When I first started drinking loose leaf tea, someone sent me a sample of a monk’s blend. I don’t remember what company made it, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. I never did seek out any to buy, but I didn’t hate it. It just didn’t do much for me.
A traditional monk’s blend tea is black tea with vanilla and pomegranate, or grenadine, if you will.
This Trappist Monk Blend is far more complex. Blueberries, Michigan cherries, caramel flavor instead of vanilla, and lots more!
Did I mention that it is ORGANIC? This is a real point of passion for the brothers who founded this company. That raises the price, as would be expected with quality ingredients, but I resteeped my sachet and got a really great second cup, with almost no noticeable decrease in flavor or color.
The base is a smooth assam, so a nice bit of caffeine but not at all rough enough to need sugar. I thought it was delicious just as it is. I am guessing it would make a great iced tea, with or without sweetener, as well.
I found it to be more full-flavored than the monk’s blend from years ago. The assam and caramel lay down some nice deep bass lines, the stone fruits give us our sparkling middle notes, and calendula provides the treble. Cornflower makes it all a little sweeter.
This is a variation on monk’s blend that I can get behind!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
A unique twist on the tradition of Monk’s Blend tea, our Trappist Monk Organic Black Tea melds Michigan cherries with exotic vanilla and sweet caramel organic flavor and is crafted from the highest quality Assam tea. Through bold flavors, that are tempered with zesty orange peel, pomegranate and grenadine, the essence of this tea takes on a rich sweetness. We named this blend after the Trappist monks whose order our father was a member. Choose this organic black tea to help increase alertness and focus, we wish you a healthy mind, body and spirit with each cup.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Aronia Plumberry from St. Fiacres Farm. . . .
This tea is like the tastiest, plumiest, most perfectly-spiced fruit jam you ever did taste. Now, I could sit here and regale you with how my tastes have been changing to stray away from my heavy, wintry, black tea favorites lately (they have), or how all I want lately is fruity and fresh and bright and vegetal (I have)– but really, all I want to do is tell you how yummy this herbal infusion is.
I couldn’t find much about this tea on St. Fiacre’s website, but let me tell you– the dry leaf here can speak for itself. Big, bright berries pepper this dry leaf, and some of my favorite spices are large, in charge, and immediately visible– spicy cardamom pods, sweet licorice root, fragrant anise seeds– the gang’s all here!
And this blend takes all those unique ingredients and perfectly blends them together. Heavily fruity, but not overly-sweet– the warming spices bring a nice balance to the otherwise sweet herbal blend, hitting all those notes of lightly spiced jam that I just can’t get enough of. Now, if some enterprising tea-drinker would only *actually* turn this tea into a jam for me, we’d be in business. Crumpets, anyone?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: St. Fiacres Farm
Description
TEA CLUB OVERSTOCK! Missed out on the Aronia Plum Berry from our VIP Tea Blend in December? We have a little bit left that you can try or stock up on more if you loved it. A spin off the traditional sugar plum which is a candy that has a hard outer coating of sugar… think along the lines of the Jordan almond or an M&M type candy. A sweeter tea thanks to the licorice root, almond extract and vanilla. This tea also features Oregon grown aronia berries, plums and cornflowers
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
My Peeps from The NecessiTeas. . . . . .
What do you do when you have a box of forty teas to taste and review? You hope and pray that there are some caffeine free blends so you can do some of your tasting at night! And if you don’t like rooibos, you pray that there will be some HONEYBUSH BABY!
And hallelujah, my prayers were answered! I don’t think I have had a honeybush tea I didn’t like and this one looks absolutely adorable! Tiny freeze dried marshmallows, pink sugar crystals dotted here and there like sparkling gems, plus brown sugar sweeten this blend, but the main flavor shining through for me is the honeybush base.
Adorable doesn’t cut it by itself. The tea has to taste good, too, and this one tastes like a holiday with a touch of vanilla. We don’t usually add sugar to tea in this house so there was a moment of hesitation as we tried it. But even with three sources of sugar in the blend, the tea is not too sweet. There really isn’t enough of it to turn me off. We made a whole pot, we are drinking a whole pot, and I don’t have to worry about lying awake all night.
Three cheers for My Peeps! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Hot Cross Bun from Bluebird Tea Co. . . .
I was too chicken to order a full supply of this springtime blend, but I did get a free sample so I got to get a taste risk-free. Hot Cross Bun is one of the Easter flavors released by Bluebird Tea Company. This is a black tea and rooibos tea blend, though rooibos makes up the majority, so you won’t be overloaded with caffeine.
The scent of this blend was vibrant and noticeable right out of the bag. Some of the black tea was clearly a smoky lapsang souchong, but the smoked flavor was closely followed by a powerful, sweet vanilla scent. Quite the flavor duo.
Brewed, this tea continued to open up and show off its delicious ingredients. The smokiness cooled off, and became more like the suggestion of a fire in the fireplace. The creamy vanilla was heightened to the decadence of buttercream icing. Both flavors were nicely balanced by sweet and tart orange zest to bring it all together.
This is a great tea for those days that you want a sweet dessert blend, but don’t want to feel too much like a pastry chef. The whiff of rugged lapsang souchong brings a unique boldness to this brew and makes you appreciate favorite flavors like cream and citrus in a new light. Don’t be a chicken like me and the next time you can-order a full bag of this springtime tea before it’s gone!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black and Rooibos
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Description:
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Churros with Dulce le Leche from A Quarter to Tea. . . . . .
Working downtown Toronto is amazing for the foodie in me. Not so amazing for my wallet. However, it is a cornucopia of good eats with new restaurants opening all the time. Most recently, a vegan Mexican restaurant opened around the corner from my office. Like literally around the corner. So when lunching with my vegetarian friend, I figured why not check it out…
Lunch consisted of vegan tacos and flautas and fritters but what really stood out were the churros. Warm and crispy on the outside with the right amount of doughiness on the inside. Plus a chocolate banana dip that complimented the cinnamon flavor perfectly.
With those tasty treats in mind, this Churros with Dulce le Leche tea by A Quarter to Tea got my mouth watering, especially when I cracked open the bag and got a big whiff of caramel icing deliciousness. I brewed this for three minutes in 180F water and left it to cool for a little while.
Drinking the tea, it is certainly an A Quarter to Tea blend. Some companies have distinct flavors and A Quarter to Tea is no exception. Something in the teas has a tendency to lean towards a honey flavor. Though not entirely out of place in a churro tea, it does overshadow some other flavors that should be present instead. For instance, there really isn’t much cinnamon and the touch of cocoa suggested in the description is completely MIA. There is a pastry quality, though not distinctly fried dough. As a whole this is sweet and could be construed as churros but it could also be perceived as other baked goods.
All in all, the tea is nice enough but not exactly what I expected or hoped for. It is sure to satisfy a sweet tooth but that could be said of many other teas and this doesn’t really stand out from that bunch in my opinion. Perhaps my point of comparison is too fresh or too different in my mind but this just didn’t measure up to the real deal.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Sweet fried dough dusted with cinnamon, paired with caramel and a touch of cocoa.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
