Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
The original blend was a black tea base with marigold petals and organic flavors. We can do that!
Our black tea base IS different from the original. We spent months developing a black tea base that is well rounded and flavorful. To learn more about it, click here.
So we took our all-new, go-to black tea base and blended it with organic marigold petals and all-natural, organic flavors. As the original description states; “It’s a guilt-free (vegan even) caramelly, cheesecakey, pumpkiny feast for your sweet-tooth all wrapped up in the hug of a great cuppa premium black tea.” And it is!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to the Tea of the Week Program here.
Taster’s Review:
52Teas recently had a grab bag on sale of a mix of their teas and who am I to say no to that. I jumped on the opportunity and picked up two grab bags. I couldn’t wait to try some of the new takes on old favorites. 52Teas has recently gone thru a much needed (IMO) management shake up and I’m thrilled with what Anne has put out for us so far. To be as transparent as possible with this review, I did purchase this tea from 52Teas and it wasn’t a sample from Anne. This review is 100% my own honest review of what I thought of this tea.
I was excited to try this one. I distantly remember enjoying the original version of this tea and was looking forward to the reboot. I brewed this black tea up with water that was at 212F and allowed it to steep for a 3 minutes. I was picking up some lovely caramel notes and a certain sweetness but nothing that I would say translated into caramel pumpkin cheesecake.
I took my first sip and the lovely caramel notes that I was picking up translated into a lovely caramel flavor. I loved the caramel flavoring that 52Teas has used. Rich and creamy. But I do have to say, I am missing any of the other flavors like the pumpkin or the cheesecake. I tried steeping this tea a few different ways and always came away with this being more of a caramel flavored black tea than the pumpkin cheesecake.
Now, I did have a friend try this tea and they loved the combination of the pumpkin and caramel flavors. She said that the more she drank the tea, the more she picked up those pumpkin notes. She really liked it and said it was helping her sore throat.
As far as a flavored tea goes, this tea was quite delicious. Like I said, those caramel flavors were very good. But this tea is supposed to be a caramel pumpkin cheesecake tea. So yes it is really tasty but it seems the title doesn’t exactly match up. Regardless this tea found a home with someone who really enjoys it and to me that is a winning combination!
Now to see what other lovely teas are awaiting me from my grab bag!
Sunshine Cottage from Sunshine Cottage
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Sunshine Cottage
Tea Description:
Good Morning Sunshine! Start every morning off with this bright and happy, citrus and tropical fruit blend, and you’ll start every day with a smile. Lovely as is, with a drizzle of honey, even a splash of milk. Great iced when the weather heats up!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Good morning sunshine is right! This tea starts your morning off right!
This lovely tea is from the amazing Sunshine Cottage Etsy store, a store for all those flavored black tea fans out there. Sunshine Cottage tea is a take on a tropical tea and a happy way to wake up in the morning with a bright colored tea to add to your tea spot.
I brewed this tea up with boiling water and let it steep for about 4 minutes. Allowed it to cool for a moment and then indulged myself in the tropical citrus aroma that was delighting me.
First sip and yes! This tea is a tropical citrus tea for sure. The citrus is almost like a juicy tangerine flavor while the tropical flavors are more subtle in the background. There are hints of this tea becoming astringent but I’m not picking that up right away. It is more of a lingering aftertaste from drinking the tea for a few moments.
On the package of the tea there was also a note about jasmine being in the blend and I’m sad that I’m not picking up those notes. I can’t say what a jasmine tropical citrus tea would taste like and honestly it may not go well together but I kind of want to try it.
As the tea sits now it was a delight and one that I would have no probably making up for the family to enjoy. I bet this would make an incredible iced tea and I have plans to try this as a cold brew to enjoy in the morning.
Spiced Apple Tisane from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
What does comfort mean to you? It might be a favourite sweater, an old family recipe or a perfect cup of tea. For us, it’s all about capturing warm and cozy flavours – like this sweet and spicy blend of apple, figs and chai spices. Laced with cinnamon and star anise, it brings back memories of apple picking, piping hot cider and fresh-from-the-oven pies. Basically, it’s like a hug in a cup. And whether you pair it with a good book or some great company, we guarantee it’s as comforting as it gets.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Spiced Apple was DAVIDsTEA’s September Tea of The Month though from the looks of it this tisane could seamlessly blend in with the Fall Collection. As it stands, every season is seems like DT finds a way to incorporate yet another new apple tea into the mix (this season Honeycrisp Apple). Personally, I feel like that’s a played out idea and each new one that they come up with excites me less and less. This season in particular feels especially saturated; but nonetheless here I am trying this newest tea regardless so I suppose I can’t complain too much.
Dry; this tisane smells more like those little cinnamon heart Valentine’s candies to me more than anything else – but I get apple too; it’s like some kind of mulled cider but heavy on the cinnamon. I wish I could smell the clove more. I can tell it’s gonna be sweet; star anise kind of instantly does that to tea. Now to try the hot brew.
Oh! Instant cinnamon hearts. Now that I’ve gone there mentally it’s hard to taste something else. With the level of anise-y sweetness and concentrated cinnamon (but not hot or dry cinnamon) you’d expect the liquor to look as bright, vibrant red as those little candies leave your tongue looking. I can taste clove, but it’s secondary to cinnamon and by quite a lot. The more I’m drinking, the more I taste the other components of the tea: apple, anise, and sort of a cardamom note too. I’m not really getting and distinctly fig tasting notes, and lowkey that’s what sold me on this tea in the first place.
I have to say, it started out alright but the flavour of both the ‘cinnamon hearts’ and apple cider really builds as my mug gets emptier and by the time I was on the last few sips I was already sick of this tea: it gets very cloyingly sweet despite having spicy elements working against that. I could never justify adding sweetener to this. I’m wondering how to best finish off the sample I got – currently I’m leaning towards cold brewing because that’s just what I do. My theory is that cold brewing would balance the flavours a little better.
Not bad, though. Certainly worth a try and worth taking the time to tweak it.
Whoopie Pie from East Indies Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The East Indies Tea Company
Tea Description:
Black tea, whoopie pie taste with chocolate bits, white chocolate bits, cocoa powder and sparkling sugars
Taster’s Review:
A while back, there was a group buy to East Indies Tea Company, a company that seems to be a distributor for a lot of smaller tea companies. Since we had quite a group of us, we were able to purchase some of the teas that would not necessarily be available to us otherwise.
This one intrigued me for some reason. I normally do not enjoy a chocolate tea and do try to stay away from them. In general, I am just not a fan of chocolate. Weird, right?
Whoopie Pie is made up of white chocolate and milk chocolate. The tea itself smells like a cookie. Incredibly sweet. I brewed this up as a black tea-212F-3 min for my steeping parameters.
I shared this one with the upstairs dwelling twin teenagers so I’m curious to see what they think. I took my first sip and yes, this tea is right up a chocolate fans alley. The chocolate is sweet and silk like. I don’t pick up any artificial notes and am enjoying the cuppa I have. But I can say that this is not a tea that I would want any more of and keep looking at my cup wishing that the tea would magically disappear. I can see this tea as being a great tea to drink while trying to stay away from a chocolate snack at 2pm when those cravings start to hit.
For chocolate fans and chocolate tea fans, if you have the chance check this out one. As for me, this tea will be finding a new home.
Anji Bai Cha Green Tea from Nannuoshan
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Nannuoshan
Tea Description:
Anji Bai Cha owns a delicate, soft and relaxing taste, with a light sweet aftertaste.
Characteristic of this green tee variety is the colour of the leaves, rather white than green; in Chinese, bai means white. The lack of pigment is due to the low chlorophyll content of the plant.
The leaves are long and thin, with the necessary self-tension to maintain, thanks also to the roasting technics, their straight shape while drying. Upon steeping, the leaf opens and doubles its width.
The origin of Anji Bai Cha is protected. Only the tea produced in the certified area of Zhejiang province can be labelled Anji Bai Cha.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m more open minded about green teas these days, after discovering that there are some I actually like (and some I even love!) That they’re not all bitter, astringent and brown came as a bit of a revelation to me. This one is a stunner just to look at. The leaves are long and spiky in appearance (a minimum of 2cm long, and broader across the middle than at the tips), and a fairly uniform grass green. They appear to have been rolled horizontally, and unfurl a little when wet. The scent of the leaves, once brewed, is of asparagus and spring greens. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 175 degrees. The resulting liquor is a very, very pale yellow – really almost colourless.
The taste is very mild also, although a lot sweeter than I anticipated based on the scent of the brewed leaves. I was expecting something vegetal, and while there are hints of that, the main flavour I’m picking up is actually reminiscent of sugar beet. It’s thick, sweet, and a little syrupy. Once the initial flavour fades there’s a touch of fresh pea, but it’s pretty faint. It’s not at all what I was expecting from a green tea. As my cup cooled, I did find that the vegetal flavour intensified a little, although it’s still mild in the grand scheme of things. It remained smooth throughout, though, with no bitterness or astringency to be found.
This one makes for a very pleasant, and unusual, cup. I like it when I come across teas that challenge my expectations – often they’re the ones I end up enjoying most because they’re so unlike anything else. This would be a good green tea to introduce those who are wary of the variety, simply because it avoids the characteristics most likely to put someone off. I’d also recommend it to those who love green tea, as an example of something honestly quite different and unusual. An intriguing tea!
