Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
Wulong tea has become quite popular in recent years, owing mostly to its reputed weight reducing properties. In any case, Wulong offers a brisk, strong flavor and vibrant aftertaste that will make it a delicious choice even if you are not trying to lose weight. This particular blend has added fruity touches courtesy of the passion fruit and other assorted real fruit pieces for a tea that is exceptional in flavor and aroma. Ingredients: China green oolong, marigold and passionfruit.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Passion Fruit Oolong Tea from Tea Licious has a delicious, sweet, fruity flavor with just enough tart notes to it to keep the taste interesting.
The aroma of the dry leaf is very fruity. Once the leaves are brewed, the sweet notes in the fragrance temper a little bit, and I notice more of a vibrant “tea” scent and not so much of the strong fruity tones.
The passion fruit notes really play to the fruit notes in the tea. Usually with a greener Oolong like this one, I tend to notice more of a “floral” tone than a fruity one, but, here I notice more of the fruity notes of the Oolong, with the flowery notes sitting off in the background to provide a little contrast and complexity.
The passion fruit flavor is really well defined in this tea. I’ve tried a few passion fruit teas where the flavor isn’t always as prominent as I would have liked it to be, but here, the flavor is definitely passion fruit. It doesn’t hide. It’s loud and proud, but even though it is a foreground note, it doesn’t overpower the sweet, lush notes of the Chinese Oolong.
The texture is soft and smooth. Subsequent infusions of these leaves allow the flavoring to subside just a little bit and allow for more enjoyment of the Oolong’s complex qualities.
A really delightful tea – this makes a FABULOUS iced tea!
Berry Flavored Oolong Tea from Tea Licious
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
China green oolong, safflower, blue flower and acai berry.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm … this Berry Flavored Oolong Tea from Tea Licious is pretty tasty. But, it took me a while to get to the point for me to determine that I liked it. After a quick rinse of the leaves, I really wasn’t all that crazy about the first infusion. I mean, it was OK. But, I don’t know that I’d actually say that I liked that first cup. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t like it. I was just kind ‘meh’ about it … kind of neutral.
Then I decided to give it another shot, and I re-steeped the leaves. The second infusion is quite tasty! And now that I’m tasting the second infusion, I think I’ve figured out what it was about that first cuppa … the acai flavor was just too bitter … that it threw off the natural sweetness of the Oolong tea. With this second infusion, the flavors have melded somewhat, and the bitterness of the acai has softened. Now I taste just a hint of that bitterness, but, now, because it’s a softer bitter tone, it actually contrasts the cup in a nice way … I like the way the sweet, creamy Oolong with its floral tones tastes with the tart berry.
This tea is best enjoyed when it’s hot, I think … and it’s one that you definitely want to infuse more than once. The second infusion was delightful, so I took it for a third infusion, and this cup was also quite pleasant. The flavors are softer, but it’s still a very flavorful cup. The third cup is the smoothest of the three, while I would say that the second cup had the roundest flavor … very palate pleasing. As for that first cup, I’d suggest trying it with just a little sugar (or perhaps a teeny pinch of salt!) to offset the bitterness of the acai.
Overall, an enjoyable Oolong … and one that proves to me once again that sometimes it’s a good idea to give a tea a second chance!
Green Pina Colada Tea from Tea Licious
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
Pan fired green tea, shredded coconut and pineapple bits.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
As I sit here, readying to write this review, the aroma wafting from my mug is absolutely divine! It is deliciously pineapple-y and coconut-y. YUM! I have never been a big fan of the alcoholic cocktail, but, I am pretty sure I’m going to love this Green Pina Colada Tea from Tea Licious!
And I do! This is really yummy! The flavor of the green tea base is light and refreshingly smooth, with whispers of a vegetative tone that tastes faintly of lightly buttered, steamed green vegetables … something mild, like spinach. This vegetal tone marries nicely with the flavors of pineapple and coconut.
The fruit flavors are sweet. The coconut has a slightly creamy taste and texture, and I think that this plays well to the hint of buttery taste from the green tea. The pineapple has a hint of tartness that is noticeable towards the tail and this lingers into the aftertaste.
Overall, the tea is deliciously fruity and sweet – just like the cocktail itself. But what makes this better than the cocktail, at least in my opinion … is that it’s a tea! The sweet presentation of this tea would make this a nice choice for a dessert alternative – something light and gently sweet – not cloying and heavy. It requires no sweetener to enjoy this tea, but, if you want to bring out the pineapple notes a little more, I found that about half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar did the trick. Without the sugar, it’s still really delicious, but the sugar really enhances the sweet pineapple notes. This is delicious served hot or iced – it will be a really refreshing tea to choose as the warm weather approaches!
Assam Doomur Dullung from Tea Licious
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
A sweet, malty rich and aromatic black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
There are few teas that I find more rewarding first thing in the morning than a delicious, single estate Assam like this one. It is bold, rich and satisfying, and it has that certain strength to it that I look for when I am choosing my first-thing-in-the-morning tea.
This is sweet and malty, as the description states, although, I don’t find it as malty as some other Assam teas that I’ve tasted. Instead, this has an intriguing balance between malty and wine-like taste. Usually, I find that Assam teas are either malty or wine-like … but this one seems to bring both qualities to the cup.
It is also quite smooth and full-flavored, with a pleasing roundness to it. It does have a little astringency to it, but I find that the astringency here plays to the wine-like characteristics.
A very enjoyable Assam, one worth checking out!
Acai Raspberry Sencha from Tea Licious
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
Sencha green tea with safflowers, acai berry and raspberry leaves.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
There are a few teas and/or ingredients (or flavors) in teas that just sort of make me cringe. And for the most part, the cringe is unfounded, because, I end up enjoying the tea. Acai is one of those ingredients. I had a pretty bad experience with the acai berry at one point – it was way too sour and bitter for my liking – and since that one tasting, I find myself cringing when I receive a tea with acai berry. However, since that one tasting, I’ve tasted many different teas with acai berry and really enjoyed them … but that one distasteful moment seems to outweigh the many really tasty ones when it comes to my reaction to acai.
So when I pulled this tea sample out of my stash to try today, I did, indeed, cringe. But I decided to ignore that initial reaction and reminded myself that I have liked more acai berry flavored teas than I’ve disliked. Then I opened the pouch and smelled it – WOW! It smells really good. I smell more raspberry than acai. It smells fresh and vibrant, reminding me of the aroma of one of those berry stands at the side of the road in the summer. Mmm!
This has a stronger raspberry flavor than an acai – and it is far less tart than I expected it to be. Oh sure, it is still a tad tart, but, it is more sweet than it is tart, and that’s the way my taste buds like it. The tartness is most noticeable at the finish and in the aftertaste, when I experience that tingly tart feeling on my tongue. But the sweetness is there from the moment the tea touches my palate, and lingers into the aftertaste as well.
And even though the berry flavor is strong with this tea, I taste the Sencha and it provides a really pleasing creamy note to this – slightly buttery and agreeably sweet. I find that it gets even creamier as the tea cools a bit, the buttery tones really seem to pop after it’s cooled for about five minutes.
A really enjoyable tea – it’s good hot, but even nicer iced! Very thirst-quenching!