Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Tea Ingredients:
Organic White Tea and Organic Blackberry Pieces with Blackberry Flavor.
Taster’s Review:
I am usually someone who turns my nose up at bagged tea. That’s because I find that the bagged tea is usually inferior to loose leaf. However, I must say that the teas that I’ve been tasting from Tea of Life have been really impressive. And these are sacheted teas!
And the latest tea that I’ve tasted from Tea of Life is this Organic White Tea Blackberry. This is really, REALLY good. The blackberry flavor is really well defined and doesn’t taste artificial. It tastes like I ate a fresh blackberry – bursting with juicy flavor! – every time I take a sip. Sweet, true to the fruit flavor. Delicious!
And the sweet, delicate, somewhat earthy quality of the white tea marries nicely with the abundant blackberry flavor. They are balanced well – with enough blackberry flavor so that there’s no doubt what I’m tasting, but, not so much that it tastes like blackberry punch and not tea. I can taste the white tea here.
I received this tea sachet as part of the Organic Teas Natural Tea Pyramids gift package. The description of this tea gift package in the Tea of Life brochure says this:
A beautifully packed gift of tea. Contains 4 different Organic teas in biodegradable pyramid tea bags which are individually packed in pyramid shape boxes.
This is a really fun tea gift! The tea sachets are packaged very elegantly in slender pyramids, and there are four different teas (a black tea, a green tea, this white tea, and a rooibos blend) – something like this would be ideal for someone who is new to exploring tea, or would also be great for travel.
A really yummy tea!
One Tart Queen of Hearts Custom Blend from Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
From the Wonderland series, this is One Tart Queen of Hearts! The flavor isn’t as tart as the name would lead you to believe. A fun medley of cherry green (40 percent), raspberry green (40 percent) and pomegranate green (20 percent) teas make up this ode to one of childhood’s favorite characters. If you don’t like too tart teas, try with sweetener (sugar or Splenda).
A Carolynne Keenan Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more of Carolynne Keenan blends here.
Taster’s Review:
This is really tasty. Despite the name of the tea – One Tart Queen of Hearts – a custom blend from Adagio Teas as created by Carolynne Keenan, it isn’t as tart as I thought it would be. It is tart, but it’s not pucker-y or sour.
I’m learning that I prefer the green teas from Adagio versus the black teas, which tend to be just a bit on the harsh side. With this green tea blend, though, I’m not experiencing any of the usual brash taste that I get from many of Adagio’s black teas. This green tea base is light and slightly buttery and adds a hint of sweet, vegetal flavor to this fruity blend.
The fruit flavors come together in a very harmonious way. I taste mostly raspberry and cherry, with only hints of pomegranate, but, I like the way these three fruit notes unite. It’s a little more tart than sweet, however, I kind of expected that from the name of the blend, you know?
But it’s not TOO tart. I tend to have kind of a sensitive palate when it comes to tarty, sour flavors, and I don’t really care for teas (or anything, really) that are too tart. I’m talking that it’s so sour that I pucker when I take a sip. Not into that. I know that there are lots of people out there who dig on that, but I’m not one of them. So, I’m happy that while this blend created by Carolynne Keenan is tart, it’s not overwhelmingly so.
A really tasty blend. I’d definitely drink it again!
No. 3 – Classic Chinese Black Tea from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Tea Description:
Joseph Wesley’s Black Tea No. 3 is an organically-certified tea from the famed Long Jing cultivars of China’s Zhejiang Province. This tea is hand-harvested from the mountains of Zhu Jia Jian island in the Putuo district of the Zhoushan archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Bold and straightforward, this delightful tea can be enjoyed throughout the day and will pair with any of your favorite adjuncts (milk and sugar / spice and honey).
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This No. 3 – Classic Chinese Black Tea from Joseph Wesley Black Tea is the third tea that I’ve tried from this company … and all three have done nothing but astound me! I am so very impressed by this company.
The large, chocolate-y brown leaves smell lightly earthy with a hint of sweetness. The liquid these lovely leaves produce is a deep brown color that smells rich and rewarding, like that first cup of tea that you look forward to in the morning.
The flavor is equally as rewarding, with its rich chocolate-y notes and sweet caramel-y undertone. There are notes of malt and this has that flavorful, chewy kind of taste that evokes thoughts of freshly baked bread. It is deeply satisfying.
There are notes of earth within the sip, as well as a fruit-like flavor that reminds me of a sweet plum. Every once in a while, if I slurp my sip, I pick up on a hint of flower in the distance. But mostly what I taste is the sweeter notes of cacao and honeyed caramel.
This is one of those teas that you want to have on hand so that you can enjoy it frequently. It’s so good.
Kaporet Kenya Black Tea from Single Origin Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Single Origin Teas
Tea Description:
While Kenyan teas are lesser known, they are quite popular. The majority of tea bag tea actually comes from the flat growing areas of Kenya: in a recent UN food estimate (see below), the country’s tea production represented around 13% of the world’s supply. However, it is rare to find a non-CTC tea. CTC, otherwise known as Crush Tear Curl, is the production method used for turning tea leaves into tea dust, for more rapid brewing in tea bags. Kenya Kaporet is rare in that orthodox production methods are employed, allowing for a more distinct flavor than a standard tea bag will offer.
Kenya Kaporet produces a bold, robust malty flavor often associate with black teas. It brews quite strong, and can handle milk well.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve probably said this before, but, the more I try teas from Kenya, the more I’m loving them! This Kaporet Keyna Black Tea from Single Origin Teas is so rich and flavorful!
I am in complete agreement with the last paragraph in the above description, this tea is indeed bold and robust, with a delightful malty tone. It does brew strong! I tend to usually add a little extra leaf when I brew teas because I like a good, strong flavor, but that wasn’t necessary with this tea, because it brewed up strong and full-flavored without the 1/2 teaspoon or so of extra leaf!
And while I believe this tea would stand up well with the addition of milk, I am liking it served straight up with no additions. It has a powerful flavor – the kind of tea with which I like to start the day because it has that GUSTO I look for in a morning black tea. It’s invigorating, but, it also has a gentle smoothness to it that nudges you awake rather than rudely screams in your face. It’s the nice way to wake up!
In the distance, I taste notes of fruit. A little further off, I taste faint hints of flower. There is some sweetness to the cup from these two characteristics, but, most of the sweetness I taste is a burnt-sugar caramel sweetness that melds with the malty notes really well.
There is that chewy, freshly baked, bread-y type of flavor that I enjoy – vaguely reminiscent of a high quality Assam tea, but without the bitterness that is often associated with Assam. There is a savory quality to this tea as well, and this savory note hits the palate at about mid-sip, just as you’re nearing the finish. This isn’t an overly astringent cuppa, but, there is some dry astringency toward the tail.
Overall, an excellent black tea from Kenya.
Orange Oolong Tea from Aromatica Fine Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Aromatica Fine Teas
Tea Description:
Taste the richness of the oolong at this tea’s base. This darker, roasted oolong presents upfront toasty notes and a hint of chestnuts. The orange is natural and balanced, but builds to a stronger citrus finish. Together, this is soft and smooth.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Yay! My Amoda Tea Box for November arrived yesterday! I’m always so excited to get this special parcel in my mailbox every month. I’m expecially excited about this package because all three teas are ones that I’ve not tried before. The first tea that I’m tasting is this Orange Oolong Tea from Aromatica Fine Teas.
The dry leaf has a very strong orange aroma. It smells as though I had just cut into a ripe, juicy orange! The scent filled the room as soon as I opened the pouch. Ordinarily, I will brew a flavored Oolong in my Breville One-Touch tea maker, but, I decided to grab my gaiwan to fully enjoy the strong, amazing orange fragrance. The tea brews up a dark yet transparent chocolate brown color and the aromatic wisps wafting out of the teacup are beckoning me to take a sip.
The first cup is very flavorful and has a nice balance between Formosa tea flavor and sweet orange notes. The tea has a pleasing earthy flavor that is slightly woodsy and warm with notes of roasted nut. There is a background note of fruit that is slightly peach-like, and I like the way this melds with the bright citrus notes.
Subsequent infusions were also quite flavorful. I found that as I continued to infuse this tea, the flavors became smoother and almost seamless. The orange notes remained a “sunny” kind of flavor in the cup, while the Oolong maintained it’s earthy, slightly nutty tones, but everything melded together in a very pleasant way.
A delightful and complex tea.