Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
Leaf Aroma: Sweet, floral
Infusion Aroma: Sweet, floral, honey
Infusion Color: Light amber
Base Flavor: Fruity and Floral
Infusion Strength: Medium
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this tea, because, well, the description doesn’t really tell much about the tea… but, I was feeling adventurous and looked forward to the surprise that this tea had in store, feeling fairly certain I’d enjoy it since I’ve not had a bad experience with Shanti Tea yet.
The dry leaf is beautiful! Lots of colorful petals mixed with the dark sage-y green tea leaves. The aroma of the dry leaf is intriguing … floral, certainly, and with a lovely sweetness to it too, like fruit and honey. It is powerfully aromatic. In contrast, the fragrance of the brewed tea very subtle, possessing mere hints of the fantastic scent I experienced with the dry leaf. Whispers of flower and hints of honey, with a barely-there fruity essence.
This is really delicious. The green tea tastes sweet and vegetative, and towards the end of the sip, I notice a tangy astringency. It is a very light astringency that could go unnoticed if not paying attention.
There is a fruit flavor to this … I’m tasting apple! I also taste hints of the flowers, particularly noticeable is the sunflower and the chamomile. I think that it may be the chamomile that brought my attention to the apple-y tones here, since chamomile has a natural apple-like taste to it anyway.
What I taste with this tea mostly, though, is the honey-esque overtones. Wow! This tastes as though I’ve added honey, but I haven’t! I can almost taste the nectar-y notes from the honey. It is sweet and it has a creamy thickness to it too, like a thinned honey.
Another delicious tea from Shanti Tea … I expected no less!
Fairytale from Shanti Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
Fairytale tea is an inspired blend of colorful herbs and flowers whose vivid infusion and magical aroma will take you back to your childhood fairytales of magic and romance, lovely damsels and dashing princes. It has a smooth light taste with a slightly minty finish and a hint of spice. Just the right combination to accompany your imagination on its magical journey…
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this tisane looks and smells gorgeous! Lots of blossoms and petals – chamomile, jasmine, osmanthus, rose and calendula – to please the eye and the nose. Once brewed, the aroma is quite herbal, so that worried me a bit. But I could also smell a promising note of peppermint.
The flavor is really quite nice, despite that herbal note. I’m not a fan of an overly herbal-y or medicinal tasting tisane, but, I think that the other flavors in this tisane keep it from tasting like a cup of medicine. The peppermint is a subtle flavor, and I like the way it melds with the other flavors in this blend.
I like the floral combination of this blend – it creates a flavor that is definitely flowery but not distinct. That is to say, it tastes like flowers … but not like any one particular flower. Instead, I taste sweet floral notes with fewer sharp tones and without any perfume-y taste.
When I first started sipping on this, I was a little disappointed that I did not taste any anise. But now that I’m about halfway through the cup, the flavor of the anise has developed. It is just a hint of licorice. Kind of like sneaking a quick treat before bed!
While I enjoyed this tisane while it lasted, I can’t say that this is my favorite cup from Shanti tea, because it isn’t. However, it is one of the tastier “bedtime” blends that I’ve encountered, and that is saying something, because there are a lot of bedtime blends out there. And it certainly does what it is supposed to … I can feel my body and mind relax and I do believe a good night’s sleep will follow.
Black Lemon from Shanti Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
A classic summertime drink, our lemon iced tea is a blend of premium black tea, sunflowers, Lemon Peel, and lemon essence. Unsweetened and delicious.
While black tea is in this blend is native to Sri Lanka, America is often credited with the invention of iced tea as we know it today. English and American cookbooks from the 1800s show that tea has been served cold since the early nineteenth century. The oldest recipes in print are made with green tea and not black tea and were called punches. The tea punches went by names such as Regent’s Punch, named after George IV. Iced tea’s popularity parallels the development of refrigeration such as the icebox (refrigerator), and the commercial manufacture of pure ice, which were in place by the middle of the nineteenth century.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is refreshing!
Many of the flavored teas that I’ve tried lately have been on the sweet side. Even the lemon flavored teas have been on the sweeter side, with more of a sweet, creamy, lemon-curd-like kind of lemon taste.
This… is not that tea.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a sweet tooth and I really enjoy the sweeter lemony teas too, but, this is really a refreshing change-up from what I’ve been tasting lately.
This is … quite simply … a bracing black tea and lemon. The black tea is brisk. The lemon is bright and tart. There is some sharpness from the sunflower petals. And that’s it. I did tell you it was simple, didn’t I?
Simple and yet delicious.
The black tea has a crisp astringency to it that compliments the tartness of the lemon. I can feel my mouth slightly pucker at the end of the sip. But I still wouldn’t describe this as sour. Instead, it is pleasingly tart, as though I squeezed a drop or two of lemon in my cup.
I must admit, though, that my first couple of sips of this tea were a bit … jarring. I wasn’t prepared for straight black tea and lemon. After having tried so many sweeter teas lately, I was prepared for a sweeter taste. But after about the third sip, my palate felt renewed! Like it had been inundated with sweetness. In contrast, this is like a palate detox!
A very refreshing surprise.
Breakfast Black Tulsi from Shanti Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Tea & Tulsi
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
Tulsi is one of India’s most sacred herbs, an aromatic shrub recognized for its spiritually uplifting and healing properties. This tulsi blend is a great morning tea, combining the strong and malty taste of Asamese black tea with the spicy-minty aroma and flavor of high-quality tulsi.
Tulsi or holy basil is an important symbol in the Hindu religious tradition and is worshiped in the morning and evening by Hindus at large. The holy basil is also a herbal remedy for a lot of common ailments. Holy Basil has been called the “Incomparable One”, the “Queen of Herbs” and “The Elixir of Life.”
Read more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This has to be one of the most interesting and unusual breakfast blends I’ve ever tasted. Interesting, yes … unusual, yes … but also very delicious.
I wasn’t sure exactly what to think of it before I brewed it. I thought that the black tea might overwhelm the Tulsi. But that thought vanished as soon as I walked into the kitchen after the tea finished brewing. The smell of warm, savory spice filled the air. I don’t think I’ve experienced that aroma from Tulsi in any other Tulsi that I’ve brewed, even the straight up Tulsi! Maybe it’s the presence of the Assam that brings out those sassy tones from the Tulsi.
The black tea is – interestingly enough – not the strongest flavor I’m experiencing. The Tulsi is strong and pleasant. It offers hints of mint, basil and a warm, peppery note as well. It’s providing a very arresting kind of spice experience: a crisp, zesty taste of mint, a savory note of basil, and the warm undertone of spice that is quite inviting and comforting.
But all that is not to say that the Assam is overwhelmed here. As if an Assam tea would let such a thing happen! It certainly makes its presence known here, although it has managed to master a graceful subtlety to its approach. It is rich and malty, sure, and provides a strong backdrop of flavor and a fullness to the body that is needed in a good breakfast blend.
Another thing that I’m noticing is a sort of slickness to the texture of the tea. It sort of smoothly, silkily washes over the palate. I like it especially because it seems to buffer any attempts at a strong astringent take over by the Assam. Yes, there is some astringency, but it only alludes to a tangy dryness without seeing it through.
I like this breakfast blend very much – I consider it a MUST TRY for those of you who are looking for something a little different in your early morning tea.
Kiwi Lemon Oolong from Shanti Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
The strong flavour of oolong is cut by a zest of citrus. The combination of strong flavours balance each other well creating a unique experience for both new and old drinkers of oolong teas.
Taster’s Review:
While the tea market is seemingly saturated with flavored teas; coming across a flavored Oolong is still a bit of a rarity. That is to say, there seem to be far fewer flavored Oolong teas than there are other tea types (with the exception of Yellow, Pu-erh and Darjeeling … there seem to be even fewer flavored versions of these types of tea) So, I am very excited to be able to try this Kiwi Lemon Oolong from Shanti.
And this has to be one of my favorite flavored Oolong teas to date. It is absolutely amazing!
The Oolong base is a darker Oolong, and it offers a background that is somewhat earthy and smoky, with a hint of cocoa flavor. It has a slightly creamy texture to it; a very smooth, silky kind of mouthfeel. While the flavors of the Oolong are not extraordinarily strong, they are prominent enough to shine through the stronger fruit notes, letting me know that this is TEA that I’m drinking, and not some fru-fru fancy-frilly fruit drink.
Lemon and kiwi are not two fruit flavors that I would have imagined combining, but they work together surprisingly well. The lemon is the strongest flavor in this cup although it is not overwhelming. It has a bright, sunny character. It is sweet, a bit like lemon curd! The sweet, smooth flavor of the kiwi is very complimentary to this sweeter side of the lemon. The tartness of the lemon is more of a background flavor, arriving to the foreground just before the finish and lingering in the aftertaste.
The kiwi is a considerably softer flavor in comparison to the lemon notes, but, I like how it pops up here and there, making its presence known throughout the sip. It provides a sweet flavor, almost melon-like.
While I generally prefer my Oolong teas to be served without additions, this is one Oolong that benefits from the addition of a little sweetener (I chose a drizzle of honey). This really helps the fruit flavors POP … especially the kiwi notes. It is still delicious without the honey, but it was more difficult to discern the kiwi flavors without it.
This one is a MUST TRY for flavored Oolong fans!