Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: TeaFrog
Tisane Description:
Our most popular Rooibos blend, the Love blend is an aromatic delight that you will not be able to resist! This tea is so good, we sample it at every show, and sell out at every show! The scent and flavor are simply to die for!
Learn more about this rooibos blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m generally pleasantly surprised when I come across a rooibos blend that I enjoy. And really, I don’t know why I should be surprised anymore, as I tend to find more that I actually DO enjoy versus those that I do not like. But usually, the blends that I do like are ones where the flavorings have managed to mask the flavor of the rooibos in such a way that it obscures the flavor of the rooibos entirely. It’s a more startling discovery, though, when I come across a rooibos blend where I can actually taste the flavor of the rooibos and I’m still enjoying what I’m tasting.
But this Love rooibos blend from TeaFrog has managed to do just that. I can taste the nutty flavor of the rooibos, and it works really well within this blend. The nutty flavor adds depth to the sweet, luscious orange notes and the lovely floral tones, without coming off as too funky or sweet. Instead, it is very evenly flavored and has a richness that I don’t often find with rooibos (which usually tend to taste kind of thin).
This is nice served hot, but I like it even better cold! I had intended on drinking it hot this evening, but, after taking a few sips of it, I got busy doing something and when I returned to my teacup, the beverage had gone cold. Rather than toss it, I added an ice cube or two, and sipped on this deliciously orange-y, nutty tisane. I like the balance, I like that I can taste the rooibos without tasting some of the funkier flavors of the rooibos, and I like that while it is sweet, it isn’t too sweet. Very enjoyable, indeed!
Morgantau Green Tea from Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Description:
A blend of high grade green Sencha tea, rose petals, beautiful blue cornflowers and brightly colored yellow sunflowers. This offers a refreshing and smooth flavor that awakens your taste buds.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Spring is here! Signs of spring are all around me, from the beautiful pink plumage of the trees that line the streets in my neighborhood, to the promenade of the proud robins hopping around the lawns, to the bright yellow daffodils that pop up in random patches along the roadsides.
This tea seems a perfect choice to sip when contemplating the magic of spring. It is a gorgeous tea, not only to the eye with its colorful petals and lush, green tea leaves; but it is also lovely to the nose and the palate as well. The aroma is so incredibly beautiful, with hints of fresh grass and the air that sweeps over rose blossoms in the spring. That divine fragrance filled the kitchen as this tea brewed, and the brewed tea – while its bouquet is quite a bit softer than the dry leaf – it still holds on to hints of that flowery, fresh scent.
The tea tastes very much the way the aroma led me to believe: it tastes fresh and lively, with delightful floral touches. It isn’t an overwhelmingly flowery tasting tea, though. The rose is the strongest of the floral tones, and it is more like a whisper of rose flavor rather than a powerful rose taste that you might experience from a rose scented tea (a rose congou, for example). Here, the floral notes are much more delicate, but I like the way they enhance the overall cup.
The green tea is a very bright, refreshing tea with floral notes of its own, which are highlighted by the presence of the flower petals in this blend. There are vegetal notes and a buttery undertone. There is some astringency to this, but not much. It’s more like a slightly dry feel to the tongue in the aftertaste, followed by a lingering floral note.
A lovely tea to enjoy these early days of spring … or any time of year for that matter!
Balinese Rainbow Jasmine from Green Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Green Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
A luxury Jasmine green tea with cornflower, safflower, osmanthus, calendula and sunflower petals. The cup is a heavenly mixture of sweet floral notes and grassy undertones. A fabulous blend befitting the island that gives it its name.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a lovely Jasmine. This is the kind of jasmine green tea I’d recommend to someone who has had jasmine in the past and has found it disagreeable because the jasmine tones were too strong, verging on the edge of soapy. This jasmine is so gentle and soothing, I think that it could those tea drinker’s beliefs about jasmine tea.
The green tea base is light. It has a sweet overtone and just a hint of grassy taste. It is smooth with a creamy note that melds quite nicely with the floral tones. It is not bitter and there is very little astringency to the cup. A very nice, mild tea to meld with the exotic flavor of jasmine.
As I’ve already indicated, the jasmine notes here are quite gentle. It doesn’t come across as soapy or aggressive, instead it is smooth; a very harmonious match for the creaminess of the green tea base.
The osmanthus flower is probably the next flavor that I notice, and it offers a whisper of peach-like flavor that weaves its way in and out of the sip. Adding a bit of contrast is the sharpness of sunflower. The other flowers – calendula, cornflower and safflower – do not affect the flavor as much as the affect the appearance of the dry leaf, giving it a gorgeous look to match its beautiful flavor.
Overall, a very smooth floral tea, where the jasmine is the most pronounced of the flowers, but it is not so strong that it overpowers the other floral notes. A very nice cup; this is one of those jasmine teas that jasmine lovers as well as those on the fence about jasmine are likely to enjoy.