Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Boston Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Enjoy this tartfully-sweet tea whether it’s morning, noon, or night! The perfect blend of our premium organic Chinese and Indian black teas with organic cranberries and lemon will leave you taste buds dancing with delight!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure how I would like this blend, because even though I’ve enjoyed many cranberry flavored teas as well as quite a few lemon flavored teas – to have these two tart fruit flavors together in one tea seemed a little too tarty for me.
But this is alright. It’s not my favorite tea that I’ve tasted from Boston Tea Company, but, I’m enjoying it. The flavors of cranberry and lemon go together surprisingly well. I usually see cranberry and orange as a combination but seldom do I see cranberry and lemon. And it’s a nice combination. Yeah, it’s tart, but it’s still tasty.
I think what really saves this tea for me and makes it tasty instead of way too tarty is the black tea base. It’s a smooth, robust black tea. I taste sweet notes of malt and these sweeter notes of the tea as well as it’s strong, bold taste seems to take some of the attention off the fact that we have two sour fruit flavors in this blend.
Not that the tea base overpowers the fruit notes, but, it manages to curb some of the really sour notes so that it tastes just a little less tart than I anticipated it to taste. So I’m able to experience some of the sweeter notes of the berry and the bright, refreshing flavor of the lemon without feeling that urge to pucker when I take a sip.
I steeped one of these silky pyramids in boiling water for 3 minutes. It produced a flavorful, aromatic cup that is not too tart, but it is a bit more tart than it is sweet, so if you’re one who fancies a sweeter cup, you might want to add just a pinch of sweetener to soften the sour just a bit. I enjoyed it as is, and I tend to be a little sensitive to tart flavors. This tea just “toes the line” at being a little too tart. It’s very tart but not quite there.
Overall, a pleasant tea – this makes a really tasty and refreshing iced tea. I think this is even better iced than hot – the tart notes mellow out just a little bit and make for a very smooth and juicy tasting drink.
Mint Julep Black Tea from Tea of Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Description:
Black tea with natural mint flavor.
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
When I read the name of this tea: Mint Julep … I expected a little more than a black tea with mint. I guess when I think Mint Julep, I think bourbon and mint.
But! Don’t take that statement as me not liking what I’m sipping, because this is an enjoyable drink. The black tea notes are strong, it’s a brisk tasting black tea with a smooth character. It’s not bitter or overly astringent, although there is a mild astringency toward the tail. I like that even though there is this faint “dry puckering” of the inside of my cheeks, the transition from the beginning of the sip to the sensation I just described is very smooth.
I’m a little surprised by the mint notes. They are quite faint, and generally when I have a minty tea I expect a stronger mint flavor. This is really quite subtle. This is definitely more a black tea than a mint tea.
So, that leads me to say this: if you’re looking for a minty black tea, this is not the right tea for you. If you’re looking for a black tea with a hint of mint, this is the tea. This doesn’t have that really CRISP cool minty sensation that you’d probably expect from a minty black tea. This has a delicate mint note that sort of lingers in the background.
It’s a pleasant, enjoyable cuppa, but not quite what I was expecting!
Inverness Estate Black Tea with Essence of Bergamot from Eden Grove
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Amazon Trading
Ingredients:
Black Tea with natural bergamot flavor.
Learn more about Amazon Trading here.
Taster’s Review:
I saved my review of this tea for a while since TeaEqualsBliss had also reviewed it, and I figured I had a lot of other teas from Eden Grove to sample, so I’d save this bergamot for one of the last ones I’d try from this company. Well, that and … it IS bergamot. I saved what I thought I’d like best for one of the last teas I’d try from them.
Now that I taste it, I can’t say that I do actually like it best. I think there were some other teas from Eden Grove that I preferred over this Inverness Estate Black Tea with Essence of Bergamot. That’s not to say that I dislike this one, because it’s actually quite nice.
That said, when it comes to bergamot, I prefer it strongly flavored and this is a little on the subtle side. The Iverness single estate black tea is brisk, however, I think I’d like the bergamot to be on even footing with the robust flavor of the black tea and it isn’t.
There is a nice, bright, citrus-y note to this, but it tastes more like lemon than it does bergamot to me. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but, for an Earl Grey fan like me … I’m all about the Italian orange! I want bergamot!
Overall, this is a tasty cuppa, and I was happy with it. I just could have been even happier if the bergamot were stronger.
Organic Green Tea Pomegranate from Tea of Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Tea Description:
Organic green tea, organic pomegranate and organic rose petals with pomegranate flavor.
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m actually tasting more rose than pomegranate with this tea. Kind of a surprise, but, it’s not a bad surprise. I find the combination of flavors: the floral notes of the rose, the sweet notes of the green tea and the sweet-tart notes of the pomegranate to be appealing.
The green tea has a nice buttery note to it that lends a creamy note to the cup, and I like the way this marries with the notes of fruit and flower. The rose is a subtle flavor, but as I said before, it’s actually a bit stronger than the pomegranate, especially during the sip. In the aftertaste is where I notice a real punch of pomegranate flavor.
Overall, this is an enjoyable cup of tea. I appreciate that all the ingredients are organic. It’s good as a hot tea (but do allow it a couple of minutes to cool as the flavors seem to benefit from some cool time), and it’s even better as an iced tea. I cold-brewed the pyramid sachets and was pleasantly surprised at how refreshing the tea was.
Verveine Tisane from Les 2 Marmottes
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: Les 2 Marmottes
Tisane Description:
When stress plays tricks on you, verbena takes you by the hand. Let us guide you, it will take you to a quiet and peaceful place. At the end of a meal, ask him his note. She will present weightless and far from salt.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love the smell of verbena. That light, bright, lemon-y aroma that smells so fresh and lively. And that’s the fragrance that greeted me when I tore into the packet of this Verveine Tisane from Les 2 Marmottes.
It’s a scent that reminds me of summer. My grandmother had a very prolific lemon tree in her backyard, which meant a summertime full of freshly squeezed lemonade, lemon meringue pies and other yummy lemon-y treats.
As much as I love an ice-cold glass of freshly squeezed lemonade, I think I prefer the taste of a cup of brewed verbena over lemonade. I can get a smooth, sweet lemon-curd like taste from a cup of verbena without the tartness and without all that sugar that I’d get from a glass of lemonade.
And this Verveine from Les 2 Marmottes is very refreshing and relaxing to drink! It would taste great iced (and I like to add some verbena to my pure Ceylon tea when I brew it for iced tea for a nice little touch of citrus), but tonight, I’m enjoying a cup of hot Verveine and it’s quite soothing. I feel it calming me with each sip I take.
The flavor is delicately sweet and bright with lemon-y notes. It doesn’t have that tart pucker that I’d get from lemon, though, this is a smooth, gentle lemon note with a touch of butter, similar to what I might taste if I were to eat the sweet, creamy filling of a lemon meringue pie. There are some subtle herbaceous tones to this as well, but I like that they don’t disrupt the lovely lemon notes.
A really nice cup of pure verbena!