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.
Honey Pear Black from Golden Moon Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Golden Moon Tea
Tea Description:
Our Honey Pear begins with top-quality black tea. Then we add the sweet flavor of ripe fruit and rich, smooth honey.
Reminiscent of a succulent Mid-Eastern dessert treat, this loose leaf tea delivers a full-bodied, amber liquor and a sweet, rich flavor that is delicious hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
So, this tea is incredibly aromatic – even with my sample in a Ziploc over top of the foil sample pouch I can see smell intense, fragrant notes of pear. It reminds me of this really sweet, kind of ‘dewy’ pear scented hair detangler I used to have before I shaved off all of my hair. I know that doesn’t sound appealing, but I think that hair detangler was the best smelling ‘beauty product’ I’ve EVER owned. I remember even spraying it as a ‘perfume’ too (I was twelve at the time; don’t judge). And then, when I was out of it I was never able to find it again. If the taste of this tea translates into the smell of that detangler as well as the dry aroma makes me think it will I know I’m gonna be all over this tea.
I cold brewed my sample; and I have to say this turned out to be absolutely incredible. Honestly, the black base is a little drowned out but it’s not surprising given how intense the flavourings are. I would have been more surprised if the base had been able to compete with pear notes that strong. The mouthfeel is also incredibly thick and full; if I didn’t know better I could probably be persuaded that I was drinking the sweetened pear juices from a can of halved pears. It’s also just a sliver floral tasting. It compliments the pear notes well though. And you know what? It does kind of taste like that detangler smelled.
One thing I will say is that the ‘honey’ seems a lot less obvious; sure there’s absolutely 100% a sweetness to this tea that isn’t representative of just the pear on its own, but nothing identifies it specifically as honey. Though comparing this again to a ‘beauty product’ (but in the best way), my personal favourite perfume is ‘white tea and honey’ scented and this does have the same effervescent, fresh sweetness that I enjoy when I wear that perfume. The common denominator between the two is the ‘honey’. So that’s something.
Overall, I’m really impressed with this tea! At this point, it takes A LOT for a pear tea to sweep me off my feet and this blend certainly did it. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good pear tea or just a fruity tea in general with an over the top juiciness and freshness.
Angry Pumpkin Black Tea from Design a Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Design a Tea
Tea Description:
A nice hardy blend of pumpkin and nutmeg with a black tea base. Served hot, will fill the room with the aroma of a “beautiful pumpkin”. Those were his words- I know, lame! .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I hate to admit it, but I have a double standard when it comes to tea names. I absolutely hate it when a company will skirt around what type of tea something is, “It’s a deeply shaded fukamushi sencha harvested in the summer, steamed to perfection.” I get it. Just say it’s a gyokuro already! But when it comes to blended and flavored teas, the more ridiculous the better.
That is why I had to try this tea from Design a tea. I have so many questions. Why is this pumpkin angry? What happened in this tea’s life to make it so furious? Will it make me angry when I drink it? There is only one way to find out.
I brewed up 5g in my 12oz teapot for around 4 minutes. The resulting brew was like an autumn hug. Usually pumpkin flavorings fall short for me, but in this tea, the pumpkin was at the forefront of the brew. Luckily, it wasn’t an aggressive pumpkin. It was sweet and complimented the spices and the black tea base.
I suppose you cannot have a pumpkin tea without putting in some pumpkin pie spices. This particular blend highlighted the use of nutmeg. It was a good idea in theory, but the blend also had cinnamon chips. Yes, it is listed as the last ingredient, but the cinnamon tried it’s hardest to overpower the nutmeg. Throughout all this fighting for attention, what I get is a sweet slice of pumpkin pie. For my first fall-themed tea of the year, it definitely gets me pumped up for more. Bring it on!
I still don’t know what makes this pumpkin so angry, and the other flavors are not that aggressive either. The black tea base is mellow, sweet, with notes of sweet potato. This is a tea with a soothing profile, but I think the name Mellow Pumpkin would not sell as well. Thankfully, it did not make me angry to drink it, and I happily gulped down my pot of Angry Pumpkin to celebrate the beginning of October!
Staring at the Sea from August Uncommon Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: August Uncommon Tea
Tea Description:
Comfort from the hearth while gazing at fog as it gently drifts over the sea. The odor of warm buttery country bread rises to your nose, tenderly warming your face. A faint note of macadamia and bits of crust browning on a brick oven floor linger on the tongue. Hints of sweet grasses spring forth to brighten and balance the thick, chewy texture. Come in from the cold.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have heard so much about this company on Steepster that I was very excited to see it in one of the traveling tea boxes that hit my house late last week. This was the first one I grabbed to try. I’m such a green tea fan that I couldn’t wait to dig in and try out some new green teas.
August Uncommon Tea has unique tea blends that I’ve heard varied reviews about. This particular blend is a Japanese Green Tea with Barley in it. I brewed this delight up like all my green teas with the help of my handy dandy Breville and allowed the brew to cool off for a few moments.
Took my first sip and this is a different tasting green tea for sure. And one I’m enjoying. The green tea base is buttery and smooth. The barley that has been added in provides a nice nutty background that gives the tea an added richness. Like the description says, there is a crust like flavor and even faint notes of macadamia nuts.
This is one of those teas where the description really matches and translate well into the flavor you are given. I’m curious what this one would taste like as a cold brew and hope to be able to try that soon.
The more I drink of this one, the more I really like it. This could easily be an every day sort of tea for me for sure!