A new tisane to try! This comes from a tea shop a couple of hours away. They were kind enough to allow me to sniff tin after tin of tea and answer my questions when I was a new tea drinker many years ago.
They had really educational tea flights before the pandemic, and hopefully those can happen again one day! If you live near enough to participate, I highly recommend that you sign up for their newsletter and look for a flight that addresses teas that interest you. They even gave out information sheets when I attended and it was fun to meet other people who are passionate about tea. They do ship at reasonable rates, too.
This blend contains apple pieces, mountain blueberry leaves, rosehip, orange & lemon peel, sweet blackberry & melissa leaves, lemongrass, blue butterfly pea flowers, mallow blossoms, and natural flavor.
Butterfly pea flowers are popping up everywhere because of the pretty color they give to food and beverages. I have some on the way to make my lavender syrup more appealing to the eye and to play with in sweet hibiscus drinks! It is also said to be full of antioxidants (like blueberries and purple tomatoes) and is adaptogenic if the internet is to be believed. Lemongrass is often recommended for its anti-inflammatory benefits. Some people pooh-pooh any measurable health benefits from tea and say just enjoy it! So let’s see if we do.
What does it look like in my spoon? Lots of leaves! I see the straight pieces of lemongrass and the soft, dried pieces of leaves and blossoms. I see at least a piece or two of orange and lemon peel in each spoonful. (I have already made this several times and once as a large pitcher of iced tea.) There are a few small apple pieces, too. It is well mixed and distributed and I don’t need to add lots of extra spoonfuls because of big chunks taking up lots of space. I stick with an actual teaspoon per cup. I prefer this to tisanes that have huge clumps of sticky dried fruit that defy measuring. But that’s just me.
The steeped tisane comes out blue, leaning toward a purple haze. The flavor is soft and mellow with nice, light sweet orange flavor and a pleasant little zing from the lemon and rose hips.
I do not care for rose hips and hibiscus much unless they are heavily sweetened to make essentially an adult version of Kool-Aid. But this doesn’t have any mouth puckering sensation at all. It is very pleasant to drink and needs no sugar to be enjoyable. This is the right amount of rose hips for me!
For the iced tea, I did add sugar because I live in the South and that’s what we do. It was good and did keep me from reaching for that carbonated, caffeinated soda I wanted and knew I shouldn’t have. I was glad I chose wisely. So there’s one health benefit I got from it!
I am thinking now, though, that the next iced pitcher will be unsweetened, because drinking the hot version again I feel like it really doesn’t need the sugar to be enjoyable unless I am just in the mood for something sweet.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Tin Roof Teas
Description
Apple pieces, mountain blueberry leaves, rosehip, orange, & lemon peel, sweet black berry & melissa leaves, lemongrass, blue butterfly pea flowers, mallow blossoms, natural flavor
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Moongold Oolong from Tin Roof Teas. . . .
One of my coworkers brought this to work specifically for me to try! What a blessing of a day!
This blend, from Tin Roof Teas, contains “sweet, succulent golden orange apricots and a floral green oolong.” It’s the perfect compliment to the day.
Like, wow: this pops. It’s juicy and green and vibrant. Like you’re just gobbling your way straight through an orchard.
Peaches, oranges, and berries are done all the time, but an apricot is kind of rare to me. I love the flavor of apricot. When I was a kid, my mom used to give me apricot-flavored baby food until WAY too late for me to be eating it*, because it was one of the few healthy things I’d eat.**
* (I’m talking teenage years.)
** (I have been told this is gross. I don’t think it’s gross. Baby food is just fruits in a blender. It’s a smoothie.)
So this tea brings me back to our kitchen table with a crack in it. There are cross-stitches on the wall. I’m picking at lunch. My family’s around. It’s warm there.
But now, in the present, I’m a sophisticated adult. I don’t eat baby food. Instead, I drink teas like this.
Nobody will ever know my secrets.
Except, perhaps, the entire internet, now that I’ve posted this.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tin Roof Teas
Description
Our Moongold Oolong is a delightful paring of sweet, succulent golden orange apricots and a floral green oolong.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Bon-Bon from Tin Roof Teas.. . . .
I didn’t know what a bon-bon was before tossing this tea into my travel bag on a trip. I sort of had an idea that it was something that pregnant people and lazy people ate. The phrase “sitting around eating bon-bons” was in my head.
Turns out bon-bons refer to chocolate-covered confections, or sweets in general. You’re welcome.
If I were pregnant, I would have to down bon-bons because I couldn’t drink black tea, this one specifically. This is a really yummy blend. It has a sweetness that stays in your mouth after you’ve swallowed. It’s got moxie. I might even describe it as “sassy.”
While I was drinking it, I drew a picture of a Cheshire Cat teacup. . . .
I think this tea would be a great accompaniment to a novel about tricky, morally ambiguous talking animals, etc. An adult sort of Alice in Wonderland meets Harry Potter, maybe like the Magicians, but with more mayhem. You should read the Magicians series, by the way. I’m not being paid by them to say that. It’d be a great reading pairing with this tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tin Roof Teas
Description
Our Bon Bon black tea, is a decadent, creamy sensation morning, noon or night.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Fig Formosa from Tin Roof Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tin Roof Teas
Tea Description:
High quality Taiwanese oolong is the perfect base for the rich taste of Smyrna fig.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love Steepster. One of the things I love most about the tea community is that there is a great opportunity to meet other tea enthusiasts and occasionally, swap teas with them. It’s a great way to taste different teas that maybe I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to try otherwise, not to mention the fact that it allows me to share my abundant tea supply with others!
This is one of the teas that was recently sent to me by one of my Steepster friends. I was excited to try it, because I love figs and I love a good Formosa Oolong.
This tea bears a striking resemblance to the Fig Formosa tea from Teas Etc, the same name and visually, this tea looks the same as I remember the Fig Formosa looking … especially in the brewed tea. The liquor is such a unique color – it’s purple! Purple!
I absolutely loved that tea, and I remember it tasting unlike any other fig tea that I’ve tried. This has that same strong fig flavor, along with the deliciously smooth flavor of the Formosa tea. Delightful!
And this tea also manages to bring me back to those memories of the fig orchards when I was a child. Happy times!
I don’t know that these teas are the same, and it’s been long enough since I tasted the other tea that I can’t compare them properly, but, I really don’t care either. I know that there are a lot of tea companies out there who resell other companies products and to be honest, that doesn’t bother me one bit. As long as the tea is fresh and delicious and has been properly cared for, that’s what matters to me. As far as who the wholesaler is or who is the re-seller in this case (or even if both of them are re-selling teas) … that doesn’t matter to me.
For me, it’s all about the tea … and this tea is good!
