touch of maltiness towards the end of the sip, but it doesn’t dominate the flavour or drown out the fresher notes. I can also detect just the tiniest bit of chocolate, which shifts the balance of the aftertaste away from citrus and more towards the generically sweet. It’s almost like it’s a tea of two halves, but they’re two very good halves so I’m not going to complain.
This tea is delightfully smooth and creamy, with no bitterness or astringency at all. It’s a real joy to drink, and I’m finding it an especially good choice this morning with its bright, citrusy “wake up” profile and edge of comforting sweetness. Delicious!
Pisces from the Zodiac Collection by AstroloTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Herbal
Where to Buy: AstroloTeas
Tea Description:
An intuitive dance of flavors to open the imagination, inspire compassion, and dive deep into the dreams of The Fish.
Every sign rules a different part of the body, Pisces rules the feet, immune system, hormones and circulation. The Pisces tea, a deep and spicy blend with a high fruity note, is like a full-body jolt of inspiration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Looking for a strong cinnamon spiced tea to bring on the fall days? Check out this one.
This tea is very cinnamon flavored tea, almost to the point of mouth drying. This isn’t the sweet kind of cinnamon either, but the more robust spiced flavor. The base of this tea is an Assam and it is delicious. The cinnamon mixes well with the base giving this tea an almost chai like feel with out the clover and ginger flavors. I don’t really pick up any of the rosehips flavor or the other ingredients mixed in.
I find myself almost longing for a touch of sweetness or maybe even a dollop of cream or milk to kick this tea up and give it a sweet spiced contrast.
Not loving or hating this tea, more or less thinking this would be killer as a latte with caramel and whip cream on top. That would be an awesome fall latte for sure. This may not be my favorite AstroloTea but this is still quite tasty.
Inner Fire from Urbal tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Urbal Tea
Tea Description:
This blend helps you burn fat and promotes weight loss by boosting your body’s ability to metabolize.
100% herbal quality ingredients: Dandelion leaf, Chickweed, Bilberry, Horsetail, Fennel, Yarrow, Eleuthero, Burdock root, Green Rooibos, Cinnamon, Rhodiola root, Dandelion root, Wuyi Wulong Oolong, Ginkgo, Yerba Mate, Green Mate, Licorice Root, Red Clover, Tulsi, Hibiscus, Blueberries, Cinnamon, Calendula flower, Corn Flower, and natural flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh my goodness! I have been on the hunt for the perfect herbal tea forever and I may have just found it! This tea is it!
Urbal Tea is a new company to me that focuses on herbal teas to get your body healthy. I was super excited to try Inner Fire, a tea with Yerba Mate and Green Rooibos. I have such a thing for green rooibos yet I haven’t found a red rooibos blend that I really like yet. I couldn’t wait to steep some of this up. This herbal smells like sweet honey apple cinnamon loving right out of the pouch!
Brewed this up with my Sei Sei Tumbler and boiling water, let it steep for about 10 minutes. Allowed the brew to cool for a moment and took a sip. Because the dry mixture was simply amazing, I had high hopes and wishes that this tea would translate into a marvelous flavor. And it has!
This tea is everything you need and want out of an herbal tea. The sweet honey like flavor from the green rooibos provides a lovely base flavor. The cinnamon gives that spice flavor that is more is leaning more to the sweet side. Yes, there is hibiscus in the mix but it provides a well needed contrast to all the sweetness going on in the cup. This is one of the best herbal teas I have ever had to be perfectly honest. The flavors are spot on and scream fall. I would love to try this mix with an unflavored black or green tea to see if I can create a lovely fall apple cinnamon tea. I’m excited to play around with this mix and see what I can come up with as a cold brew too. Glad I have a big bag of this one!
But as it sits, this tea makes you long for days when you can snuggle with a book, grab your favorite sweater and blanket, and lose yourself for a few hours. Seriously, this tea is that good!
Houji-Genmaicha Green Tea from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Houji-Genmaicha consists of the two harmonious yet slightly contrasting taste components. It is a good alternative to sweetened coffee. It offers a comfortable toasty aroma both from roasted leaf and brown rice. The Genmai (roasted brown rice) sweetens the roasted Bancha leaves.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Sometimes, it’s hard to get what you want in this world. Sometimes, I want genmaicha at 10 o’clock at night, but I also want a good roasty, toasty, houjicha. Thank goodness for Den’s Tea. They truly have thought of everything. Now I can have my tea and drink it too.
I used my 12oz tokoname kyusu for this one. Probably overleafing it, I intitally used my typical green tea temperature at 175, but at 3 minutes, the flavor was a bit muted. I punched up the temperature to about 190, taking care to not scorch the leaves by leaving the lid uncovered. Three minutes later – I was in tea bliss. The usual clover honey sweetness and toasted barley notes of the houjicha blended so well with the rice, I couldn’t tell where it ends and I begin. There was a touch of cinnamon spice warmth to round out the cup. I should have known that a little hotter water could coax out the houji from the cha.
This tea is really the best or both worlds. It’s got the fresh-toasted rice flavor from the genmai, and it’s got the roasty flavor of houjicha. To be honest, the bancha used is not the best houjicha base I have ever tasted, but paired with the toasted rice, it makes for an amazing pairing to almost any meal, and as a great bedtime sipper.
