Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Can’t we all just get along? Probably not. But at least we have tea, and in this case, it tastes like honey and peppermint! A great tea to relax with before bed, or a great tea to start your morning off minty. Whatever the case, just give (peppermint) peace a chance and try this blend out.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love licorice and I like peppermint, so I found myself curious about this blend. They are very “polarizing” flavors – it seems that people either like licorice or they don’t, and the same is true of peppermint. And they are two very strong flavors too, so I found myself wondering how well they’d work together.
The answer: I really like the way these two ingredients work together.
To brew this tisane, I used my Kati tumbler and poured the entire sample into the basket because I generally like to use extra leaf in my tisanes. I suspect that the sample might be enough for two 8 ounce cups with a slightly weaker flavor than I’m enjoying now, but for this 12 ounce tumbler, I think that the sample is just the right amount. I heat the water to 195°F and let the tisane steep for 8 minutes.
As I just mentioned, these two ingredients work very well together. The coolness of the peppermint helps to curb some of the sharper notes of the licorice while the warm licorice notes help to reduce some of the strong minty tones so that this doesn’t taste like toothpaste.
It has a slightly medicinal taste but not in a bad way, it’s soothing. Instead, it’s a comforting yet exhilarating cuppa that’s naturally caffeine free. Like what you’d want to drink if you were feeling a little under the weather. I am tasting that zesty licorice, a pleasing honeyed sweetness and the crisp minty notes of the peppermint. It’s a little sweet and a little spicy.
As I sip it, I was trying to think of the word that best captures this tisane: refreshing!
Nonpareil Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Yun Xiang (韵香) means roasted. Roasting is the key for Yunxiang Tie Guan Yin’s feature: sweet and mellow flavor, very bright liquid. Usually, people who want to drink Tie Guan Yin will start with Qingxiang Tie Guan Yin, which is the base of Yunxiang tea. By roasting the Qingxiang tea, we can get the Yunxiang tea. Yunxiang tea has long-lasting aroma, but requires 120% more skill and patience for the makers, especially hand-made tea. During the roasting process, the tea will be roasted for 3 or 4 times, for over 8 hours of each time. The maker must control the temperature carefully, and judge the tea’s quality with his experience. We may say that fine roasted oolong tea is made under a strict “fire” trial.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I enjoy a good TieGuanYin Oolong. And I think I like them even better when they’ve been roasted like this Nonpareil Anxi Yun Xiang TieGuanYin from Teavivre!
The tea becomes sweeter with the roasting process. The vegetal notes become morph into a nutty flavor. The floral notes become sweeter. Sometimes, I notice a “sharp edge” to the floral notes in a TieGuanYin, but with a roasted TieGuanYin, the flavor is soft and toasty and the texture is smooth and creamy without feeling heavy on the palate.
To brew this tea, I grabbed my gaiwan and “eyeballed” about a bamboo scoop’s worth of the tea into the bowl of the gaiwan. I heated the water to 180°F and I performed a 15 second rinse. Then I strained the liquid and discarded it. The first steep was 45 seconds, and with each subsequent infusion, I added 15 seconds. My cute little ceramic “Oolong” teacup holds 2 infusions, so I combined the first two infusions for the first cup of tea.
And the first cup has a really lovely, full flavor. The roasty-toasty flavor is delightful. Warm and comforting, this is just the kind of tea you want to enjoy on a chilly autumn afternoon. The flavor that the roasting imparts evokes thoughts of falling leaves. I taste a strong, roasted nutty flavor with hints of orchid in the background. TieGuanYin Oolong teas can sometimes taste (and feel) buttery, this has more of a toasty, browned butter type of flavor. Notes of honey are also presence as well as a hint of orchid.
My second cup was even lovelier than the first, I think, because I started to pick up on some caramel-y notes this time. Sweet, luscious caramel mingling with the honeyed notes to create a delightful taste. The nutty flavors are starting to meld with these sweet honey caramel notes, the flavors are becoming seamless. I’m noticing a slight astringency toward the tail, but it’s very slight and only really obvious when I am trying to find it. The aftertaste is sweet with hints of fruit. Roasted peach, anyone?
Later infusions became smoother and more unified. The third cup was deliciously toasty and caramel-ish. Delicious nutty tones. The creamy notes have subsided, but the flavor is so smooth and mellow.
A really wonderful Oolong – a perfect autumn drink.
GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!
PLEASE NOTE: Sorry, this giveaway is now over. Please keep watching our blog for more giveaways to come!
Teavivre has been so kind to offer us a number of $5. gift cards to give away to readers of our blog! Yay! And I’m going to give away FIVE $5.00 gift cards right now! Well, not right now, as in right now as I type this, but right now as you read this, you can register to add your name to the pot and be part of the drawing for one of the $5.00 gift cards from Teavivre. Here’s the fine print on the gift cards:
- It can be used to purchase any teas or teawares on the Teavivre website.
- By using this particular gift card, the customer can also get an extra sampler pack which includes 2 kinds of our premium grade flower teas.
- The card can also be used to pay the shipping fee.
- One gift card per order, please.
- It can be applied on international.
- No minimum purchase required.
By now you’re wondering, COOL! What do I have to do to enter? Am I right?
Well, we like to make things easy around here, so, you can earn your first entry by simply commenting on this review/contest announcement post. Just post a comment and be sure to include a way to contact you if you’ve won. If you’re already registered with TeaTra.de – cool! I can contact you via PM on TeaTra.de If you prefer a Steepster PM, that’s fine too, just tell me who you are on Steepster. If you prefer a private email contact, then you need to register when you comment and be sure to include your email with the registration and tell us that’s how you want us to contact you.
Well, that’s the first entry, but, how about bonus entries? You can earn them too! Here are a few easy ways to earn more entries:
- Like Teavivre on Facebook.
- Follow Teavivre on Twitter.
- Post the contest information on Facebook *Be sure to give us a link!*
- Tweet about this contest! *Be sure to give us the link of the tweet!*
See that? That’s five easy ways to get a cool five bucks off your next purchase from Teavivre! How awesome is that?
This contest will run through November 19th. I’ll be contacting the winner on November 20th. And another contest will be starting shortly thereafter! Woo hoo!
Gui Fei Oolong Tea from Zi Chun
Tea Type:
Oolong Tea
Where To Buy:
Zi Chun
Product Description:
Gui Fei oolong made in similar fashion to Oriental Beauty in that the tea leaves are bitten by small green insects. It is the insects biting the leaves that gives these teas their unique honey characteristic aroma and taste, and also initiates the oxidization process. The main difference with Gui Fei is that 1.) it is grown in the central regions of Taiwan (Oriental beauty is grown primarily in the North) and 2.) Gui Fei is processed using traditional Dong Ding oolong processing techniques.
Tasters Review:
I’m not sure why – perhaps it’s just a personal preference – but I tend to drink Oolong Teas in the afternoon. While I’m working and writing and writing and working I tend to drink teas that I can infuse over and over again. The other day this tea accomplished both. This tea is from Zi Chun and is their Gui Fei Oolong Tea.
It’s not overly colorful once infused – more of a tint or a hue than a color – but that doesn’t mean it lacks for aroma. It’s gently roasted yet slightly sweet. It’s not lacking flavor but the flavor is not intense either. Eventho I was sipping on this while frantically writing and typing in the afternoon I could totally picture myself unwinding with this tea in the evening, too. It’s incredibly smooth and comforting.
A few things I found out about this tea is that it was harvested in the summer of 2013 in Lugu township, Nantou County, Central Taiwan at the elevation of 1,200 – 1,500 feet. Another thing that I enjoyed learning about this tea is that it’s also known as King’s Concubine tea.
Just when I think I might stray away from Oolongs – a really fabulous one enters my life – that I must listen to and try – and try over and over again. THIS is one of those Oolongs!
Hojicha Green Tea from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf here.
Tea Description:
Green tea from Japan that is rendered brown by roasting Bancha (a summer crop tea, harvested after Sencha) tea leaves. Comes with a toasty nutty flavor and slightly mesquite note. Earthy and warm quality, soothing, clean finish.
Ingredients: Roasted Bancha Tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Co-Op program here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! I think that Hojicha is one tea type that I don’t offer enough praise to but I should! I love that roasty-toasty flavor of Hojicha, it’s so warm and cozy and it’s the perfect drink for autumn evenings. It’s not quite as caffeinated as some other teas – well, actually, I don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m not an expert when it comes to how much caffeine is (or isn’t) in a tea. What I do know is that after I’ve consumed Hojicha, I don’t feel as stimulated as I do after consuming an Assam black tea, for example.
So, what I’m driving at is that because I don’t feel as “charged with caffeine” after drinking Hojicha as I do after I’ve had black tea, I am of the opinion that Hojicha is a ‘safe’ evening tea.
Anyway, the warm, toasty flavor of a Hojicha has a very autumnal feel to it. The texture of the tea is smooth and light. And while Hojicha is a “green tea” it tastes quite different from just about any other green tea that’s out there because the roasting process of the bancha tea changes the characteristics of the tea.
So, instead of tasting “vegetal” … it tastes nutty and sweet. Like freshly roasted nuts. There is a delicate creaminess to it. It’s “comfort” tea much the same way that mashed potatoes or homemade macaroni and cheese (not that stuff from the box) is comfort food. It’s something that I turn to when I want a “hug”. This tea gives me a great big hug and makes me feel better about the world.
So – THANK YOU to Simple Loose Leaf for this hug!
Peaches & Cream Flavored Genmaicha from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
So anyway, that’s been my week. Hope you and yours are doing well. You know, I could very well be crazy for writing most of this, but sometimes I feel like it might be more interesting to our readers to actually hear what I’ve been up to rather than hearing me go on every week about how each of these teas is awesome and going to sell out fast and you should get yours now. I mean, all of that is true, but how many times does anyone really want to read that?
So, this week’s post is kind of an experiment. I’m anxious to see how people respond to it.
The Tea…
Genmaicha green tea with toasted rice, popped sorghum seeds, freeze-dried peaches and organic peach and cream flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
When this Peaches & Cream Flavored Genmaicha was first announced as the tea of the week for June 9th, I wasn’t really sure how the sweetness of peaches and cream would work with the nutty, roasted flavor of the genmaicha. It sounded intriguing and unique, certainly, and maybe just a little bit crazy, maybe it was crazy enough to work!
And while it IS a tasty cup of tea, I’m not sure I’m as crazy as I want to be for it to say that it “works.” It tastes good, certainly, and I do like how the toasty, nut flavor of the genmaicha plays with the flavors of peaches and cream, but, at the same time, it almost seems to detract from the blend a little bit.
I can taste all the elements: the notes of the green tea are lightly vegetal, the toasty rice adds a pleasant sweetness, and the peaches are juicy and add a really nice fruity note to the cup, while the cream notes melds a little bit with the nutty notes of the toasted rice to create a sweet, deliciously creamy tone. But they almost seem a little disjointed.
It’s a tasty tea, but not the best that I’ve tasted from 52Teas.