Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Adagio
Tea Description:
Sweet apricots, peach, lavender and white tea entangle themselves for a delicate fruit and floral tryst. Quietly pleasing, like softly whispered confessions of admiration that keep you wanting more.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a white tea from Adagio’s Love Petals collection. It’s a fruit-floral blend, containing sunflower petals and lavender buds on the floral side, and apricot and peach on the fruit side. The base tea is a white peony, composed mostly of brown-black stalks and leaves, but with a few downy silver buds in evidence. It’s not the best looking white peony I’ve ever seen, but appearances can be deceptive.
I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a medium golden-yellow, and the scent is mildly fruity. To taste, the fruit is the primary flavour, and the floral ingredients are mostly absent. I was hoping this would be the case, as (with a few rare exceptions) fruit/floral combinations usually strike me as rather odd. The main flavour I can detect is peach, and it’s a reasonably natural tasting approximation – mildly sweet, with that pulpiness that ripe peaches have. The apricot is present a little, but it’s definitely second fiddle here. As peach and apricot are reasonably similar flavours, however, it hardly seems to matter.
Although I can see lavender buds in the dry mix, they actually make no impact on the overall flavour, or at least not that I can discern. I imagine the sunflower petals are being used to carry the fruit flavours, so perhaps that explains their role in this blend. The white base is also strangely absent from the flavour of this blend. I usually find it possible to detect white teas in flavoured blends, particularly white peony as it can be quite thick tasting, with a floral/dusty flavour all its own. Not so here, which is another point in this blend’s flavour. The peach and apricot are allowed to shine, and shine they do!
This makes for a pleasant blend on a warm spring day, and I can imagine it would also work well iced. Adagio did well with this one.
Summer Solstice Herbal Tea from Tealux
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Tealux
Tea Description:
Summer solstice is the name for the mythical night of the 21st of June ‘ the shortest night of the year. Midsummer is often described as a pause in-between a change in nature and provides us with the opportunity to pause for a moment in order to align ourselves with the energy changes of the natural forces. We have united the taste of ripe sun fruits and fresh herbs with the Swedish midsummer tradition of blossoms, in order to keep the rays of sun a little while longer in your cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s not quite the Summer Solstice yet, but the weather is definitely getting warmer! Perhaps that’s why this particular blend really spoke to me today. It’s hard to tell from the description exactly what you’re going to get, so I jumped right in and brewed up a cup. The first thing of note is the size of the fruit pieces contained in this blend. There are whole raspberries, generous slices of freeze-dried strawberry, and large pieces of apple, pineapple and papaya (about 1 inch square.) There are smaller pieces of hibiscus, small flakes of nettle leaves, and a scattering of sunflower blossoms. The blend as a whole is bright and colourful – very summery-looking. It smells quite rich and fruity, rather in the manner of fruit cake.
I used approximately 2 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. It’s by no means easy to measure, due to the large leaf size, but I did my best! The resulting liquor is golden brown, and the scent is mildly fruity – I’m picking up blackberry and coconut primarily.
To taste, the raspberry and strawberry are a lot more prominent than I thought they might be. They’re juicy and natural-tasting, sweet initially and then a little tart. The more “tropical” flavours develop in the mid-sip; a lot of coconut, a hint of pineapple, and a slight pepperiness from the papaya. It’s a slightly odd combination, like two halves of two different teas have been unexpectedly brought together. It’s not unpleasant, but the transition from summer berries to tropical fruit is a little jarring. The fruit flavours linger well into the aftertaste, and I can detect a splash of blackberry at this point. It’s tart and a little sour, but again incredibly juicy, and I could see this working well with the initial strawberry/raspberry combination. Somehow, though, it’s not quite what I wanted after the tropical explosion that preceded it.
I quite like this one, purely for it’s accurate fruit flavours and sheer juciness. It’s a great thirst quencher on a warm day. I would have preferred it to be either berry or tropical, though, rather than both. The two flavour sets aren’t a brilliant match to begin with, and nothing is gained when they have to compete with each other for dominance. Still, it’s a pleasing cup on the whole, and I can imagine it working well iced in the warmer months to come.
Focus Green Tea from NudiTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: NudiTea
Tea Description:
Clear your cloudy mind with our steamy FOCUS blend. Rare and ancient Japanese Sencha is blended with a sprinkling of passionfruit flowers and marigolds creating an intoxicating and flavoursome cup. With a delectable blend of natural caffeine extracts, it’s a better alternative to coffee and energy drinks. FOCUS won’t give you wings but it will help you fly through the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this Focus Green Tea from NudiTea is extraordinarily fragrant! It smells amazing! Like wow, can I get this scent in a bar of soap or perhaps a wax tart that you melt to make the whole room smell like that! It’s strongly floral without smelling like a flower shop, because there are lovely notes of pineapple that balance the flowery notes. Lovely!
The brewed tea has a softer aroma but otherwise smells quite similar – beautiful floral notes with notes of pineapple.
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch. I measured two bamboo scoops of the loose leaf tea into the basket of the tea maker, and 500ml of freshly filtered water into the kettle. Then I set the parameters: 175°F for 2 minutes.
It’s a really tasty blend! The green tea is sweet and has a nice creamy texture to it. I like that the texture is light but there is a soft creamy feel to it. It doesn’t taste sharp or bitter, it’s sweet, lightly buttery with some grassy notes.
I taste passion fruit. The way the description is worded, it seems that it’s passion fruit flowers … but I’m tasting passion fruit. Sweet, luscious passion fruit! Yum! I also get a hint of pineapple from this. Just a hint.
As far as the floral notes go, I taste the sweetness of the rose and mallow flowers, and I taste the sharp sunflower notes.
The fruit and the floral notes are pretty evenly paired – neither is really stronger than the other. The fruit is sweet and with just a whisper of tangy flavor while the floral notes add a hint of exotic flavor to it and a touch of distinct flower sweetness.
Overall, this is a pleasant cuppa – it’s sweet but not in a cloying way. It’s got a nice layered flavor: layers of flower are the top notes with the middle notes of juicy passion fruit and the undertone of Sencha.
My one criticism – if you want to call it that – would be the addition of the chamomile to this blend. Why chamomile? Chamomile tends to be a relaxing herb, not one that I associate with being focused and alert. I don’t really taste a lot of chamomile in this, maybe once in a while I might pick up on a honey-like flavor that’s quite chamomile-ish but it still is an ‘odd’ ingredient in a tea that is to support a sense of “Focus.”
Postal Rooibos Blend from Monarch Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Monarch Tea Co. or Monarch Tea Co. on Etsy
Tea Description:
Warm and rich, perfect for dessert or just when you want that sweet fall moment to yourself.
Ingredients: Rooibos, caramel pieces, sunflower and calendula petals, chamomile blossoms, natural flavors.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
This rooibos blend is a very finely chopped tisane! It appears to be both red and green rooibos and they’ve been chopped into near dust particles, along with the petals and the chamomile. Everything appears to have been pulverized to a near “powder like” consistency: a very fine cut.
I brewed this in my Breville, measuring 2 bamboo scoops of the tisane into the basket of the tea maker and adding 500ml of water to the jug. With most tisanes, I would use 3 bamboo scoops, but because of the fine chop on this, I decided that more than 2 would be too much. The finer cut means that there is more surface area exposed and lots of flavor will be released and more loose leaf would result in too strong a brew. I set the parameters for 195°F and 10 minutes and let the tea maker do the rest.
This is a tasty blend. Not my favorite of the three teas that I received in my Postal Teas box for October, but I’m certainly not disappointed by it.
Because it’s a blend of both green and red rooibos, I find that the flavor is sweeter and slightly more fruity tasting rather than a strong, nutty flavor. This fruity note accentuates the chamomile flavor which has a natural apple-like flavor. There are hints of nutty flavors in the background which complement the caramel notes. It is sweet, soothing and relaxing to sip. It’s a light cup – both in taste and texture.
It has a pleasing, autumnal taste to it, making it just the right thing for the October box. It’s cozy and would make a great tisane to sip late at night when you’re craving something a little bit sweet but nothing that is going to be too filling or overstimulating.
Plum Blossom White Tea from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A unique blend of Chinese white and green teas scented with Jasmine and lightly flavored with plum create a delicately fruity and floral delight. Great for anyone who loves jasmine green tea but is ready to step outside of the box, this tea is delicious either hot or over ice.
Shou Mei White Tea, Jasmine Special Grade Green Tea, Safflowers, Sunflowers, Plum flavor, Jasmine Flowers
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma wafting out of my teacup right now is quite lovely. I smell the jasmine and the plum and these are two scents that I don’t think I’ve ever imagined together before today, but, they smell rather beautiful together! It smells fresh and flowery, with mouth-watering fruit notes dancing in the background.
And it tastes – wow! Just as I would not have imagined the two scents together, these are two flavors I wouldn’t have imagined together either. But it works!
The first note I taste is that of the Shou Mei. It’s light and airy, with a subtle earthiness and a hint of hay-like flavor. The green tea notes seem to marry seamlessly with the white tea notes, becoming more of a unified flavor than two individual flavors. Like green tea, only lighter and crisper … or perhaps, like white tea only with more of a grassy intonation.
Then I can taste the notes of jasmine. Delicate and floral. The floral notes are sharpened slightly with the presence of the sunflower petals. The soft jasmine flavor stays with me throughout the sip and lingers into the aftertaste.
Just before mid-sip, I start to pick up on the plum note. It starts out subtle and as I continue to drink the tea – about four or five sips into the cup – I notice the plum notes starting to become more defined. Sweet with just a hint of tartness. I am really enjoying the contrast between the sharpness of the sunflower and the sweeter elements of this cup, like the plum and the sweet notes of green and white tea.
I’ve tasted so many wonderful teas since I’ve joined Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription service! This one may just be my newest favorite (although I don’t think it will “replace” any others that have been favorites … this is just a new one to add to my list of favorites!) It’s such a lovely tea. It’s nice served hot, and I like it iced too.
Now, I know I’ve told you about the savings that Simple Loose Leaf offers our readers, but I’ll tell you again: use this code: SISTERSELECTION25 and you’ll save 25% off when you sign up for the Selection Club.
This discount is not applicable on the retail selection of teas, and is only good for the selection club subscription.