Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Veda Company
Tea Description:
Mildly caffeinated with green tea, one of the nature’s antioxidant wonders. Boost your “Energy” with energizing, tasteful and exotic blends of lemongrass, mint and hibiscus.
Learn more about the teas from TeaVeda here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I really do like the concept of the Teaveda teas. I love the beautiful tins and the matching tea ware. I just kind of wish that the Veda Company paid as much attention to this blend in particular as they paid to the packaging and tea ware, because this tea is really quite average. 
While I’m enjoying this blend, I’m not really getting a sense of “Energy” from it. The flavors are very subtle and the overall cup is just sort of “ho-hum”.
The mint, which is normally a rather assertive herb, is quite subdued here. The lemongrass is bright and has a lemon-lime sort of flavor to it that I find enjoyable.
As for the hibiscus … well, it’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of hibiscus. I’m happy to say that the hibiscus is a gentle flavor here – I’m not getting an overly tart flavor from it nor am I getting the syrupy thickness from it. Then again, I did only steep the tea for 2 1/2 minutes so I didn’t expect to get a thick texture from the hibiscus.
I think that maybe the hibiscus helps to emphasize the lemon-y notes of the lemongrass just a bit, but other than that, I can’t say that there’s a really distinct hibiscus note here.
The green tea is pleasant. It’s smooth and buttery. It’s not bitter and it’s not astringent. (Bonus points for that!) Overall, this tea is alright. It’s not my favorite tea that I tried from Teaveda and I guess I just expected more from a tea that calls itself “Energy.”
Ginger Green Tea from Teatulia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teatulia
Tea Description:
Comforting and rustic with a flirt of ginger. Harmonious blend that enriches the whole.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve had a pretty unusual year weather wise. We had a very uncomfortably hot and humid summer, and those warm days lingered well into October! When the cold days finally arrived, they were very welcome, but now we’re having some really cold, wet weather. I certainly prefer the cooler weather because the hot tea tastes so much better when its cold outside.
And ginger is one of my favorite ingredients to enjoy in a tea blend this time of year. I love that extra warmth that I get from the ginger. And I’m really enjoying the way the ginger is celebrated in this Ginger Green Tea from Teatulia – one of their newest blends!
There is a pleasant note of lemongrass that adds a bright, citrus-y note that contrasts with the peppery zing of the ginger. The green tea is sweet, slightly vegetal and lightly buttery. It’s a very cozy and relaxing cup of tea to enjoy on a cold autumn evening.
And this is a very forgiving tea too. I accidentally forgot to set the timer and ended up oversteeping by a couple of minutes. But – no bitterness! Yay!
I prefer this blend served hot but that may just be the cold weather talking. The hot tea together with the heat of the ginger is so warming and wonderful. But, it’s also good iced! (Try cold-brewing this one. Yum!)
Teatulia is one of those companies that you can rely upon for organic teas. This is a company that is socially responsible. And I love their environmentally responsible packaging! A really good company that I like doing business with!
Serenity Ayurvedic Tea from TeaVeda
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Decaffeinated)
Where to Buy: The Veda Company
Tea Description:
Delicious and intriguing blends of peach, pineapple, organic decaffeinated black tea and passion fruit make our “Serenity” tea a welcoming treat to sip slowly and enjoy.
Learn more about the teas from TeaVeda here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! Of the various TeaVeda Ayurvedic teas that I’ve tried thus far, I think that this Serenity Tea is my favorite. I love the fruit flavors of this blend. I also appreciate that I taste black tea here, but I don’t taste that “off” taste that I sort of expect (and dread) when it comes to decaffeinated teas. This tastes like black tea. It doesn’t taste like decaffeinated black tea even though this IS a decaffeinated black tea. So, like I said. NICE!
While the fruit flavors are strong, the decaffeinated black tea base is a solid flavor – it doesn’t taste or feel thin the way some decaf black teas do. Nor does it have that chemical aftertaste that some decaf teas do. This tastes like a rich, malty black tea. And it’s a robust black tea, strong enough to hold its own against the plentiful flavors of peach, pineapple and passion fruit!
These tropical fruit flavors are tasty! The peach is the strongest of the three fruit flavors and it tastes sweet and juicy. The pineapple adds a bright flavor to the cup. And the flavor that ties it all together is the passion fruit. It adds a sweet, luscious flavor that makes the peach taste a little more “tropical” and the pineapple a little more like a fruit from an orchard in Georgia. This medley of fruit is summery and refreshing and evokes thoughts of laying out on a hammock on a tropical island, watching the sun as it sets over the horizon. A very serene scene, indeed!
This is a very aptly named tea – sure to inspire Serenity from the inside out.
Cherry Chocolate Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Occasionally – perhaps more often than ‘occasionally’ – Southern Boy Teas introduces a flavor that I’m not too sure about. I find myself wondering how well those flavors will meld with iced tea.
I’ve tried 52Teas (Southern Boy Teas parent company) Cherry Cordial Black Tea as well as their tribute to one of my all time favorite ice creams: Cherry Garcia. I enjoyed both of those. So I didn’t have a problem thinking that the flavors of chocolate and cherry would work with black tea. But how would this taste as an iced tea?
Well, it tastes like what the name of the tea suggests: It tastes like a chocolate cherry flavored iced tea!
To brew this, I used the hot brew method, heating 1 quart of water to 212°F and let the “jumbo tea bag” steep for 2 minutes. Then I repeated the process, letting the second quart steep for 2 1/2 minutes.
With my first few sips, I found myself looking for the chocolate flavors. You know me, I’m all about the chocolate! By the time I was finished with my second glass of the tea, I realized that even though the chocolate flavors are a bit lighter here than I would like them to be, the balance works. It works so well that I didn’t want to stop drinking it!
Right about here is where I’d say something like more chocolate = better. However, even though the chocolate notes here are not quite as chocolate-y as I would normally like, I find that as an iced tea, the lighter chocolate flavor works. If this was a hot tea, I’d want more chocolate, definitely.
But I’m enjoying this as it is! I think that a stronger chocolate flavor – while it would be awesomely delicious – it wouldn’t be as “refreshing” and “thirst quenching”. I think that a stronger chocolate note would be heavier on the palate. Here, the chocolate is strong enough to be tasted and enjoyed, but still light enough to be an iced drink that refreshes me.
The cherry is a sweeter cherry note. Because it melds with the black tea and chocolate notes in a harmonious way, it doesn’t come off as tasting cough syrupy to me. It is just a light, sweet, fruity note that accentuates the chocolate and black tea.
The black tea is a brisk, invigorating tea that doesn’t overpower the chocolate notes. Instead, I think that the chocolate and black tea play together very well, creating a slightly creamy, decadent, bittersweet chocolate flavor that melds with the black tea notes seamlessly.
A really tasty iced tea.
Oolong Tea from Teatulia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teatulia
Tea Description:
A stunning, full-bodied cup with hints of fresh pie crust, lemon and sake.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really excited to learn that Teatulia began offering an Oolong tea! I’ve tried other teas from this company in the past and have enjoyed them so I was eager to try their new Oolong.
What sets Teatulia apart from other tea companies is that their organic teas are grown in Bangladesh. You can learn more about the Teatulia Organic Tea Garden here.
I love the packaging of Teatulia. Their “eco-canisters” are completely biodegradable. And while I prefer my Oolongs loose, I do appreciate that the pyramid sachets are made from corn silk. Another plus: the leaves appear to be large, not chopped into dust the way many teas in sachets or bags are.
Normally, when I steep my Oolong teas, I grab my gaiwan. But because this tea is in a sachet, I didn’t do that. (I suppose I could have cut the sachet and poured the leaf into my gaiwan, but I didn’t do that either. I decided to brew this as the purveyor intended.) However, I did perform a 15 second rinse on the teabag. What can I say? I’m sold on the reawakening of the tea leaves. Oolongs just seem to taste better when I take that extra 15 seconds to do the rinse. After the rinse, I steeped one sachet in 8 ounces of water that had been heated to 180° for 3 minutes.
The aroma is intriguing! I smell notes of smoke. I also smell something sweet … like butterscotch: smoky butterscotch! Notes of earth and wood. I don’t think I’ve smelled an Oolong quite like this one.
The flavor is delightful! Sweet! I taste the notes of butterscotch. The above description suggests notes of fresh pie crust, lemon and sake. I’m not a drinker of alcohol and it’s been years since my one and only cup of sake, so I can’t tell you if I’m actually tasting sake or not. But I do taste notes of lemon!
Bright, sunny lemon. I also taste a slight pastry note. The pastry note really pops when I slurp the sip to aerate it. I can also taste subtle notes of smoke and woodsy tones. It’s a rather interesting Oolong!
And since it is an Oolong, I decided to take it for a resteep. The second cup is just as delicious as the first – maybe even better! I am getting more of that butterscotch-like sweetness with the second cup! Not so much of the smoke this time, but I am picking up on a slight woodsy tone. The pastry notes are more subdued now, but I’m still getting light lemony notes.
A really lovely Oolong!