Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Here’s our delicious organic Iyerpadi black tea blended with the organic flavors of vanilla ice cream and maraschino cherries. Life really is just a bowl of cherries, you know. Enjoy it with some of this delicious iced tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! I wasn’t too sure about this Sweet Cherry Ice Cream Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas because the words “Sweet Cherry” often mean “cough syrup” in the world of tea and I worried a little bit that this might end up tasting like that. But I’m happy to say that the cherry notes are not an overwhelming flavor and there’s no hint of cough syrup!
Instead, I’m tasting what was promised in the title: I’m tasting a cherry ice cream flavor that brings me back to the days when we used to go to the local drug store and get a ice cream cone.
Wow, I just aged myself there, didn’t I? Are there any small drug stores like that anymore?
The black tea is the dominate flavor of this tea and it’s smooth. Brisk and lively, this isn’t an aggressive black tea, nor is it astringent or bitter. It’s just really smooth and delicious.
When I first pour myself a glass of this tea, I find that the flavors seem to ‘hide’ themselves until I’ve consumed about half a glass. Then the cherry flavors really seem to pop. Now I’m tasting a cherry note that’s sweet but there’s also just a hint of tart to it. Enough tart to keep it from tasting too sweet and to give it a more fruity taste and not so much a medicinal one. The vanilla undertones add to the smoothness of the black tea and give the glass of tea a really pleasant, creamy taste.
This tea would be perfect for the hot summer months that lie ahead. It’s going to be a flavor that both kids and adults will enjoy!
Kenyan Chai from 52Teas
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Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
We had some rich GFOP Kenyan black tea which I thought would be great for a chai blend, but I wanted to combine the Kenyan tea with spices that are more specific to Kenya . . . the Ras el Hanout that I used for this chai listed the ingredients as:
“Tumeric, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, anise seed, cardamom, galangal, anise star, cayenne pepper, garlic, nigella, paprika, rosebuds, salt, ajwan seeds, lavender blossoms, mace and other spices.”
Whatever is in it, it is very fragrant, and it makes a lovely and interesting chai that is at once familiar and still just different enough to make it unique. You’re going to want to get your hands on some of this tea. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you guys think about it.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
This is different. And as I’ve said before, different is good and that definitely applies in the case of this Kenyan Chai from 52Teas.
I could smell the spices as soon as I opened the pouch. The aroma here is different from the typical chai – I’m not smelling a strong ginger note like I would probably notice in a Masala chai blend. I am picking up on a hint of cinnamon, but mostly what I’m smelling is tumeric. Subtle notes of anise. Some floral notes. But mostly, tumeric.
The overall fragrance reminds me a bit of what I’d smell if I walked into an Indian restaurant, actually. Or perhaps a restaurant that offers Middle Eastern Cuisine.
Which is in itself interesting since I’d probably be more likely to get a more familiar Masala chai tea blend at the Indian restaurant than I would get something like this Kenyan Chai. Although at our local African Restaurant, they serve “chai” which is also the more familiar Masala blend type chai. Incidentally, they also serve Middle Eastern cuisine at that restaurant.
To brew this chai, I put 1 bamboo scoop of the tea and 12 ounces of boiling water into my Kati tumbler and let it steep for 3 minutes. The scent that filled the kitchen was rather delightful!
After it finished steeping, I took a wee sip to see if I wanted to add anything to the cup. I decided to forgo the ‘latte’ with this (although I think a latte would be quite interesting! I might have to try that next time!) but I did add a little less than half a teaspoon of raw sugar to the cup to accentuate the spices. Sugar and spice goes nice together, and the sugar seems to elevate the flavors of the spices just a bit.
And wow! I’m really liking this blend. It’s certainly different, mind you. This is not like any chai you’re likely to find anywhere else. But as I said at the start, different is good. It’s not overly spicy and these particular spices give this cup a more savory flavor than ‘spicy’ or even ‘warm’ flavor. It’s more like a really unique, savory cuppa that I really like.
The black tea is rich and robust. Now that I have nearly finished the cup, I don’t know if latte is the way to go with this. I don’t know how well they’d fair with the creamy element since this isn’t a spicy-sweet type of chai, this is more of a warm-savory type of chai.
As I write this review, I see that there are still 20 pouches of this tea left which kind of surprises me! If you haven’t gotten yours yet, you really should get on over to Zoomdweebies and pick up a pouch of it – this one is a unique and really quite tasty blend.
We Are Nearing The Home Stretch!
Please help us reach our S-t-r-e-t-c-h Goals! Please click here and contribute!
We are nearing the home stretch of our Kickstarter and we’re so excited that we’ve reached our goal and we will be funded. This means that I will be – together with my daughter, Amethyst – taking over 52Teas as of June 1st!
But we are looking to achieve MORE with our campaign! The more funds we raise, the more we can invest in equipment to make the business more effective. We also desperately want a new website!
We have about eight days left on the campaign and I believe we can go FAR with those eight days! Please click here to go to the campaign and contribute what you can. As little as $5 will get you some tea – and you’ll have helped build our business and help my dream come to life! THANK YOU!
And after you’ve contributed, don’t forget to vote! Right now, backers are voting on five new reblends to add to the campaign reblends, so if you have a favorite 52Teas blend that you’d like to see reblended, please contribute and then VOTE – let me know what tea you’d like to try!
Acerola Cherry Fig Black Tea Blend from Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Description:
THIS. TEA. IS. RICH! It’s full of flavour, body and mouth feel. It’s like drinking a great red wine. We were blown away by just the smell of this well made blend. It was so amazing we had to check to make sure that it was all natural. Raelene assures us it is (along with all their other teas).
The rich sour cherry flavour, is sweet and fruity. The fig, adds a sweet and mellow brown sugar finish. This paired with a high quality black tea means you’re left with a warm cuppa that is perfect for novice and advanced tea drinkers.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
My eleventh edition box from Postal Teas has finally arrived! Happy day! This eleventh edition focuses on a new-to-me tea purveyor: Tea & All It’s Splendor and this Acerola Cherry Fig Black Tea Blend is the first that I’ve tried from this collection of teas.
I mean, how could I resist? They had me at the word fig! And as I’ve confessed previously, I’ve noticed a trend in my tea drinking. When I’m given a selection of different teas, the type of tea that I’ll reach for more often than the others is black tea. Don’t get me wrong, I love other tea types. I’m crazy about Oolong teas and Yellow tea is my favorite, but there is just something so comforting about black tea. It appeals to an almost instinctual need for me. That need for tea and it’s caffeine.
And this tea is quite lovely! There is a tasty balance here between tart and sweet. The fig is sweet – almost sugary sweet and it’s a pleasing contrast to the jarring tartness of the acerola cherries. Beneath the cherry top note I taste the smooth black tea that’s not bitter nor overly astringent. I’m really glad about the lack of astringency here, I think that astringency would kill this blend for me because the cherry flavor is quite tart and a tangy, dry sensation would be a bit much for my taste, I think.
But even though the tart is very strong here, I’m not finding it off putting the way I tend to find tart flavors. I think this has more to do with the fact that the cherry flavor tastes so authentic. This is not your average cherry flavoring that ends up tasting like cough syrup. NO! This is a really tasty, true-to-the-fruit cherry flavor that tastes as though I’ve just bitten into a tart cherry. Except that thanks to the fig notes, I’m not puckering.
This. This is good tea. And as fantastic as it is served hot, it’s even better iced. Wow! What a great way to get back into the swing of things with Postal Teas!
Strawberry Pie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas
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!