Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Tea Description:
This blend is a passionate embrace. A spicy, warm feeling will spread from your head to your toes. Red-hot chili flakes are chaperoned by dark cherry, chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon. If this tea doesn’t inspire you to embrace the moment, then what will? Don’t forget to embrace life!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Aka Tea is one of my new favorite tea shops. They hand blend and create their blends. Something I’m learning I really enjoy and respect from tea shops. Their teas are bright and pop with flavor. This one is no exception.
Embrace Me is a black flavored tea with a unique twist. Chili flakes, dark cherry, chocolate, and cinnamon flavors make up this blend with a black tea base. I have never had a tea with this sort of ingredient line up before and you can smell each individual ingredient from the dry leaves. A very interesting combination!
I brewed this tea up like a black tea- 212F-2 1/2 min and worked on a few projects while this steeped. When I would get close, I would get a sweet aroma emitting from the tea pot.
After the tea had steeped, I poured a mug for myself and continued working on my projects. I took my first sip and was greeted with a sweet chocolate cherry like flavor. I didn’t get any of the chili flakes or the cinnamon flavor. Just a chocolate covered cherry flavor. So sweet and decadent. This steeping really curved my sweet tooth flavor. This cup was gone in no time so I decided to make another cup with fresh leaves thinking I may not have shaken the pouch up enough to get all the flavors. I repeated my last routine but steeped this for 3 min and brought the water to 212F.
This time tho, from the first start of this tea prep, I could smell the chili flakes. Took my first sip and yes this tea was completely different than the cup I had just had. This tea was spicy hot. Like so hot that the chili flakes was the only flavor I could pick up. All the other ingredients were muted and I ended up sadly tossing this cup. I just couldn’t do it. The chili flakes just were too dominating. I couldn’t imagine what the flavor would be if you allowed this to steep longer.
I love the idea of this tea, but not sure I am on board with the actual taste. The first cup I had was fantastic! The chocolate didn’t have the artificial flavor that I’m used to with chocolate teas and the cherry flavor brought a slight sweetness. Just delicious. But I think this tea needs a bit more experimenting on my end to see if there is a way to enjoy the chili flakes. That or maybe I just need to find this delight a new home.
French Toast Dianhong Black Flowering Tea from Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Flowering
Where to Buy: Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Description:
As my first batch of French Toast Dian Hong, I decided to go lightly on the flavoring because the natural cocoa taste from the tea is pleasant enough to keep the flavoring at a low amount. This tea proves to pull out different taste from different steeps from my experience and I am hoping you find the same to be true.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Some of my favourite tea companies are the ones where you really get a feel for the owners as people; a hand picked sample, signed note added in to my order, and online interactions on sites such as Steepster are all touches that win me over quite a lot as a consumer; and something really cool about Liquid Proust Teas, a retailer which opened quite recently, is that I kind of got a feel for the owner, Andrew, before the company was even hatched since, first and foremost, he was a Steepster member himself and is a consumer as well as a seller too.
Recently, I did a swap with him and he generously included a few of his own blends. Personally, I thought this seemed the most interesting of what he sent me. A few other companies such as 52Teas, both under new and old management, have attempted French Toast teas but I’ve yet to be wowed by one and I think Andrew’s approach here is quite a bit different than the ones they’ve taken so I’m definitely excited!
I brewed this ‘Grandpa Style’ because that’s my typical approach with blooming/flowering teas. I knew that there was a possibility that it would get bitter because that’s a risk you always take when brewing Grandpa Style but this was unwaveringly smooth and silky. The entire time I spent drinking this (a few hours in total) there wasn’t even the slightest hint of bitterness OR astringency. I’m incredibly impressed by that.
The flavour was very fluffy and sweet, but reserved enough to not be cloying or make me feel like I was drinking syrup straight from the bottle. The rich notes of custard, cream, vanilla, cocoa, and, yes, egg hardly waned at all throughout the session. There were also lighter notes of cinnamon that I thought did fade towards the end of my session, and some pretty pronounced malt notes from the tea itself along with more muted floral notes. I likely could have continued to drink this for another hour or possibly longer with very little flavour deterioration. More than that, if it had not have been midnight I would have continued to drink this which is certainly high praise from me given that I dislike resteeping in general (drink as many teas as possible in one day is my philosophy).
My only criticism would be that the “toast” part of “French toast” was lacking; I’d have liked stronger bread notes contributed from the base tea to complete the illusion; but that’s just me getting hyper critical of one of the better flavoured teas I’ve had all month. If Andrew’s other teas are as tasty as this one I’m in for a real treat!
Ceylon Idulgashinna Hand Twisted Blue Nettle Oolong from What-Cha
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: What-Cha
Tea Description:
A delightful tea crafted by workers meticulously hand twisting and tying tea leaves together to form a ‘blue nettle’. The leaves within the ‘blue nettle’ show varying levels of oxidisation and as a result the tea exhibits characteristics typical to white, oolong and black teas!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a very cool tea; and while I don’t know for sure that’s it’s unique to What-Cha I’ve personally never seen another oolong rolled like this. When I opened up my sealed package I was quite surprised too; the ‘nettles’/spears of tea are actually quite large and thick – maybe about the length of my pinky finger? And just slightly thicker across than the widest part of my finger. For my tasting, I used two of the nettles/spears since the suggested measurement was 1-2 pieces and I was using a mug just slightly bigger than 12 ounces.
The first infusion was very soft and delicate, like a very lightly oxidized oolong but with flavour notes traditionally found in white, oolong, and black teas – exactly like What-Cha describes in the tea description! The notes I observed throughout the cup were apricot, overripe peaches, hay, flowers, malt, and a dewy/rainwater like flavour. The emphasis was on the really supple stonefruit notes though. It also surprised me a little that the nettles stayed almost completely the same shape as they were before steeping – just slightly ‘swollen’ from steeping.
The second infusion was quite similar to the first – though the apricot, hay, and malt notes all got increasingly more prominent and I wasn’t tasting overripe peaches or the same ‘dew’ flavour anymore. The mouthfeel was initially soft, but it left a tingly feeling on my tongue like I’d eaten too much pineapple recently. All subsequent steeps followed the layout of this one up until the flavour started to really suffer. The nettles never really completely unwound, either.
This was a fascinating tea, and I really enjoyed it quite a bit! However, that said, the first infusion actually was my favourite. There was something really perfect about the taste of apricot and fresh rainwater. It’s hard to put it into words.
Product Review: Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh by Cheribundi
Product Information:
Product: Ready-to-Drink Black Tea Beverage
Where to Buy: Cheribundi
Product Description:
We made our name with juices that pack 45 tart cherries into each bottle. Though we love these products, one gets the urge to spread their all-natural-juice-loving wings once in a while. This time, our juice makers looked east. To the far east, to be exact.
To the source of fine black tea. The range of benefits in black tea have been touted for centuries. It’s the perfect partner for the nutrients in our cherries.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love summertime. I love the longer days, the hot weather, the chance to dip my toes in the ocean, and the visits to the Farmer’s Market. Going to my local Farmer’s Market might be my favorite thing, especially when the cherries arrive. For a few short, wonderful weeks there is a plethora of lovely bright red cherries at many of the stalls, and I buy several bags of them for my family to enjoy. In my opinion they are one of the perfect summer fruits. Unfortunately, cherry season is very short here, so I’m often left looking for something with a real cherry taste that I can continue to enjoy throughout the summer. Thanks to Cheribundi I’ve found not only a great cherry drink, but a great cherry tea. Win!
Cheribundi’s Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh is made from fresh pressed cherries and fresh brewed black tea. The flavor is simply amazing. The cherry juice and tea are well balanced. The tea is brisk while having some depth. There’s a bit of a malt flavor that pairs well with the cherry. The cherry juice gives the tea some sweetness, but since tart cherries are used it’s not an overly sweet flavor. I enjoyed the balance that Cheribundi managed to achieve with this drink. I like that I was drinking a high quality black tea with a super fruity cherry kick. This is so much better than many of the cherry teas I’ve tried that either ended up tasting like cough syrup (yuck.) or highly artificial and candy-like. Having real cherry juice in my iced tea is an absolute yes for me. Now that I’ve tried it I can’t believe I haven’t been drinking this for years!
If you are a fan of cherries then I highly recommend trying this drink. The quality of the tea is top notch, and the added cherry juice adds a refreshing twist on an already tasty beverage. Well done, Cheribundi!
Tropical Paradise Green from Koni Tea & Organic
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Koni Tea & Organic
Tea Description:
In a world where beauty is paramount,This premium green tea with jasmine & lychee fruit is the perfect elixir for your temple of beauty. Rich in antioxidants for healthy, beautiful skin.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been drinking cold brew teas like crazy. It just seems way to hot to drink hot brewed tea right now. When you get heat index of 106, iced tea is what you are craving. I’ve also been craving jasmine teas like you wouldn’t believe. Pretty crazy. I can’t seem to get enough. So the other day when I was looking for a tea to drink, this one instantly screamed- Pick Me!
Koni Tea & Organic is a newer tea shop to me. I have really enjoyed the teas that I have tried from them including Kick the Coffee, a fun butterscotch flavored tea. So far, I haven’t had a tea I haven’t enjoyed from them.
This particular tea is full of jasmine flowers. The fragrance just made me happy. Beautiful jasmine with that green tea undertone. I couldn’t wait to steep this up. I brewed this up as a cold brew (overnight in the fridge) and started my day with a nice sized cup of this. So good. Sweet, buttery green goodness, with just a ever so slight floral taste. The jasmine complimented the green tea nicely and didn’t overwhelm the cup like other green jasmine teas have for me in the past. I’m not sure what the lychee fruit flavor is that was also part of the description of the tea but I’m thinking maybe it added to the sweet flavor I was getting. Regardless, this tea was perfect to start my day off with.
Later in the day, I did try this as hot brewed tea. Prepared this like a green tea, this flavor was just as good as the flavor I fell in love with as a cold brew. This tea is such a great versatile one. My stash of it is unfortunately gone, but this will be one I will need to get more of. Hopefully in a few weeks I will drink down what I currently have so I can to a little shopping trip at Koni Tea & Organics. So many teas of theirs I want to try!