Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Description:
Enjoy your black tea with lemongrass, another great ally of your body with a lemony flavor that soothes and tastes delicious! Sip it hot after a meal for an easy digestion, or pour it over ice cubes for a refreshing summer treat.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Another interesting tea from Chiang Rai Tea House! This time, it’s a combination of black tea leaves from Thailand and the curly pieces of Lemongrass that I enjoyed so much in their Lemongrass & Ginger blend. I don’t know if the cutting process that produces the curls in the lemongrass makes a difference in the flavor or if it’s because this is lemongrass from Thailand – but the lemongrass that I’ve tasted in both these blends has been a substantial lemon-y flavor – much more so than I’ve experienced from the typical chopped pieces of lemongrass.
The lemon-y notes are sweet and tart, but not pucker-y tart. Just tart enough to make this taste like lemon has been added to the tea rather than a sweeter lemon curd type flavor. Just tart enough to perk up the taste buds and really brighten the cup!
The black tea base is a very mellow tasting black tea. It’s not particularly robust, so I’m happy to have the sunny flavor of lemon in this tea. It’s invigorating from the refreshing lemon notes with a background of smooth, sweet black tea.
A really nice blend – not quite as strong as I’d want from a breakfast tea, but this would make a wonderfully refreshing iced tea or a great afternoon tea.
Kenya Marula Black Tea from McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants
Tea Description:
Flavourful African black tea from Kaimosi, an exotic combination of sweet banana with the tart, fresh taste of the yellow-gold African Marula fruit.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
McQuarrie’s is a local loose leaf tea and coffee store; the kind I feel like most larger cities have at least one of – usually privately owned, and not part of a chain of any kind. They source their teas from other companies, such as the Metropolitan Tea Company and are an interesting middle ground between more commercial/branded loose leaf companies such as Teavana or DAVIDsTEA which can act as ‘gateway’ loose leaf shops and less commercial, higher quality stores for more seasoned tea drinkers. If that makes sense at all. This tea in particular is sourced from a larger manufacturer called Wollenhaupt tea, however it doesn’t appear to be currently listed on their website.
According to my Aunt, McQuarrie’s has ‘probably been around longer than she has’. It’s, of course, right in the heart of my cities’ more ‘hipster’ area with all of the other stores that specialize in more obscure hobbies/interests and fancier, offbeat cafes and such. My roommate, coincidentally, happens to work at one of those restaurants!
I picked this one up in person; it’s always kind of nice shopping in person because you don’t have to blindly purchase something just based on the description or other people’s reviews. I got to see and smell this before hand! The smell was definitely very banana and that certainly made me excited because it’s been a while since I’ve had a good banana tea with a black base – right now 52Tea’s Butterscotch Banana is sticking out in memory but it’s been an awfully long time since having it. The marula was very interesting too; other than knowing it’s an exotic fruit I have no experience or familiarity with it so that absolutely caught my attention.
It seemed, overall, like a very interesting find from my local store!
I cold brewed my sample – someone recently called me the ‘Queen of Cold Brew’ and that may be pretty accurate. I will cold brew just about anything, especially at this time of the year.
This had a very interesting flavour! The banana was the dominant note; it was almost sickly sweet and tread a thin line between realistic, overripe banana and banana candy. It struck up fairly vivid recollections of two things. The first was the banana liquer that I currently have in my fridge, which is very sugary and sweet. The second thing was Khao Tom Mad which is a Thai dessert made of banana, sticky rice and coconut milk served in either a banana or coconut leaf. I’ve only had it once, but it was pretty amazing – maybe even life changing. I definitely think some of the sweetness of the banana comes from the blackberry leaves; my experience with them has been that they tend to made fruit flavours really, really pop.
I don’t have a familiarity with marula, but I’m told by my roommate that it’s supposed to taste a little bit like guava. I don’t know if I necessarily got that with this blend – though I did get a little bit of tartness which the roomie says is probably from the marula. It was quite mild though and didn’t play much into the overall dynamic of the tea. I am a little bit sad the marula didn’t have more of an impact on the taste – I love when I get the chance to experience new flavours in tea.
The rest of the tea was supporting notes for the banana; both mild cinnamon and a bit of drier wood notes were present. The finish was the biggest let down for the tea though; there was a light sudsy/soapy flavour than was unpleasant and slightly lingering. I first thought that the wood was a little weird to have been coming from the rooibos in the blend, which was my initial assumption – but then I remembered that one of the listed ingredients is lapacho. Aha! I’ve had bad experiences with lapacho, including soapy notes and very dry hardly palatable wood notes. I definitely do NOT see the appeal of lapacho. Fortunately, it was quite mild here. It would certainly explain both the soapy notes and the off wood notes, though.
Overall this tea was pretty interesting, and a bit of a rollercoaster. It had an incredible beginning with some of the tastiest banana notes I’ve had in a very, very long time and the middle was pretty solid too but the weird lack of anything Marula, of which the tea is named after, and unfortunate presence of Lapacho made for a bit of a disappointing finish.
Still a worthwhile try though given how unique it is, and something I’ll continue to personally fiddle around with. I’m determined to taste some marula!
Matcha from Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Description:
Matcha -green tea powder- is an antioxidant powerhouse (ORAC rating of 1,300 units/gram compared to 105 units/gram for pomegranates) and its list of health benefits goes on and on -fights viruses and bacteria, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, L-Theanine relaxes and supports concentration, boosts metabolism and burns calories, contains the unique and powerful antioxidant catechin EGCg.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve written about Matcha. And even though it’s been a little while since I’ve written about Matcha, that doesn’t mean that it’s been a while since I’ve consumed it. I try to drink a bowl of Matcha (or do a cold-water shake-up of Matcha in my water bottle) at least every other day. Occasionally, I might skip a day or two, but, I do try to drink it regularly – the stuff is magical! It’s not only tasty but it also makes me feel so good after I’ve had it. It’s one of the most revitalizing, energizing and spiritually uplifting teas I know of.
So, I was really intrigued when Chiang Rai Tea House sent me some of their Matcha to try. Traditionally, Matcha is a Japanese tea, but the tea that was ground into this powdered green tea is from Thailand. So, I was interested to find out if it would be different from the traditional Matcha.
The dry powder is not the vivid Apple Green that you’d find with most top quality Matcha teas from Japan. This tea was more like an Army Green color. Kind of drab and dull. This worried me because it’s been my experience that when it comes to Matcha, the color is very telling of what I’ll be tasting.
But, I’m going to try it and see how it goes. I measured out some of the Matcha into my sifter and sifted into my Chawan and added hot water (160°F) and whisked the Matcha with my Chasen. The Matcha incorporated quickly. There was some froth to the prepared Matcha but it disappeared as quickly as it formed.
On their webpage, Chiang Rai Tea House says this about their Matcha:
We are particularly proud of our matcha, which we honestly believe can rival any Japanese matcha. This is a high-grade, 100% pure green tea powder made following strict guidelines. It has a smooth texture, a sweet aftertaste and an intense flavor, without the bitterness characteristic of lesser matchas.
I don’t know if this can rival any Japanese Matcha, but I will say that it’s better than some of the lower quality Japanese Matcha that I’ve tried. It is smooth and sweet. I’m not getting any of the bitterness or even the bitter-sweet notes that I’d taste from a lesser quality Matcha from Japan. I’m actually quite surprised by that – because I expected this to taste a lot like that! I expected this to taste like some of those average or even less-than-average Matcha teas that I’ve tried over the years.
This has a strong flavor that is a lightly buttery and there are pleasant notes of cacao. It’s smooth and even though there were a couple of chalky moments, overall, I find this to be a very tasty Matcha. The powder remained suspended in the liquid and didn’t settle to the bottom which was a big bonus as far as I’m concerned. I liked that the consistency of the tea remained the same from the first sip to the last.
Overall, this was a pleasant Matcha experience. This isn’t the best Matcha that I’ve ever tried, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. If you’re someone who drinks Matcha daily and is looking for a good alternative to the average Matcha, try this. This has a very pleasant flavor that I don’t always find in the average Matcha.
Green Tea & Peppermint from Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Description:
Everything that goes in our teas is organic and traditionally grown at the farm. Just like the peppermint in this amazing blend. As green tea boosts the metabolism and reduces appetite, it may help burn calories. Meanwhile, peppermint can improve your workouts by allowing higher brain oxygen concentration and reducing lactate build-up, while also helping your digestion. Oh, did we mention it smells and tastes delicious, hot or on ice?
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I generally enjoy minty teas, but I especially like it when the mint isn’t so powerful that it ends up tasting more like mouthwash than tea. This Green Tea & Peppermint from Chiang Rai Tea House has got the balance of flavors just right!
It’s minty, but not overly so. It is more like a soft, subtle whisper of mint that accents the sweet green tea. It has that cool, refreshing flavor that I want from mint teas, but, I’m tasting more green tea here than I’m tasting mint and for that, Chiang Rai Tea House gets bonus points.
The green tea leaves are large and whole and I could see the fine, fuzzy hairs on the leaves. I was kind of surprised at the appearance of the leaves because I’m used to Chinese or Japanese green teas that are much greener – these are a pale green with silvery tips! In fact, these looked more like a Bai Mu Dan tea than most green teas I’ve seen.
Then again, these tea leaves are from Thailand and I can’t say that I’ve experienced a whole lot of teas from Thailand.
But I like what I’m tasting – I’m enjoying this tea a lot! It’s sweet and it tastes fresh and lightly vegetal. The vegetal notes aren’t so much like grass. It has a slight ‘hay-like’ flavor (another nod to the previous Bai Mu Dan comparison) and there are notes of sweet fruit – evoking thoughts of honeydew melon.
A really surprising tea on many different levels. And it’s been a very happy set of surprises! A really delightful tea!
Organic Thai Iced Tea Blend from Arbor Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Arbor Teas
Tea Description:
Thai Tea (also known as Thai Iced Tea) is a popular drink hailing from Thailand, commonly found in Thai restaurants across the US. Our Organic and Fair Trade Certified Thai Iced Tea is a traditional blend of strong black tea, vanilla bean, cardamom and anise. It can be enjoyed hot or cold with a twist of lime as a self drinker (without milk). Or it can be brewed to create a traditional, restaurant-style Thai Iced Tea when combined with ice, milk and sugar!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
If any of you have read my foodie reviews for various Thai restaurants in the Portland area, you are probably already aware of my fondness of Thai Iced Tea. In fact, now that I think about it, Thai Iced Tea is probably the first real tea that I fell in love with, because I had discovered it long before I started on my journey with tea in general, and for me, Thai Iced Tea was love at first sip.
So when I was asked to try Arbor Teas’ new Organic Thai Iced Tea Blend, I was excited!
The leaves and spices are very finely cut. This is perhaps the finest tea leaf cut I’ve seen, it is almost like dust. The dry leaf smells delicious, with notes of anise, cardamom and vanilla tantalizing my olfactory nerves. Because of the fine chop on these leaves, I recommend being careful when you measure it … a little goes a long way!
I brewed my first pot of this to try as a hot tea, because I personally think that all teas should at least be tried hot. It has been my experience that chilling often mutes some of the flavor of the tea, so I think to try it properly, all tea should be tasted hot first. Then I brewed more at an intensified strength so that I could add either sweetened condensed milk or coconut milk to it to try it traditional Thai Iced Tea style.
Served hot, this tea is really tasty. It has a good, strong black tea base which gives me a lot of hope for the iced tea version, because one of my biggest complaints about some of the restaurant Thai Iced Teas that I’ve had lately is that the black tea seems weak and is overpowered by the thick, creamy sweetened condensed milk. It is still tasty as a sweet, latte style iced tea, but, I found myself missing the black tea flavor in those other Thai iced teas, the strength of this black tea gives me reason to believe that I will TASTE the black tea in the iced tea I’ll be enjoying over the next day or two.
The spices are also accounted for in this hot cup, with the vanilla providing a sweet, creamy taste that accents the warmth of the cardamom and the zesty anise. This isn’t an overly spiced blend, I think that the spices are in good balance with the black tea and will make a stunning iced tea!
I went on to brew some double strength tea for the fridge. Tomorrow, I’ll be sipping on Thai Iced Tea! I can’t wait!
~The Next Day~
This is really good served as a traditional Thai Iced Tea. I first tried it with coconut milk, which gave it a nice creamy taste and a hint of tropical flair. But I must admit that I prefer it with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. Not a lot of milk, but just enough to give it that sweet, creamy taste that you’d find in a Thai restaurant. YUM!
Since I brewed this at double strength, I thought I’d do a little experimentation. I had some ginger ale in the fridge, so I decided to add a little bit of ginger ale to the glass before I poured the iced tea, and held off on the milk. This made for a very interesting “soda-like” taste. It was not quite as carbonated as a soda, but, it had a little bit of carbonation to it, and a sweet, crisp taste that was a little citrus-y, a little ginger-y and very refreshing. I could still taste all the elements of the tea, and it managed to cut through some of the sweeter elements of the soda that I often find to be a bit much for me. It was – to me – a perfect alternative to the traditional soda pop.