Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Our premium organic caffeine-free honeybush blended with organic strawberry, cinnamon, brown sugar and pastry flavors. A delicious caffeine-free treat. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
From the moment that I tore open the pouch of this Strawberry Pie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas, I knew I was in for a treat! I could smell the strawberry right away! And the berry with the cinnamon produced an aroma that was absolutely irresistible! YUM!
And this really is yummy. The nutty, honey-sweet honeybush with the notes of buttery pastry, earthy cinnamon and sweet brown sugar notes create a really delightful ‘pie-like’ flavor. The strawberry tastes sweet with hints of tart, just like the real thing. It tastes like the glazed strawberries in a strawberry pie (or a strawberry shortcake!)
It makes a really refreshing iced tea. It tastes a lot like I remember the “My Sweet Honeybush” version of this flavor tasting: sweet and delicious. I think that ‘hot tea’ version of this tea also had more of a vanilla-y taste to it. I do taste some vanilla-ish flavor to this, like a creamy sweetness, but it’s not as strong as my taste buds want to remember based on reading my past review.
However, I don’t feel like I’m missing that vanilla note in this tea because I rather like that this is about the strawberry and the pie. Very refreshing, pleasantly sweet and dessert-like. Nice!
California Sweet Peach Herbal Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Sweet orange peel roasted in honey, real grade-A Madagascar vanilla beans, actual peaches! California Sweet Peach is our signature herbal infusion. We are proud to roast our own orange peel in local honey and use peaches straight from California! Our natural peach flavor is supplied by Silver Cloud Estates and is a blend of different natural extracts and oils, enabling us to boost the taste of peaches. This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends. Note: California Sweet Peach contains no tea, as it is an herbal infusion. We chose to include the term “herbal tea” in the title due to its categorical popularity.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This California Sweet Peach Herbal Tea from M&K’s Tea Company is an interesting tisane. As I sit here, sipping it, I’m trying to determine whether or not I like it. I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I was blown away by it. At the same time, I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I wasn’t intrigued. I felt the need to keep on sipping. It’s interesting enough to keep me sipping but there’s something about it that hasn’t yet ‘won me over’ – at least not yet.
I like that the hibiscus is not a strong presence in this cup. Normally, when I am about to taste a tea or tisane with hibiscus, my thought is “why?” Why hibiscus? But, after drinking about half a cup now, I can see why the hibiscus is in this blend. It adds a little bit of body to the cup (but I wouldn’t recommend steeping it longer than 6 minutes or so to avoid having a thick or syrupy body) and the little bit of tartness that it brings to the cup adds balance to the warm notes of the licorice and the sweetness of the peach, honey and vanilla notes.
The star of this cup is – obviously – the peach. I like the flavor of the peach here and I think that’s what’s keeping my interest. The peach is a genuine peach-y note. It doesn’t taste chemical or artificial. It tastes true to the fruit. I also like the orange in this. The orange adds a touch of bright flavor to the sweet peach notes.
Now that I’ve finished the cup I can say that I enjoyed this. It had a strong peach flavor but there was enough other stuff going on in this that it didn’t end up being all about the peach. I liked the different flavors going on. And even though this does have hibiscus in it – like so many other fruit/herbal tisanes to – this is not your ordinary tisane.
Just as an aside: it’s something when I finish the tea before I finish the review. Take that for what it’s worth, but it doesn’t happen often. I must have enjoyed what I was drinking!
Yeah. I’d drink this again. I enjoyed it. This one has earned my approval. Even if it does have hibiscus in it!
Strawberry Pina Colada Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Premium Organic black tea with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
As one who doesn’t drink a lot of alcohol, I can’t say that I’ve ever tasted a Strawberry Pina Colada. But this flavor combination – in a black tea! – is tasty.
The aroma of the dry tea smells strongly of strawberry and coconut. The pineapple is noticeable as well. I could even detect just a hint of rum. The brewed tea doesn’t have as strong a scent as the dry tea, but I can still smell coconut notes and hints of strawberry.
The strawberry really comes through in the flavor. I can taste the strawberry right from the beginning of the sip, and that flavor remains throughout the sip and into the aftertaste. I get that familiar berry tingle on the tongue in the aftertaste.
The coconut is the next flavor I really notice. It adds a delicious creamy flavor to the tea. The pineapple is probably the least noticeable of the fruit flavors in this, but, I taste it at mid-sip and I pick up more pineapple-y notes toward the finish.
As for the rum notes, I can taste them but I find them to be rather faint. I find them to be most noticeable when I focus on the flavors.
Overall, a really tasty iced tea. It’s sweet, but there are some interesting contrasts to keep it from being cloying. I am enjoying this.
Spanish Sunset White Tea Blend from Lemon Lily
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
While the first tea was floral and earthy, this little blend goes full throttle on the floral. A blend of leaves from raspberries and strawberries with dusting of rose and rosehip, this tea is a natural relaxant. While some may say these herbals all hold some amazing capabilities in the world of natural healing, lowering blood pressure or relieving bloating and cramps, we like it because it’s full of flavour without tasting like a bar of soap. You can actually taste all the subtle notes of each leaf and flower as the sip develops on your taste buds.
Learn more about the eighth edition of Postal Teas shipment here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
The three teas that were showcased in the eighth edition from Postal Teas all had several things in common. The first and most obvious is that they were all three from Lemon Lily. The second (and also pretty obvious) is that they were all white tea blends. The third is that they are all blends that focus on floral flavors.
They were all unique too: the Maple Leaf is indulgent and maple-y and Beauty & The Beet has a pleasant earthy tone with the beetroot powder and this blend delights with it’s soft hints of berry. But all three have strong floral overtures.
I like that while they are very flowery, they don’t taste soapy. I don’t feel like I’m drinking Aunt Matilda’s perfume. The flavor of the white tea is delicate but discernible and keeps this cuppa tasting like TEA.
This particular blend focuses more on the rose notes than do the previous two blends from this edition. But I like that the sharper floral notes are softened with mellow fruit flavors from the strawberry and raspberry leaves. These components add a soft, sweet fruit note without overwhelming the beautiful floral notes.
And the softness accentuates the lovely floral notes of rose perfectly. I like that all the flavors seem to unify in a very seamless way, but each note is discernible. I experience the nuances of each component in the blend. A sweet, earthy, hay-like note from the white tea. Mild fruit notes from the strawberry and raspberry leaves. And of course, the beautifully sweet, soothing flavor of rose.
I steeped this tea in my Kati Tumbler, using 2 bamboo scoops of leaf (again, this is a highly flowery loose leaf blend and I find that a little more leaf is appropriate when steeping it). I heated 12 ounces of water to 165°F and steeped the tea for 3 1/2 minutes. And again, I am in agreement with Postal Teas: you really should allow this tea 10 minutes to cool after steeping. The flavors really pop after the 10 minutes.
The eighth edition from Postal Teas was a big WIN in my opinion. Thank you, Postal Teas for putting together this remarkable box of tea joy!
Strawberry Lemonade Flavored Honeybush Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Premium organic caffeine-free honeybush with organic flavors.
Learn more about this iced tea here.
Learn how to subscribe to SBT’s tea of the week here.
Taster’s Review:
I could really smell the strawberry lemonade-ish-ness of this blend the moment that I tore open the pouch! It smelled like a pitcher of yummy strawberry lemonade!
When I first saw this blend on the website, though, I wasn’t as confident about it. Oh sure, I love strawberry lemonade. But I wasn’t really sure how I’d like these flavors combined with the natural nutty flavor of honeybush. It just didn’t seem like something that would work well.
Well, I was wrong. Please don’t tell my husband I admitted that. It’s much better that he operate under the notion that I’m always right.
This is really tasty. The strawberry and lemonade notes are strong and forward, while the nutty, sweet notes of the honeybush are a little off to the background and don’t really obstruct the flavors of the sweet-tart lemonade and strawberry.
The lemonade is the prominent flavor. It’s tart, but not pucker-y tart. There is some sweetness to it thanks to the strawberry. The tartness comes through strongest at the finish, when I taste both the sour notes of the lemon as well as the tingly berry tart. There is some sweetness from the honeyed notes of the honeybush base.
Something else that I found interesting: as I neared the bottom of the glass, I started to pick up on this creamy taste. I don’t usually get a strong “creaminess” from honeybush. Occasionally the nutty flavors translate into a slight creaminess but this time, the creaminess was strong enough that I really took notice of it. Nice! “Cream” is not a flavor that I would normally associate with Strawberry Lemonade but I like it here.
It’s a really tasty and refreshing iced tea. I’d recommend keeping a couple of packages of this on hand for when you’re having guests over – this is the kind of tisane that everyone will enjoy. It’s a funky twist on the Arnold Palmer!