Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
Ahhhh… Lavender! It is thought to help with a multitude of symptoms. Here are just a few of the many health benefits believed to be aided by lavender; analgesic, antibacterial, antiseptic, relaxant, and nerve tonic. Even though the health benefits are many, just sitting down in a comfy chair and sipping this delightful brew is a genuine pleasure in itself.
Ingredients: Blue Lavender, Cornflowers, Blue Mallow Blossoms, Rose Petals, Lemon Grass with a hint of Lemon and Mango.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little when I read the above description. “Ahhhh… Lavender!” was exactly the words that I murmured when I first took a sip of this tisane! Sweet, beautiful, wonderful lavender!
Lavender is one of my very favorite culinary botanicals, but I find few companies who really know how to blend with it properly. It’s one of those herbs that if you use too little, it won’t be tasted … but if you use even a little too much, the flavor becomes soapy.
Fortunately, Kally Tea knew what they were doing with lavender when they set out to create this Evening Indigo tisane. Lavender is the strongest flavor, but it is nicely offset with lemongrass, rose petals, and the essence of mango and lemon. These additions allow the lavender to shine as the prominent flavor without allowing the lavender to taste like the perfume shop in the mall.
This tisane is citrus-y with hints of mango and rose, but mostly … this tisane showcases lavender at its very best!
The cup brews to a pretty lavender blue color, and the infusion smells amazing. (The dry leaf smells – and looks! – like potpourri! So lovely!) But even more amazing than the aroma or the appearance is just how delightful it tastes, and the calm it instills as I sip it.
I think I shall have sweet indigo dreams tonight, thanks to Kally Tea.
Morgantau Green Tea from Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Description:
A blend of high grade green Sencha tea, rose petals, beautiful blue cornflowers and brightly colored yellow sunflowers. This offers a refreshing and smooth flavor that awakens your taste buds.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Spring is here! Signs of spring are all around me, from the beautiful pink plumage of the trees that line the streets in my neighborhood, to the promenade of the proud robins hopping around the lawns, to the bright yellow daffodils that pop up in random patches along the roadsides.
This tea seems a perfect choice to sip when contemplating the magic of spring. It is a gorgeous tea, not only to the eye with its colorful petals and lush, green tea leaves; but it is also lovely to the nose and the palate as well. The aroma is so incredibly beautiful, with hints of fresh grass and the air that sweeps over rose blossoms in the spring. That divine fragrance filled the kitchen as this tea brewed, and the brewed tea – while its bouquet is quite a bit softer than the dry leaf – it still holds on to hints of that flowery, fresh scent.
The tea tastes very much the way the aroma led me to believe: it tastes fresh and lively, with delightful floral touches. It isn’t an overwhelmingly flowery tasting tea, though. The rose is the strongest of the floral tones, and it is more like a whisper of rose flavor rather than a powerful rose taste that you might experience from a rose scented tea (a rose congou, for example). Here, the floral notes are much more delicate, but I like the way they enhance the overall cup.
The green tea is a very bright, refreshing tea with floral notes of its own, which are highlighted by the presence of the flower petals in this blend. There are vegetal notes and a buttery undertone. There is some astringency to this, but not much. It’s more like a slightly dry feel to the tongue in the aftertaste, followed by a lingering floral note.
A lovely tea to enjoy these early days of spring … or any time of year for that matter!
Organic Turkish Delight from The Rabbit Hole
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: The Rabbit Hole
Tisane Description:
Exotic rose and luscious chocolate mingle to create a decadent herbal brew worthy of your harem. Go on, treat yourself to a little luxury and for a completely decadent hit, add honey.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This is really good!
This seems to be a fairly simple blend of cacao nibs and rose. But out of such simplicity comes a true delight. Upon opening the pouch, my olfactory sense was greeted with a heady fragrance of rose and the tempting aroma of chocolate. The brewed tisane offers mere hints of the rose but a very delicious chocolate scent.
I recommend steeping this for at least ten minutes – and longer would probably be even better. Since there are no tea leaves in this blend, there is no threat of bitterness by over-steeping, the flavors will just intensify with the longer steep time. I would also recommend adding a little more than the recommended 1 teaspoon of leaf per cup, and I will explain why.
After steeping according to the recommended parameters, I found the tisane to be a bit thin in flavor. Yes, the chocolate and rose flavors were there, and they were INCREDIBLE; however, I – being the chocoholic that I am – happen to think that more chocolate = better. And I think that a richer chocolate flavor here would have been much more satisfying, and this can be easily remedied by simply adding an extra teaspoon of leaf before infusing, and be sure to infuse it a minimum of ten minutes, and fifteen would be even better, if you can wait that long!
As it is, it is still very delicious. The cacao nibs give the cup a tasty bittersweet, dark chocolate kind of flavor. The rose adds a touch of exotic flavor to the cup, tasting floral but without tasting like perfume. The finish has a dry cocoa powder kind of taste, with lingering notes of rose.
This combination of flavors reminds me very much of a decadent chocolate truffle that I might find in a high-end chocolate shop … even though the flavor is thinner than I would like, I still consider this to be a highly enjoyable cup.
Rosy Earl Grey from Teas Etc
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Teas Etc
Tea Description:
This inspiring blend of Jasmine green tea, Earl Grey black tea and rose petals has become one of our most popular.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf looks absolutely beautiful and smells incredible. Lots of red rose petals throughout, and the aroma is an engaging combination of roses, bergamot and jasmine.
And it tastes as good as it looks and smells, too. I’ve tried this a couple times now, the first time, I brewed it without realizing that there was also jasmine green tea blended with the black tea, so I used boiling water. This did not seem to have a scorching effect on the green tea, or at least, not one that I could discern.
However, for the second time that I brewed it, I wanted to try a lower temperature to see if I could encourage more of the jasmine and green tea flavors to emerge. And while I was successful in achieving this goal – brewing at a lower temperature of 185°F brought the jasmine green tea notes more into focus – I think with this particular blend, I prefer the results when brewing with boiling water.
When I brewed it with boiling water, I could taste the “Rosy Earl Grey” notes more prominently, the bergamot and the rose were very distinct, while the jasmine and green tea notes were a little lost. Not completely lost, as I could taste hints of jasmine and green tea as I sipped, but, there was no real distinct jasmine or green tea flavor.
This time around, using a lower temperature, the jasmine is much more distinguishable, as is the green tea flavor. I can still taste the rose and the bergamot, but, these become a little more muddled as the jasmine emerges. Even though I do adore jasmine, I think with this blend, it is best served as what it should be: Rosy Earl Grey.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed both cups of tea immensely. In that first cup, the rose was so strong, almost evenly matched with the tangy bergamot notes. The blend of teas provided a nice background of flavors: primarily that of black tea, I could taste earthiness and hints of vegetation as well as a pleasant sweetness.
In the second cup, the jasmine emerged as the focal point, sweet and exotic, and the rose notes accented the jasmine tones very nicely. There was a hint of sharpness to the cup, something I noticed less with the first cup than now with this second cup. The bergamot was light but it still had that zesty tang to it, and the tea flavors were more vegetative than earthy this time, lighter and not quite as sweet.
If you have an Earl Grey enthusiast in your life, this would make a perfectly romantic Valentine’s Day tea gift for them! I am really glad I finally got around to trying this tea, it is spectacular!
Chocolate Rose Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
This house blend is a heavenly blend of our rich Chocolate Tea and our delicate Rose Tea. The combination is truly romantic. Last years blend received rave reviews but this year the blend is even better with the addition of roasted cocoa bean pieces.
This tea is only available for a limited time.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was especially interested in trying this limited edition blend from Culinary Teas. Chocolate – as many are probably aware – is one of my favorite flavors for tea, and I love the combination of chocolate and rose flavors.
And am I satisfied with this blend? Absolutely! I found this blend to be both surprising and very pleasing.
What surprised me is that the flavors of the chocolate and the rose are pretty equal. Neither ingredient overwhelms the other, both seem pretty happy to share the spotlight with one another. A beautiful marriage!
And what pleases me is that the chocolate is a plentiful flavor in this blend. Normally, when reviewing a chocolate tea, I am stating my wish for more chocolate in the blend, but I won’t be doing that today. This has a very rich, delicious level of chocolate flavor, enough to satisfy this chocoholic!
Which also means that the rose is also a strong flavor, but these two ingredients work so well together. The rose is sweet with a sharpness to it, which cuts through some of the rich, deep flavor of the chocolate without surpassing it. It is a lovely balance of flavors that really pleases the palate.
If you’ve a tea drinking Valentine, this would be a well-received gift. Or, why not give a gift to yourself, and indulge in some chocolate and roses? This tea is the current Featured Tea of the Week at Culinary Teas, and that means extra savings!