The tea blend I bought last year to use to make iced tea while the weather was still hot has turned out to be one of our favorite evening hot teas this winter. Technically it is not tea, as it contains no camellia sinensis, but you know what I mean!
Quite often we want a tea to wind down with, and we reach for Draught of Peace or Parker’s Evening Blend. Spiced Fall Evenings and Baked Apple Pie (With A Dash of Rum) are other wind-down favorites to carry to the rocking chairs before heading off to bed.
But sometimes we want a caffeine free cup to go with a snack and a tv show or game. We want something that tastes good with food, is a little bit lively, doesn’t scream BEDTIME!!! but still has no caffeine. Lately Summer In A Cup has been our go-to.
It took me by surprise that we like it so much hot. The ingredients are all about sweet summer fruit – green rooibos with mini marshmallows, freeze dried peaches, freeze dried strawberries, orange, marigold flowers, and natural peach, strawberry and orange flavoring.
Summer, right?
But something about the green rooibos base makes it so darn drinkable. I have an intense dislike for red rooibos. But green rooibos is delightful, and it carries these flavors so well. I have had it by itself and paired with cheese and crackers or chips and dip or toast and jam. When we drink it hot, we add nothing at all – no sugar and no milk. Delish!
I have made it as iced sweet tea, too, as I originally intended. My pitcher holds 48 ounces. Here is what I do – I use four teaspoons of the blend, steep it three times in a small teapot and pour it into the pitcher. Add 1/3 cup sugar and stir. Adjust to your taste. Depending on the size of your steeping vessel and your teapot you may need to add additional water. Chill and enjoy!
I first started with just three teaspoons of dry blend and resteeped three times and it was fine for me, but my husband said he would like for it to be just a little stronger. Naturally, adjust the leaf and sugar or your choice of sweetener to your taste.
Get some now to treat yourself to a peek at summer to come, and to have on hand for those first spring picnics! This would also be a lovely caffeine-free option for a children’s or adults’ tea party that should appeal to most anyone’s taste!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane/Herbal
Where to Buy: CuppaGeek Teas
Description
Summer In A Cup- A delightful way to honor summer all year round! Delicious green rooibos mixed with summer flavors like strawberries and peaches and a few mini marshmallows thrown in for fun!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Hope Rekindled/Thesaurus Tea – CuppaGeek-
While checking over my email, I noticed an email about brain boosting tea and I was intrigued. More or less, because I’ve seen brain boosting teas more and more on Amazon and the like. One of the companies listed as having a brain boosting tea was Thesaurus Tea. Since I hadn’t ever heard of this particular company before and there was a picture of T-Rex drinking tea as their logo. . . I had to learn more. So a few minutes on the site and I had already set myself up with a tea of the month club and an order.
This particular tea blend caught my eye right away. I’ve been finding myself diving deeper into white teas lately and with this blend pairing the white tea with green tea, jasmine petals and bamboo leave- I was super intrigued.
Using the brewing parameters on the back of the sample package- this tea hit the spot on soooo many levels. I loved how the white and green mingled so beautifully. Typically with tea blends that use a white tea and a green tea, you can easily identify each of the teas while you enjoy the tea. But not so much with this blend. All of the flavors combine to give you a buttery rich floral slightly vegetal with a hint of honey cookie. Yes. Cookie. I’m getting cookie/dessert vibes from this tea blend and I’m 100% loving it. Each steep is just as good as the last and I’m just so in love with the vibes this blend is giving me.
Sadly, I used all of the tea I had for this first brew and I’m wishing I would have had a bit more to cold brew properly. But on the other hand, I couldn’t be happier with the results. I can imagine this tea would give off lovely light spring/summer notes as a cold brew. This wold be a lovely blend to share with others at a tea party.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: White/Green
Where to Buy: Thesaurus Tea
Description
White tea, green tea, jasmine petals, bamboo leaves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Purple Youth from The Whistling Kettle. . . .
Purple Mountain Tea from The Whistling Kettle (or “Purple Youth” as its labeled on my sample) is a cup I’ve revisited recently.
The Whistling Kettle describes this tea as…Purple tea combined with a variety of herbs that provide a healthy dose of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. Well rounded herbal notes with a floral-spice finish.
As much as I adore my black teas I need to change it up every once and a while. Plus, I have been incorporating more and more anti-inflammatory teas and tisanes into my tea-sipping-rotation as of late.
This Purple Tea seemed to check all the lists.
The product description page on their website breaks down all of the potential benefits to each and every ingredient they added to this loose leaf blend. I find all of that fascinating because I love learning about plant/herb based healthy and healing properties.
Of course, I’m not making any claims here…I’m just sharing with you what I find interesting about this offering and how they relate to what I’m trying to do to improve my intake, personally.
I’ve been on a Nettle Leaf kick the last couple of weeks and the more I learn about it the more I feel like I need to continue to use it or consume daily.
The flavor of this cup is mild, mellow, soothing, slightly herbal but not medicinal, and an easy drink.
If you want to include more herbs into your life but have been turned off by some other herbal offerings…this tea/tisane just might be for you! I know I enjoyed it and will look for it again, soon!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Purple
Where to Buy: The Whistling Kettle
Description
We’ve designed this mostly herbal blend around purple tea as an all day, every day sipper. You’ll get loads of antioxidants from purple tea but also the benefits from numerous other herbs that help with skin complexion, hair and nail health and overall mental focus. Hydrate the healthy way!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cheerful Blend from Tealyra. . . .
One can often tell something about a tea from it’s name. Teas like Foggy Coconut or Chocolate Delight come to mind. These teas make it clear what will be in your cup when all is said and done. Sometimes tea companies get a bit creative and come up with fun names like “Ghoul Gulp”, “Fairy Dust”, or this Tealyra tea, “Cheerful Blend”. These teas appeal to emotions or create certain associations in order to pull you in. The issue is, when you don’t really know what is in a blend, it is easy to overlook a tea. That is what has happened to this blend that has been bumping around my tea stash for over a year without ever being tasted.
The other day I was inventorying my teas and I looked this one up. I was intrigued by the unique ingredient list: apple bits, carrot bits, ginger bits, pumpkin bits, coriander, banana chips, and natural flavorings. I thought it sounded like it would make for a nice cold brew so I dumped the whole sample in a water bottle and left it to steep overnight.
Taste wise, it is unlike anything I have had before. It is sweet but not dessert-like. It has a lot of carrot and banana chip flavors. Almost like I am drinking the little bit of water that always seems to be in bags of baby carrots, while snacking on banana chips. The more I drink, the more pumpkin sweetness intermingles with the carrot. Unfortunately the sweet together just builds and builds and eventually the tea, though interesting, is just too much. I was hoping for some ginger to cut through and add something different to the layer upon layer of sweet but I never got any.
I think with some more ginger, this tea could be a real winner. It is different than most of the other fruit tisanes I have tried which rely heavily on apple or hibiscus but unfortunately it quickly becomes one note: sweet. This needs something to gives this more flavor and more depth. As it is, I am content with just the one cup.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Tealyra
Description
Cheerful Blend is a sweet, orange-hued veggie infusion ideal for those looking for a healthy veggie tea with a pleasant mild fruit taste!
Brew up a taste of a freshly juiced health tonic with our Cheerful Blend! Our organic Cheerful veggie fusion blend features a fine base of dried apple bits, pumpkin, carrots and banana chips, to that we have added pure dried ginger and coriander for a sweet and healthy treat!
At first sip, a rich banana nectar flavor takes the lead, it is wonderfully complemented by naturally sweet carrots, then finishes with pumpkin-ginger. The veggie tisane has a thick velvety body, similar to fresh made juice.
Cheerful Blend will encourage a gentle detox and strengthen your immune system health from the inside out! Sunny days are ahead! Try it hot or iced for a zingy refresher!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sparkling Pineapple from Fava Tea. . . . . .
Later last year, my husband and I took an INCREDIBLE honeymoon to Costa Rica. We saw sloths. We hiked through the cloud forest. We slept on a hammock in a rainforest canopy. It. Was. Awesome. But one thing that will stick out in my mind forever and ever til the end of time? THE PINEAPPLE. It was fresh and sweet and abundant every morning, and better than any pineapple I’ve ever had.
So you can imagine since returning, I’ve been on the hunt for any pineapple even remotely as good as our honeymoon treat. I haven’t totally succeeded yet, but it’s been a delicious pursuit. This sweet and fresh herbal tea from Fava makes a great, pineapple-y iced tea. It leans more generically-fruity than specifically pineapple to me, but it has depth of flavor that almost mimics a sweet wine– perfect for a non-alcoholic summery treat. I don’t pick up on anything sparkling, but their name suggestion has got me thinking that this would make an incredible mixer for some plain sparkling water.
Now, sipping this at home? Awesome. Sipping this on a hammock overlooking a beach in Central America? Get me on a plane, stat!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Fava Tea
Description
Our Sparkling Pineapple Herbal is like nothing you have ever tasted before! This light, fruity and elegant herbal tea is a delicious pineapple overload! We blend white cornflower blossoms and yellow marigold blossoms which undertone the sweet pineapple with a floral compliment. Delicious hot or iced this is one you’ll want on hand all year long!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
