Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
Organic Ingredients: Black Tea, Pomegranate, Safflower, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
For this review, I felt a little bit at a disadvantage. This Pomteani from Lemon Lily was another of the three teas that I received in the most recent edition from Postal Teas’ subscription service, but because Postal Teas hasn’t updated their blog in a long while and because I was unable to find this tea anywhere on the Lemon Lily website, I couldn’t find any information about the tea – not even a photo of the loose leaf tea. (And my camera battery, of course, needs to be recharged.)
So, I’ll just wing this review without a description from either company and without photos. Hey, I can do this, I’m a professional. (No wisecracks!) Well, maybe I’m not a professional reviewer – but I pretend to be one on the internet.
First of all, I need to say that I don’t know how accurate the ingredient list is. I see the bits of lemon and orange peel, I see the bits of safflower petal and the black tea leaves. I don’t see any pomegranate arils, but what I do see is a powdery substance that reminds me a bit of the beet powder that I found in the Beauty & The Beet blend only this powdery substance wasn’t hot pink. It’s more like a pale blonde color. Is this the pomegranate the ingredient list speaks of? I’ve never seen pomegranate look like that before. But either this is, in fact, the pomegranate, or there’s another ingredient that the list above doesn’t include.
To brew this, I used my Breville One Touch. I added 500ml of freshly filtered water into the jug and 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket of the tea maker and set the parameters for 2 1/2 minutes at 212°F.
And I definitely taste the pomegranate. I also taste notes of citrus. The black tea is medium bodied tea with an even tone and texture, I suspect it’s a Ceylon. It has some astringency to it and it’s an astringency that seems to build, as I found the second half of my cup to be more astringent than the first half.
It’s a flavorful cuppa, and would make a nice afternoon tea. I guess it would also make a nice cocktail – or at least a very attractive one to serve for today: Valentine’s Day.
Overall, this tea is just alright. I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’ve enjoyed the other offerings that I’ve tried from Lemon Lily.
Cherry Blossom Green Tea from Lemon Lily
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
One scent of this tea will encourage your senses to indulge in this Japanese delight. One sip and you’ll be whisked away to Kyoto for the Cherry Blossom festival. *plane ticket sold separately.
Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, Organic Rose Petals, Natural Cherry Flavour
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
My tenth edition of the Postal Teas subscription arrived a few days ago, and I was happy to see that more of Lemon Lily’s teas were being featured, especially after having been subjected to three (yes three) herbal teas last edition. I’m glad to find that Postal Teas remembered about Camellia Sinensis.
When I opened the pouch, I was greeted with a very strong cherry scent. It smells a little like … well, it smells like cherry cough syrup. That’s immediately what came to mind when I took a whiff of the dry leaf.
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch tea maker. I poured 500ml of water into the jug and measured 2 bamboo scoops of the tea into the basket. I set the timer for 1 1/2 minutes and the temperature for 175°F. Then I let the tea maker take it from there.
The brewed tea doesn’t taste quite as much like cough syrup as the aroma lead me to believe it would. It does have that strong, sweet cherry flavor that you’d taste in a cough syrup, but it also has some other flavors that soften the strong cherry notes.
The green tea is light and fresh tasting. It’s not overly grassy but there are some subtle vegetal notes in the taste, as well as soft, creamy notes that are almost buttery.
I think that the rose is the real star here though. I taste really lovely notes of rose! I like the way the rose plays with the cherry notes, adding some dimension into what might otherwise be a very sweet, almost too sweet cherry flavor.
Overall, this tea is just alright to me. I’m not loving it as much as I usually enjoy cherry green teas. I do appreciate the rose notes, but I think that the cherry veers a little too close to the sweet, cough syrupy flavor.
Not bad, but not great either.
On the Tenth Day of Christmas, Della Terra Teas Sent to Me …
Day 10!
And what a delightfully festive holiday tea Della Terra Teas chose for Day 10 in their 12 Days of Christmas Tea countdown!
Rather than gabbing on about something irrelevant, I think I’m going to jump right in and start talking about this tea …
So, on the 10th Day of Christmas, Della Terra Teas sent me this tea …
Candy Cane
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
On the tenth day of Christmas they say the lords were a’leaping. Perhaps they were using canes made of peppermint candy to help them jump along?
You certainly will have a candy cane of your own in your cup! On this tenth day as we draw nearer to Christmas day, refresh yourself with this amazing black tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A few weeks ago, when I started noticing others on Steepster talking about this tea, I had a pretty good idea that it would be part of Della Terra Teas’ 12 Days of Christmas box … which at that point I was EAGERLY awaiting its arrival! But after opening nine envelope-y boxes containing teas that were not Candy Cane, I thought that maybe … just maybe … this tea wasn’t going to be in there. I guess it just goes to show that good things come to those who wait.
Well, I didn’t waste any time brewing this tea … I could wait no longer!
Mmm! It really does taste like a liquified candy cane that has been stirred into a cup of black tea. The black tea is a little on the mellow side, or at least it seems so as the minty flavors and even the hints of creamy, vanilla-y notes tend to overshadow it. That’s not really meant to sound like a complaint, because it isn’t one … the black tea is fine for what it is. It’s just not overly robust or strongly flavored. Here, the flavoring is doing most of the work … and what they’re producing is a delightful peppermint candy cane flavor!
But there’s more to this … there is more here than vanilla and peppermint … I taste … CHOCOLATE! Yes indeed! And I love this addition! It adds to the creaminess and richness to this tea. YUM!
This picture shows a dry leaf with crushed candy cane and black leaves … and apparently Della Terra Teas has since changed that to the cutest little candy cane candies. They look like miniature candy canes made for Squinkies toys. Yes, of course I know what Squinkies are … I kept trying to get my young daughter into these (they’re so cute!) but she was more into Littlest Pet Shop … but I digress.
Anyway, it would seem that Della Terra Teas has changed this Candy Cane tea slightly – it used to be called “Candy Cane Lane” and it used to have crushed candy canes instead of these cute little tiny candy cane candies (these would look adorable on cupcakes … just sayin’).
But whatever changes they made, I have to think that they were made for the better, because what I’m tasting is pure candy cane bliss in my tea cup. Sweet, creamy, minty … but not too much, and just a hint of chocolate too … This tea is a holiday delight!
On the Tenth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …
We are nearing the finish line. These sampler boxes are a fun way to count down the days until Christmas, especially if you’re like me and have difficulty with time. I often blame it on the artist in me, but whether or not that is the case, I don’t know. What I do know is that I have a real issue with the concept of time.
And I bring that up, because, well, an Advent calendar seldom works for me, because I can’t usually wrap my brain around the fact that it’s December 1st when it is. So, even if my intentions are good and I happen to buy an Advent-type, countdown calender, I probably would end up forgetting about it and not start it until mid-December anyway. This cuts the time in half for me, I can handle 12 days. 25 days … well, I probably COULD handle it, but, knowing the struggle it would pose for me, I rather not put myself in that situation.
Yes, I’m babbling. Basically my point is, this kind of countdown – 12 Days of Christmas – works for me. Even though, technically, the 12 Days of Christmas isn’t actually supposed to start before Christmas and be a “countdown”, but actually, should start on Christmas Day.
Enough already! Let’s get on with today’s tea, shall we?
Here is the tenth tea of Christmas …
This chai appearing in the box was a very happy surprise, mainly because it was the first chai in the box (and possibly the only chai!) and Chai is just so warm and cozy and comforting that I expected there to be at least one other Chai tea before this, the tenth day.
Assuming that this is the only chai in the box this year, I guess that this is a good choice for that one chai. It is certainly yummy. Although, truth be told, I would have selected the Gingerbread Chai which is my favorite chai from 52Teas. However, since it was last year’s 12th Tea of Christmas, I didn’t really expect it to appear in this year’s box.
But, all that aside, this is a really yummy chai, so long as it is brewed correctly. The first time I brewed this (it’s been a couple of months now), I brewed it too strong and it caused the Assam to taste really harsh. Normally, I like to brew my chai really strong, but this is not a normal chai, so don’t treat it as such!
A very flavorful chai, the black tea base is bold and invigorating, the spices do not overpower the delightful flavors of caramel and vanilla. I wrote my full-length review of this chai back in October, and I think I’m loving this now even more than I did back then, and that just may be because I am enjoying this “latte” and – just as I stated back in October – it is an over-the-top treat. It is AMAZINGLY good, and even if you don’t think you need to go over-the-top, I do recommend trying it … at least once!