Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Tea Description:
One of the best parts of a monthly tea experience is to try unique blends; this month, see what happens when unexpected ingredients come together. Apricot + lemongrass? Who knew! Spicy, sweet, yet gentle.
Lemongrass is a very interesting herb – it really transforms flavor when it is paired with other flavors. It’s a lot of fun to experiment with – you can actually make it into a tea all on its own, but we think this combination is perfect excuse to slow down and laze on a sunny spring day. You’ve earned it!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Plum Deluxe’s subscription plan here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been wanting to do a tea subscription for a very long time but with not really digging red rooibos I was always leery of committing. Plus with some of the subscription plans you get a lot of tea and I am really the only one that drinks it in my house, so I wasn’t sure if my cupboard could handle the overflow. But I finally took a chance and decided I would check one out. I emailed a few companies with a few questions and Andy from Plum Deluxe was the first one to reply. I have asked him so many questions at this point, I bet he thinks I’m crazy.
I received my first package and it is adorable. Along with my 1 oz of the tea of the month, I also received a sample of another of their blends and a cute little reusable bag with the companies logo on it. I love tea mail days. I dug in right away.
The dry leaves definitely smell like a fresh apricot. Threw 2 tsps into my Breville, set it up to 212F and steep for 5 minutes.
This really is a beautifully and well done herbal tea. I highly recommend it. The sweetness is there and you can really taste the apricot. The honeybush really provides a great sweet addition. There is almost a spicy tang to it as well. But its gentle and warming. The package says its great iced so I tried the herbal that way as well. Same steeping parameters but added some ice. Wow. I can see this as being a great summer tea. The apricot and honey flavors are really pronounced maybe even more so than when I enjoyed this hot. I might have to hold off one drinking anymore and save it for later in the summer months. I’m excited to see what next month’s tea will be.
Green Passion Fruit from Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Description:
If there could be one fruit that best represents a bright summer day it would be passionfruit! So naturally this green tea and passionfruit blend was the perfect fit for this edition.
The light grassy green tea is perfect for carrying the sweet and sour passionfruit floral flavours in a cup. If you’re the type that needs a sweetened cuppa, we recommend a drizzle of agave in this one. The agave flavour is gentle and pairs well with this tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
Green Passion Fruit from Tea & All It’s Splendor is the third and final tea that I received as part of edition 11 from Postal Teas. And it’s a good one!
The tea leaves appeared to me to be a Chinese Sencha – long, dark green spears that looked almost like blades of grass – and there were some yellow flower petals in the blend. Probably marigold petals. I didn’t see any dried passion fruit pieces but I could definitely smell the passion fruit!
I brewed this in my Breville One-Touch. I measured 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket of the tea maker and added 500ml of freshly filtered water to the jug. Then I set the parameters: 180°F for 2 minutes.
The tea is sweet and fruity. The Passion Fruit flavor is well-defined without hitting me over the head. I like the way the flavor is represented here. It’s a strong, distinct flavor of passion fruit but the green tea flavor is the star of the show. I am enjoying a nice balance between sweet, slightly vegetative green tea and juicy passion fruit flavors. Delicious!
I also like that this is a very tropical tasting tea without tasting like every other tropical tea out there. It’s got that tropical flair without tasting like a muddled recipe of mixed fruit.
The tea tasted great served hot but I liked it even better as it cooled – this would be a great refresher for the summer months ahead! If you’re a fan of passion fruit, try this tea!
Streusel Topping Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Ever get one of those giant packaged muffins with the crumbly streusel topping, and find that the lower half of the muffin isn’t nearly as good as the top half? Here’s our premium organic shou mei white tea fannings blended with organic cinnamon, brown sugar, butter and pastry flavors to make it taste like a muffin top without giving you one!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! This Streusel Topping Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas tastes so much like a muffin top, all that’s missing is the blueberries (or whatever muffin you might be eating). But I’m not missing blueberries because this is so tasty that I forget that I generally take my muffins with blueberries.
But since there are no blueberries in my muffin top, I might suggest that this tastes a bit more like a crumb doughnut. You know the mini doughnuts that come in packages of six? I taste top notes of brown sugar, and those notes almost taste caramelized. The cinnamon isn’t overpowering. And I get just enough of the butter and cake-like flavors to make this glass of iced tea taste like something other than just another cinnamon tea.
The Shou Mei base is an ideal choice for the flavors of cinnamon, brown sugar, and buttery, cake-y pastry. The white tea is delicate enough to allow these flavors to be experienced but not so light in flavor that I can’t taste the tea. Southern Boy Teas has achieved a delicious balance with this blend.
It’s a really refreshing iced tea and a very cooling beverage to drink, which is especially nice as the weather gets warmer.
Cantaloupe & Berries Green Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
This super refreshing and delicious iced tea will definitely get you in the mood for spring. We’ve blended our sweet organic Chinese sencha fannings green tea with organic cantaloupe, strawberry, blackberry and blueberry flavors. Be warned, this will disappear out of your fridge really fast!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I love cantaloupe. At family gatherings, my mom and I fight over the last piece on the fruit plate. My sons will yell at me if I come home from the grocery store without one. Thank goodness my grandpa is a farmer. He supplies us with the most amazing fresh cantaloupe (and other fruits and vegetables) throughout the summer months. He is 80 years old and still goes out in the fields and hand picks everything while drinking his coffee from the thermos. Even in the crazy hot days of summer!
This tea reminds me of him and hanging out with him in the fields during summer break. Brings back so many fantastic memories of my childhood. I love it when a tea gives you what I call “Warm Fuzzies” and takes you back to happy times.
I didn’t brew this up per the packaging. Since I am the only one that drinks tea in my house, I break the larger pouch into smaller tea bags so I can enjoy them on the go or at my office. I’ve tried to brew up a pitcher all at once, but I wasn’t able to drink the tea fast enough. This way works for me and from what I can tell, it doesn’t affect the outcome of the tea at all.
This is a perfect spring/summer tea. The cantaloupe flavor is the first that hits your taste buds. The green tea gives the tea a rich buttery feel. You can taste it more after you’ve had a sip or two, adding in a slight grassy note. Very slight. Its more of an after thought. I’m not picking up any of the berries or even a hint of them. Which is fine with me. I’m good with an iced cantaloupe green tea. Overall, I really dig this one. I wish I could taste more of the berries and I’m hoping additional steeps will bring those flavors out.
Sweet Cherry Ice Cream Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
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!