If you haven’t heard of Story of My Tea’s monthly subscription service, I implore you to check this monthly box out. This monthly subscription box may be a bit more expensive than the others out there, but this tea box delivers a monthly tea experience. A curated monthly tea experience into regions and tea depths that you may not be familiar with. Other tea boxes do the same, yes, but with each tea that Story of My Tea delivers to your doorstep, there is also an added learning experience.
On the back of every pouch is more information regarding the tea and even an interactive bar code that you scan with your phone to learn more. I just love that feature.
This go around, I brewed up Lumbini Opa, a black tea from the Lumbini estate in Sri Lanka. From what I’m understanding, this particular estate is considered to be one of the finest tea producing estates in the region. Lumbini Opa is described as being very fragrant, rich and malty with a full bodied taste with complex flavors and hints of spicy sweetness.
Another great point to Story of My Tea’s packaging is that feature prominently on each package are the steeping parameters. No need to guess with their teas. The steeping guide lines are laid out for you. Steeping parameters for this tea are 190F and a steep time of 3-4 minutes. Story of My Tea also suggests adding in ginger slices, mint leaves or a stick of cinnamon. I love all of those suggestions and will end up trying those next go around with this tea.
After allowing the tea to cool for a few moments, I took my first sip. I haven’t had a black tea in a while and this tea is making me wonder why. Warm malty tones with a tiny bit of an earthy hint provide this wonderful loving tea a great start. The spicy hint kicks in more towards the end of the sip and contributes to this delicious after taste. Each sip is soothing and warming to the soul. This is one of those teas you need around for when you are cold to the bone and need warmed up. Like those winter days that are creeping every so slowly towards us. This tea has “Sweater Weather” written all over it.
I love those scenarios when a tea reminds you of how great a variety can be. I have been neglecting my black teas for far too long. I need to brew up a few and show them some love.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Story of My Tea
Description
A tea subscription for the explorer in your heart!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Peach Black Blend from Zen Tea Bar. . . .
In my recent July tea box from Zen TeaBar, there were four main teas to enjoy. One particular blend caught my eye instantly, Peach Black Blend, a blend from Zen TeaBar themselves. So far from what I’ve experienced from Zen TeaBar, they cultivate a tea box for you, allowing you the chance to check out teas from companies you may have never heard of or just haven’t taken the plunge and made an order from.
Peach Black Blend is a brilliant Sri Lankan black tea, dried fruit like papaya and peach, blackberry leaves, and calendula petals. When I first opened up the pouch of tea, rich peachy notes instantly filled the air. Team that up with a malty black tea and papaya, you have yourself a wonderful treat.
Brewed with fresh boiled water and allowed to steep for a 3 minutes and allowed to cool for about 5, this tea is a peach lover’s dream. First sip in and you are greeted with this sweet definite peach flavor with a wonderfully seductive malty black tea background. Really nice and a great balance between the added in flavor components and the black tea itself.
As an iced tea, I greedily gobbled this tea down. Still those same black tea malty notes but the peach notes are amped up and really are the driving force yielding such a sweet flavor that makes you want to enjoy the last few days of summer we have in style.
I’m super excited about this tea blend and am sad to say, this pouch didn’t last very long. But I am quite excited to see if my September box will also feature a Zen TeaBar blend. . .I sure hope so!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zen TeaBar
Description
Chill out with this beautiful blend of premium Sri Lankan black tea, dried papaya, dried peach, blackberry leaves, sunflower and calendula peals. It’s wonderful when iced and elegant when hot.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Formosa Oolong from Simple Loose Leaf. . . . .
Most oolongs taste like either greens or blacks to me, but this one’s a perfect in-betweener. It’s got that lighter, vegetal green, but throws in a dash of that sexy deep note that I love about black.
There are also other notes here, some sort of a plum/raisin sugar-tartness that really kicks it up a notch. If I were going to going to assign this tea an aura color, it would be a warm autumn purple.
This is the sort of tea that I would sip while exploring an attic while wearing an oversized woolen sweater. Knowing my luck, that attic would be haunted as EFF. I’d open a yearbook from 1934 and be possessed by some girl who died of — I don’t know — polio? The vapors? What did people die of back then?
I wouldn’t be possessed long. In movies, ghosts LOVE their new bodies, but in reality, a ghost from 1934 wouldn’t know how to use my car, phone, or computer at work. She’d probably go “the hell with this” and bounce of her own accord. If our grandparents are any indication, people of that generation loathe the digital area. She’d cross over.
Back to the tea.
I really enjoy this tea. It’s just the right afternoon lift without making my heart dive-bomb out of my chest.
The outside of the bag says Formosa Oolong is a “perfect introduction to the world of Taiwanese tea.”
Okay, Taiwan. You have me interested. I’m ready for a second date.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Description
This semi-fermented tea from Taiwan, gets its name from the Portuguese explorers who called the island Formosa, meaning ‘beautiful’. The copper-red leaves with tips of silver brew into a beautiful bright golden brisk cup with peach undertones. Delicious hot or cold.
Ingredients: Taiwanese Oolong Tea
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Holiday Gift Idea Alert! November’s Tea Box Express
If you have that person on your list that you want that special unique item for and they just happen to be a tea drinker (of any kind!), I highly recommend thinking about sending them a gift from Tea Box Express.
Tea Box Express offers amazing curated boxes that feature teas, tea accessories, tea trinkets and different snacks to go along with the tea. Basically, each month you receive an instant tea party. I just love this box. Yes, it is a bit pricey when you first look at it, but the value of what you are getting is typically double if not more each month. This month alone, the box featured a tea accessory that I’ve had my eye on for some time and that tea accessory typically sells for $18 without shipping or taxes. This box is definitely a wonderful value and one that is quite memorable to boot!
November’s box had so many amazing treats! A gorgeous leaf shaped shortbread cookie, a Tea Bling, two different kinds of tea from Nunshen, a chocolate treat, and these awesome flavored agave pouches-pumpkin flavored and caramel from Pura. I was quite pleased and couldn’t wait to dig in.
Let’s start with the My Tea Bling. This is the accessory that I’ve had my eye on for some time. My Tea Bling is a clip that you use when you are drinking any kind of bagged tea to give your tea a bit of pizzazz-there is a lovely disc full of sparkles at the end of the clip. I use this all the time when I’m at work and am so happy to have one. I’ve received a lot of compliments on my this sparkling accessory. I just use those tea filters you can pick up pretty much anywhere, make my own tea bags, ad attach this as a nice weight to keep everything where it needs to be. (Mug Cozy featured below is from Nandy’s Nook)
An oolong and chai tea were the offerings for the tea part of the box. They came from Nunshen, a company I hadn’t heard of before but one I’m now actively checking out. The tea was a bagged tea (which worked perfectly with my new Tea Bling) and we were sent a few oolong tea bags and chai. I wasn’t crazy originally with the idea of a bagged chai tea but after having the tea, I’m addicted.
The chai bagged tea packs all of those lovely chai flavors without the spices being overwhelming to the point where you have to add milk or sugar. The tea was pleasantly balanced and was a great tea for the afternoon when I needed that pick me up to keep going.
The oolong offered was also quite delicious and one that I found myself searching my bag for to see if I had anymore. Smooth and subtle with those familiar oolong roasted tones. . .another great afternoon treat. I think I favored this tea more than the chai but that’s just because I’m partial to oolong. Plus this oolong tasted delicious with both the cookie and the chocolate candy treat.
Flavored agave (from Pura.mx) is something I never had really thought about checking out but after enjoying the caramel and pumpkin flavored pouches included. . .I need to have a constant supply of this on hand. Both the Pumpking and Caramel were amazing in tea lattes and added that special kick that typically you can only get in coffee houses.
So many wonderful treats, trinkets, and goodies all packed into this box. Any tea drinker or enthusiast would love this box. Really great gift idea for anybody on your list. My family loves enjoying all of the treats together and we always have a family tea party with the box. (Pics of the cookie and chocolate treat-don’t they just look delicious!)
I really can’t wait to see what we receive in the next box!
Here’s the scoop!
Where to Buy: Tea Box Express
Description
Tea Box Express is a monthly box for tea lovers. Every month features a new whole leaf tea and unique accessories.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pacific Coast Lavender from Winterwoods Tea Company Courtesy of Amoda Tea
Herbal tea can be a great before-bed comfort, especially as the weather gets cooler. Composed of sweet and savory herbs and naturally caffeine-free, it’s hard to go wrong. Usually, my one complaint with herbal tea is that the flavor is mild or too delicate, but wow! Was I proven wrong on this blend! The lavender is so fresh, fragrant, and plentiful– it all but knocked me over when I first got a whiff of the dry leaf. This is a tea with simple but powerful ingredients, each one vibrant and visible in the blend.
The health benefits of these herbs are all the positive usual suspects: lavender and chamomile for relaxation, rose hips for health-boosting vitamin c, and cool, stomach-calming peppermint. When brewed, the lavender definitely takes the spotlight, lighting up my whole room with its warm, floral scent, and filling my senses when I bring my mug up to my face. Beneath all the lavender fragrance, the chamomile and peppermint play well together, producing a mellow, grassy, lemon-mint brew. The rose hips are harder to pick out. Traditionally, rose hips tend to be strong and sour, more like orange or hibiscus, but in this blend they appear only as a little fruity note at the back of each sip.
While I might not be in the mood for this tea every night, it definitely comforted me, reminding me of herbal teas I would drink when I was home sick or staying warm on a snowy day. Not to mention the lavender was out of this world: I have yet to find another lavender tea that can even come close to competing with this one.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Description:
Making this tea your evening ritual through Fall and Winter can be a great way to help naturally boost your mood if you’re experiencing wet grey days. Lavender can calm emotional stress, peppermint can invigorate your mind and chamomile will help soothe.
This tea is no longer on the site but others from Winterwoods Tea Company are here!
