Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: AmiTea Organics
Tea Description:
Bold, smooth and delicious, this is the perfect, soothing, “start your morning” tea. This is my version of the famous Yorkshire tea. Of course the actual ingredient ratios have long been a secret, but I feel I have unlocked them, and now it is in an all organic version, just for you.
I have blended malty Assam and Nilgiri teas from India, A warm, rich Tanzanian tea and a smidge of smokey Chinese Yunnan, together they make a fabulous tea, hot with milk, or even iced for sippin’ on a hot day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is just delicious.
The malty goodness and rich well balanced flavor of this fantastic unflavored blended black tea is just perfect. Perfect for that first cup of tea to wake you up in the morning or in the afternoon when you need a pick up to get you thru the rest of the day. I really enjoyed this one.
First infusion was strong and rich. Brewed up like a traditional black tea, this tea was such a delight. I didn’t pick up any smoky notes like the description says, but I am fine with that. I have had a lot of smoky teas lately and was happy for a break. Second infusion, the strong malty touch was still there. Not as strong, but still discernible.
I have yet to have a tea from AmiTea Organics that I haven’t just adored.
I didn’t try this one iced. Next time I will. I would love to try this as an iced tea. I couldn’t help but keep brewing this up hot. It was hitting the spot, giving me that warm and cozy feeling.
The best part of this tea was how there wasn’t a high astringency factor. I thought for sure there would be, but this was just smooth black tea deliciousness.
Another winner from AmiTea Organics!
Mint for you from Aka Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Tea Description:
This tea is “mint” for you and me. Just sit back and enjoy life. Lighten the mood with the cooling breath of mint. Take a sip and imagine yourself breathing in a fresh spring breeze. Mint for You- A wonderful ratio blend between Peppermint and Spearmint.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love finding new tea companies that have blends that are catchy and delicious. Since stumbling upon Aka Teas website, I have been in heaven diving into their tea line up. I’ve tried their Caramel Apple Green Tea and that was incredible. Tasted just like one of those Caramel Apple Pops I had when I was a teenager.
Mint for You is another fantastic quality tea that I’m just going crazy over. Fresh peppermint and spearmint. A great tea to enjoy hot or as an iced tea. I am enjoying this one as an iced tea. The adjective that keeps coming up in my head to describe this blend is fresh. Like the you just cut this from your herb garden kind of fresh.
What I love to do is take herbal mint teas and mix them up with teas in my stash that I may not quite enjoy. For instance, I had an black flavored strawberry tea that wasn’t something I really enjoyed on its own. Too astringent. I threw some of this herbal mint blend in and I have a fantastic Strawberry Mint tea.
Super happy with this versatile blend and can’t wait to experiment more with it!
Coffee Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/Matcha
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
When the easily recognizable and well loved taste of deliciously aromatic coffee is combined with the wildly popular regal Matcha, the resulting Coffee Matcha treat leaves its many takers delightfully breathless with pure palate sensations. This all-day treat provides the best companion for many days when work becomes too heavy or too boring and a person needs a delectable snack to carry them through the tedium. Coffee Matcha’s unforgettable taste and delicious aroma is irresistible to many coffee lovers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The second matcha sample from Red Leaf Tea’s new “Choose Your Own” sampler!
I’m not a coffee person so on the rare occasion that I do decide I want to partake in some java I usually go for actual coffee, not coffee flavored tea. To me those two things are separate, and for a reason. However, I still couldn’t resist trying this flavour – I had this gut feeling that it was going to be done well.
Like the previous matcha from this sampler, I made this in cashew milk. It mixed up such a bright, cheery green too and the smell was definitely freshly brewed coffee; quite roasty.
I was surprised by just how strong and sweet this one is; and I know that sweet kick isn’t from the cashew milk either since it’s unsweetened – but with the level of rich sugaryness it made me think I was drinking more of a Iced Coffee/ Iced Cappuccino type drink like you can get from Starbucks or Tim Hortons or whatever your coffee shop of choice is. At the same time, though it was quite sweet, it maintained a nice level of roast in the flavor and had some surprising caramel notes. And of course, from the milk, there was a faint nuttyness that worked really well with the coffee flavor. It probably only made the idea of drinking some sort of fancy sweet coffee drink stronger, if I’m being honest.
I wouldn’t buy this one again if I’m being honest; I just don’t do coffee – but it was surprisingly more nuanced than anticipated and like my gut told me it was in fact well done. So I do recommend trying it if coffee and sweet coffee drinks are your thing.
Hydrate from Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/White
Where to Buy: Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Description:
Hydrate is a blend is a rich blend of green tea and white, making this blend high in minerals that fortify the skin and help sustain health and hydration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been in a green tea drinking mood lately. Some of have been good. Some not so much. This particular blend was a hit with me.
Hydrate is a blend of green and white tea from Yellowstone Tea Company, a tea shop I found on Etsy. They have a wide variety of teas and when I saw this blend online, I just had to try it. The picture on the website looks very nice but looks like a blend I’ve seen on other sites. When this tea arrived, I had to do a double take. This tea blend is vibrant and gorgeous! The goji berries popped with a red color and the cornflower had such a deep blue. I couldn’t get over how fantastic and fresh looking this tea appeared. The chunks of fruit were just as impressive. Huge chunks of papaya and orange peel. I was taken with this tea at first sight.
I brewed this blend up like a green tea. As I look more at the ingredients, there is also oolong tea in this. I wasn’t sure which way to go with it so I decided to just go the green tea route. Let it steep for about 3 minutes in my tea pot while I worked away on a project. The smell was so inviting. Fruity goodness was cruising thru the air. One of my co-workers even asked me what I was eating or drinking. They couldn’t get over the fresh tropical like smell that this tea was creating.
I took a sip and BLAM-O! I was hit with all of these fresh fruity tastes and such a clean green tea finish. I really only picked up the green tea which gave a slight earthy grassy taste. The two flavors really worked well. I couldn’t identify every flavor separately but together they created a delicious treat for this afternoon. The tea blend has a tropical like feel to it with the papaya. The ingredients for this blend also listed pomegranate- which was very subtle. I only picked up a slight tart taste.
My only issue with this blend is that there is stevia in it. I couldn’t taste the stevia until the cup had cooled off a bit, but after it did cool, the stevia was a bit overwhelming. I’m not sure how this tea would be cold brewed-but I would love to find out. My only advice with this tea is drink it while the brew is still hot. Letting it cool brings out a stevia flavor that many may not enjoy. Beyond that, I am really happy with this one and plan to pick up more. I love finding new tea companies and this one met all my expectations and then some. Looks like I have a new tea for the summer!
Yun Nan Dian Hong Black from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Dian Hong black tea, also known as Yunnan black tea, is one of China’s most famous black teas. This is the highest grade Dian Hong generally available in China – called Golden Tip Dian Hong. It has lots of orange pekoe in the dried tea, and brews into an absolutely great tasting, golden coloured tea, with very rich taste and aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea really wowed me from start to finish. You begin the cup with such attractive, even dry leaf that has a breath taking proportion of golden tips to it. I would agree that you can see the orange pekoe quite clearly in the leaf and I can’t help but wonder what the grade is – I’d guess at least TGFOP? It’s easily one of the most aesthetically pleasing black teas I’ve gotten to try in a long time.
Of course, the grade really has very little to do with the actual taste of the tea; it only describes physical aspects of the leaf and not the taste of the brew – that said, this brewed up bammin’ slammin’ delicious.
There were a lot of flavors going on but they were all so harmonious; the big one for me was the sweet taste of stonefruit that gave the tea an overall jammy quality. It was very much like overripe dark cherries and it easily stood out the most to me. Cocoa, molasses malt, and honey/light caramel notes were all present too – mostly as top notes, with the exception of the molasses which I thought was a bit stronger near the end of the sip. The body was, in addition to being quite fruity, rather starchy as well but in a sweeter way, like from yams.
This easily stands out among the majority of pure black blends I’ve had in the last month – if not longer. There’s no need for sweetener either; Yun Nan Dian Hong has such a solid and nuanced flavor profile all on its own. I absolutely recommend this tea to just about anyone and I look really forward to revisiting it.
