Who can resist the idea of Popcorn Tea, especially when the label has little film reels on it for your next movie showing? Teapigs isn’t the first tea company to package genmaicha under the pretense of popcorn, but they have some of the cutest packaging.
Genmaicha is a type of green tea blended with puffed rice. This makes it so that the dry leaf and the brewed tea has a distinct toasty popcorn smell. It is a unique tea, sometimes slightly savory, but always supremely cozy. I highly recommend trying green tea with puffed rice at least once and see how it goes. Teapigs Popcorn Tea is a great place to start.
The overtones of the tea are warm bready notes, the roasted grain flavors of the puffed rice leading the way in scent in taste. Beneath that first burst of popcorn, the green tea comes through with slightly more vegetal notes like gentle celery or bok choy. Alongside the puffed rice, the tea pleasantly reminds me of sauteeing green vegetables in sesame oil.
I love drinking this tea in the late afternoon (or maybe even before a movie in the evening!). With lower caffeine than black tea, Popcorn Tea makes for a warming and soothing pick-me-up on a busy day. Even if you can’t snuggle in under a quilt with a bowl of popcorn, this tea can help you imagine you’re there.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Genmaicha
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Description:
This tea has flourished from humble beginnings – Japanese peasants used to mix green tea with toasted rice to make it go further. It is now celebrated in its own right as Genmaicha tea, or Popcorn tea. “Sugar Puffs in a cup” – a truly unique blend with an almost nutty undertone.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Up Beet from Teapigs. . . . . .
Beets were a contentious part of my family dinners. Every Easter my grandmother would make a cold beet salad and our seating arrangements had to be coordinated to put certain beet-haters at the other end of the table from the beet salad. I was firmly on the side of the beets, and couldn’t get enough of grandma’s beet salad. Needless to say, I was excited to try a beet tea.
Up Beet from Teapigs is a green tea blend with hibiscus, beetroot, ginger, and carrot. The green tea is really just a base to carry the bolder vegetable and herb flavors. I didn’t think any flavor could hold up against powerful hibiscus, but beetroot is a formidable ally in this blend. The sharp hibiscus is balanced out by the iron-sweet earthiness of the beets. Carrots bring their own natural sweetness alongside the beets, and the ginger adds a hint spice to give more texture to the flavor palette. The longer I let the tea brew, the more ginger heat and mineral beet flavors came to the forefront.
Punchy, strong, and sweet, this is truly a unique blend. If you enjoy fruit and veggie juice blends, you should try this tea. It is a sweet and savory blend, with the umami-earthiness of the beets, the lightly sweet carrots, and the fruit-punch hibiscus, all coming together for a bold, full-flavored cup of tea. As a beet-lover, I’m happy to have this tea on my shelf anytime I’m craving their bold, earthy flavors and I don’t have grandma’s beet salad at hand.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Description:
This blend will give you the kick you need to jump into your lycra, tie up your trainers, skip to the gym and throw that scary giant kettle bell way over your shoulder. This blend of beets, spice and hibiscus which helps give you extra energy, is fruity and punchy (enjoy with or without lycra!).
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Liquorice & Peppermint from Tea Pigs. . . .
I am a sucker for (well, lots, but let’s just focus on the task at hand) two things: cute branding, and licorice tea. Or rather, if you’re non-American, unlike myself: liquorice tea. (Oh, fer cute.) This tea? Has them both in spades.
Now, now– I know licorice can be divisive. It’s naturally sweet– sometimes, even too much– and herby in a way that can be weird. But it’s also warm, comforting, spicy, and frankly, I like the sweetness. Dessert tea without the calories or gobs of sugar/honey/maple syrup? Gimme.
This particular blend has a cult following of tea piglets, and so, has been on my radar for a long time. Recently, a friend handed off some of her stash and I was all too delighted to finally give it a try! This blend is not for the licorice/liquorice hater, but for those fangirls like myself? You’re gonna wanna get you some, and soon. It’s delightfully sweet, but balanced nicely by the cooling freshness of the peppermint, with a golden liquor and a velvety mouthfeel that I kinda can’t enough of. Tea that’s cute AND delicious? Pour me another cup, please and thanks.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Tea Pigs
Description
Sweet, liquorice, mint and sweet again.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Darjeeling Black from Teapigs
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Tea Description:
Pinkies out, bone china cups and saucers, silk neck scarf and snorty laugh at the ready – this is the poshest tea around. Darjeeling tea without milk has a unique, clean, refreshing taste. Traditionally drunk in the afternoon it tastes equally good early morning from a chipped mug.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Thanks to one of our sisters, Scheherazade, I got a chance to try a few sachets of this tea! Teapigs is a company I’ve been kind of curious about for a while; the Sobeys I work at carries a small selection of their teas (though not this one) and I’ve always found the packaging cute. I just simply haven’t known enough about the company or seen enough reviews to be interested in trying one of their teas.
I steeped up one of the pyramid style sachets I received from Scheherazade this morning during a heavy downpour and sat on the steps outside of our house, listening to the pitter patter of the rain, while drinking it. It was definitely the perfect atmosphere to enjoy and appreciate the warmth of the mug and the clean, well rounded flavour. I thought in particular it tasted rather floral, with a slight bit of malt and a sort of autumnal vibe – probably from the very slight spice notes throughout the cup. The mouthfeel is very, very smooth and silky. It’s not the best Darjeeling I’ve ever had but it’s far from the worst.
Very pleasant, comforting and unobtrusive flavour overall. I don’t know if I’ve been sold enough on this tea to want to purchase more of it, but I might finally pick up one of the different blends we carry at the Sobeys I work at as my curiosity has definitely been heightened.
Chilli Chai from Teapigs
Chai Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Chai Description:
This chilli chai is a twist on our traditional chai, a recipe that has been the Indian drink of choice for centuries. Alongside the assam tea, cardamom pods, chunks of ginger, cinnamon and vanilla, we have added flakes of chilli for an extra fiery kick. This chai is for those of you who don’t order korma and plain naan from your local curry house.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
With my first sip or two, I found myself thinking … “hmm, OK, I can taste the chai spices, but, isn’t this supposed to be a Chilli Chai?” But then, a few moments later, I FELT the heat from the chilli! I could feel the warmth develop at the back of my tongue and in my throat, and with every moment that lapsed I felt that heat intensify!
That being said, I don’t think that this is a super-fiery-hot chai! Yes, it has a kick to it, but, it never gets uncomfortably hot. Intensely warm … it isn’t so hot that all I can taste is the chilli. I like that I can taste the other spices, the Assam tea, and even a hint of sweet, creamy vanilla underneath that spicy heat!
The Assam base adds a nice amount of malt and a pleasing full-bodied flavor to the cup. The spice that I notice (beyond the chilli!) is the cinnamon, and the chilli and cinnamon seem to work together to bring a spicy-yet-sweet heat to the cup. The ginger adds a hint of pepper to the mix, while the cardamom gives almost a fruit-like note to the background.
This Chilli Chai from Teapigs is very enjoyable, indeed! One I’d recommend to those who are looking for a spicier-than-the-ordinary chai, but not too spicy!
