Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Limited
Tea Description:
Potently aromatic attractive deep brown Assam leaves with plenty of golden tips. These leaves infuse to a very rich, strong and sweetly malty tasting tea liquor with an unusually smooth disposition for a tea with such strength. Highly recommended as a breakfast tea to drink with milk!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Boisahabi Estate Assam SFTGFOP1 Black Tea from Capital Teas Limited is a really enjoyable Assam – it’s got a rich, thick texture and lots of malt!
It has that strong, robust character that you look for in a morning cuppa – this is one of those ‘get you going in the morning’ type of teas! What I’m appreciating most about this is that while it is a bold tasting tea, it’s not overly ‘edgy.’ It’s got a smooth, nicely rounded flavor with sweet, caramel-y undertones. Quite nice!
To brew this, I put a bamboo scoop of tea into the basket of my Kati Tumbler and added 12 ounces of boiling water. I steeped the tea for 2 1/2 minutes. I would caution you to watch your steep time because this tea can and will get bitter on you if you oversteep it – so don’t do that!
If you like your breakfast tea to be latte, this tea will take the addition of milk and honey quite nicely. It’s also really pleasant served straight up. I like it hot best, but it’s still really tasty as it cools.
French Lemon Creme Rooibos from Petali Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Tea Information:
Sometimes you just want a tea that’s bursting with fun flavour. We think it’s not too much to ask for that flavour punch to taste completely natural. Welcome French Lemon Creme with your luscious lemon and creamy vanilla sweetness. This is built on a green rooibos base, so the blend has extra health benefits from locking in the herb’s natural enzymes.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I want to start this review by saying: the aroma of this tea smells just like what the name promises: It’s lemon and cream. And it’s lovely!
I was happy to see that this rooibos blend is a green rooibos blend which is my preference when it comes to rooibos teas. I like the fruity element of the green rooibos rather than the woody/nutty and sometimes gentle smoke note of the red rooibos (the red rooibos is oxidized to achieve it’s color, while the green rooibos is not oxidized.)
To steep this tea, I used my Kati Tumbler. I measured out 1 1/2 bamboo scoops of the tisane into the basket of my tumbler and added 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F. Then I let it steep for 10 minutes. Rooibos doesn’t get bitter because it isn’t tannic like camellia sinensis, so go ahead and let it steep – the flavors will just intensify. Do be sure to keep the temperature below boiling though, because you may get a ‘sour’ taste from rooibos if you steep it too hot.
Mmm! This is good. The aroma of the brewed tisane is still quite lemon-y and because of that, when I raise the tumbler to my lips and inhale deeply, I smell the lemon. My palate’s reaction to this is to prepare itself for something sour. But the sip doesn’t start out that way! Instead I get a sweet, creamy lemon taste, similar to lemon curd.
It isn’t until mid-sip that I start to pick up on the tart notes of the lemon. They aren’t a pucker-y tart, but just enough tart to let you know that hey, you’re tasting lemon! The creamy vanilla notes are strong right at first, and then they subside to let some of the bright lemon notes shine through.
I really like the way these two flavors have come together in this. It’s sweet but there’s enough tart to keep it interesting and to keep it from becoming too sickeningly sweet! And the rooibos base melds beautifully with these flavors, adding sweetness without taking away from the sunny lemon and the luscious cream flavor.
A really awesome rooibos blend. I don’t often say that about a rooibos blend, but this one has earned that praise!
Chocolate Chili Truffle Black Tea from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Chocolate Chili Truffle pairs creamy chocolate with sweet cinnamon, lingering honey notes, and a dash of heat that leaves a gentle warming feel. The spice level is mild to moderate depending on how the tea is prepared. We highly recommend adding some sugar for a more intense chocolaty treat that is perfect for cold winter nights.
Read more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
OK, so in my last review of a tea from Butiki, I mentioned that Butiki recently announced that they were closing up shop. Over the course of the last couple of months, Butiki has been creating new blends like crazy in an effort to use up the inventory. This is one of the teas that was created recently and I needed to try it! It just sounded too tasty – and knowing how brilliant Stacy from Butiki Teas is when it comes to blending teas, I was confident that this tea would deliver the flavors promised.
So, even though they are closing up shop – I had to place at least one more order with them to try some of the latest creations.
And I’m really glad I did. This tea is really good!
I brewed this in my Breville tea maker, adding 2 bamboo scoops of tea to the basket and 500ml of water to the jug. Then I steeped the tea for 2 1/2 minutes in boiling water. After the tea had cooled slightly, I took a sip or two of the tea without any additives and I decided that I wanted to taste more chocolate. So I added about half a teaspoon to my 16 ounce mug of tea. This brought out the chocolate-y notes without overwhelming the cup with sweetness.
There is a really enjoyable combination of flavors between the chocolate, the cinnamon and the chili pepper, along with the natural honey tones of the Sansia black tea base. There is a really awesome balance of spicy-hot and sweet.
It’s spicy! I’m feeling a warm burn in the back of my throat and on my lips. The chili is hot and the cinnamon adds a warm spice and these two complement each other to bring out the heat.
And it’s sweet! The Sansia black tea has some really remarkable honey tones. The first time I tasted this tea, I thought maybe someone had drizzled some honey into my mug to see if I’d notice. But no, the honey is a natural flavor of the tea and it’s delightful.
This sweetness, together with the sweet chocolate-y notes help to tone down the spice just enough so that I’m experiencing that aforementioned “warm burn” without feeling the need to rush to the kitchen to find something to extinguish the fire. It’s burning, but it’s a gentle, pleasant burning sensation that warms me from the inside out.
A really good tea. I don’t know if there will be any more of this blend when this review is published, but if there is – I strongly recommend going here and getting yourself some!
Awakening Tea from The Algonquin Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Functional Tisane
Where to Buy: Algonquin Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Blends nutritious and supportive herbs with stimulating herbs, producing a balanced, uplifting tea that energizes without the side-effects of caffeine.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
This is tasty … for an herbal tea. And that last part is the problem. I’m not big on herbal teas. I never have been. I’d rather drink Camellia Sinensis. And unfortunately with the Postal Teas 9th edition box – all three selections were herbal teas. Herbal teas from Algonquin.
Now, granted, all of these Algonquin herbal teas were unique and quite different from anything that I’ve ever tried. And that’s both a blessing and a curse because while there may be an ingredient or two that I recognize in this blend, for the most part, I’m drinking herbs that I’m not really familiar with so it makes it difficult to recognize and reconcile what I’m tasting.
But I still tried it because that’s what I do. I taste teas and then I write about what I’m tasting.
In this blend, the most easily identifiable ingredient and flavor is the mint. It’s crisp and adds a nice, refreshing element to the cup. There’s ginseng – not a favorite herb of mine. I can taste the earthiness of the ginseng. Nettle is in this too and I’m glad to report that while I get hints of the bitterness that goes with Nettle, it’s not a strong or dominant flavor.
Then there are some other ingredients that I’m less familiar with, like alfalfa (oh, sure, I know what it is, I just don’t recall having it in a tea any time recently), astragalus, angelica, joe-pye and calamus. It also has labrador, which I’m pretty sure I’ve had before, but again, it’s not something I’m familiar enough with to taste it and say, ‘yep, that’s labrador’ with complete confidence.
The combination of these ingredients is supposed to be a stimulating and energizing tea without caffeine. OK, but, I kind of like my caffeine. The only time that I’m not up for some caffeine (tea caffeine, that is, not coffee!) is when I’m getting close to bedtime. So, I can’t say that I really want an herbal, caffeine-free stimulant. I like my stimulants caffeinated, thank you.
Overall, it doesn’t taste bad. It tastes minty with an herbaceous and earthy background. Mint is the top note. It’s tasty. If you’re looking for a caffeine-free stimulant, you should try it. If I were looking for a caffeine-free stimulant, I might first consider that I’m trapped in a bad dream. But if after determining that I’m not in a bad dream and I’m not having some kind of mental breakdown and I still – for some unfathomable reason – want a caffeine-free stimulant, this is something I’d consider.
I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to learn that the 9th edition box from Postal Teas was all herbal selections. While I did enjoy these herbal teas for the most part, herbal selections just don’t excite this tea drinker all that much.
That said, these teas from Algonquin were alright and I drank them and didn’t hate them. There were definite “pros” to them. For example of the three herbals that I tried, there were no hibiscus in any of them! Nope, not even a little bit of hibiscus. Big bonus points to Algonquin for crafting herbal blends without that horrible hibiscus stuff. And I also appreciate that they’re unique. There are ingredients that I’ve not been exposed to, and like I said, that’s both a blessing and a curse. I would like to be able to taste something and say “oh yeah, that’s the __.” But, I can’t really reconcile some of the flavor notes because there are ingredients that I’m not so familiar with.
But the benefit is that it’s something different. This doesn’t taste like the average herbal blend from ABC company, you know? So like I said, blessing and a curse.
Overall, I’d say that while my experience with this 10th edition of the Postal Teas subscription was not the most exciting and thrilling of boxes that I’ve received over the past 30 days or so, I didn’t dislike the teas that I drank from the box. And that’s a “pro” too.
Sweetfern Tonic Tea from The Algonquin Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Functional Tisane
Where to Buy: Algonquin Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Delicious daily tonic formulated to assist every major organ in the cleansing of toxins. Immune boost and detox. Great iced tea. Tastes similar to black tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
The above description suggests that this tisane tastes similar to black tea. And despite this ‘promise’ – I found myself still hesitant to try it because … well, because it’s a tisane. And I know that I’ve mentioned more than once or twice my apprehension when it comes to tisanes.
But I finally decided that it was time to try it. So, to brew this, I measured out three bamboo scoops of the tisane into the basket of my Breville One-Touch tea maker and added 500ml of water to the kettle. Then I set the temperature for 195°F and the timer for 7 minutes and I let the tea maker do it’s thing!
I let it cool for a few minutes before taking the first sip. And yes, it does taste a bit like black tea. More accurately, it tastes like a ‘thinned’ black tea with herbaceous notes. Like maybe someone took half a cup of black tea and topped it off with an herbal tisane.
It’s actually quite pleasant to sip. And this tea has a few “pros” to it: a) there’s no hibiscus! Yay! b) it has echinacea which is a fairly well-recognized herb that boosts the immunity system. c) it’s pretty tasty.
Unlike many tisanes I’ve had in the past, this tisane is more like a unified flavor of all the components. That is to say – this tastes like one flavor and I’d find it difficult to discern the different flavors/ingredients of the blend. I taste a gently warm flavor to it – like a subtle spice. I notice a slight “root-beer-ish” kind of note that I attribute to the burdock.
But other than the “thinned black tea with herbaceous notes” – that’s really all I can taste. I taste a thinned black tea, herbaceous flavors, warm, subtle spice and a hint of root beer. It’s a tasty tisane.
The brochure from Algonquin that was included in this edition of the Postal Teas box suggests that tea is an effective “cleanser” or detox type of tisane and this is a detox tea that I wouldn’t mind drinking now and again because it does have that black tea + herbal tea taste to it and I’m finding it to be pleasant.
One thing I gotta say about Algonquin, their packaging is beautiful! If I saw these packages in the store, I’d definitely be tempted because the artwork is stunning and as I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for artwork! The packages that we got from Postal Teas are not as lovely as what I see on the Algonquin website, but if it wasn’t for receiving this 9th edition of Postal Teas, I probably wouldn’t have discovered the beautiful artwork!