It’s Day 11 in this Holiday Countdown! After this, my 11th tea in the Advent Calendar from Teanzo, I only have 13 teas left. Which means that there will only be 13 days left to shop, and 14 days until that magical day!
For today’s artistic inspiration, I chose this adorable little tree ornament created by Carol Westphal. Isn’t it cute?
The ornament is crafted on heavy card stock to give it some weight, and the papers have been layered to give it some dimension. There are cute little sparkly accents that were added to draw the eye to the ornament, including a ‘frame’ of silvery Krylon paint pen. It may seem like a rather “simple” piece but it’s one that always seems to catch my eye when it’s hanging on the tree. The bright white color is a pleasing contrast to the other colorful ornaments. Sometimes the simple things carry the most impact.
Organic Chamomile
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
The Ancient Egyptians dedicated Chamomile to their Sun God and valued it above all other herbs. Chamomile tea has a fragrance reminiscent of an apple blossom, and is calming after a long day. Sip Chamomile tea it by itself or for added pleasure mix with a squeeze of honey or lemon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Just as today’s ornament might be called “simple” – today’s tea is one of the simple “staples” that just about any tea drinker usually has on hand. But just because Chamomile is one of those “staples” doesn’t mean that just any Chamomile tea will do! It’s smart to find a good quality Chamomile, like this one from Teanzo!
I liked that when I opened the sample pouch and emptied it into the basket of my Kati Tumbler, I could see big, whole chamomile blossoms, not a bunch of crushed flower dust. Sure, there were some smaller bits in there too – that’s normal because some damage does incur in packaging and such. But, about 95% of the contents of the pouch was whole ORGANIC flowers. When it comes to chamomile – this is the good stuff!
The dry aroma was a combination of flower and honey, with light, fruit-like notes. It’s quite a pleasant aroma. Having never really been a big fan of chamomile in the past, I haven’t spent a lot of time smelling chamomile. But I actually quite enjoy the fragrance.
To brew this, I steeped these blossoms in 195°F water for 8 minutes. I usually let chamomile steep for a full 10 minutes, but I decided I’d try it at 8 and see how it tastes. And it’s quite pleasant!
The flavor is sweet, with notes of honey and pollen. I also taste notes of sweet apple. As I taste this, I find myself thinking it might be quite tasty with a bit of cinnamon (apple and cinnamon work quite nicely together). Hints of flower. It always kind of surprises me that chamomile has less floral taste than other flowers. It’s still a flower … I guess I always expect more of a floral note from it.
Over the past few days, I’ve been battling a cold. I was fortunate to have quite a few reviews “on queue” waiting for their scheduled publication because I’ve not been writing many reviews over the last few days because of this cold. My taste buds were not quite up to snuff and I didn’t want to attempt to write a review with an impaired palate. This is actually the first review that I’ve written since that time – and I feel like my taste buds are back in working order.
I shared that bit of information with you because while many of my symptoms have diminished, I still have a bit of a scratchy throat from coughing. This chamomile is quite soothing on the itchy throat! I have never really tried chamomile as a soother of a throat, I’ve usually turned to teas with ginger or lemon (or a combination of both) and sweetened them with honey to calm the throat, but chamomile is quite a lovely, comforting tea too!
Above I mused about combining chamomile with some cinnamon, I suspect a bit of ginger would be quite nice too – perhaps some candied ginger!
Really, it’s a nice cup of chamomile. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s certainly nice to sip on as my taste buds have just recovered from my cold and my throat still needs comforting. I like the quality of this chamomile: I like that these are whole blossoms and they’re organic – this is top notch.
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 9 from Teanzo 1856
Wow, can you believe that it’s day 9 already? I hope you’re enjoying lots of wonderful teas this holiday season. I know that Teanzo has certainly kept me happy with this calendar of tea!
For today’s inspirational piece of artwork, I am again looking to one of the gifts that I received in one of the 12 Days of Christmas mail art swaps that I was involved in. This cute mitten was made by Sue Foster, and it hangs proudly on my tree.
I love how perfectly the stitches are on this. It would take me hours – literally, hours! – to do something like this. I’m not as handy with a needle and thread, I’m afraid.
Thank you, Sue, it’s beautiful and whimsical and a perfect addition to my handmade tree.
Today’s tea from Teanzo is one that should inspire happy dreams.
Dream Spa Blend Tisane
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Spice Melange
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Cardamom, saffron, licorice root, fennel, ginger root, cinnamon, rosebuds, lemongrass & rose scent.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea smells amazingly good, especially after it’s been brewed. The dry leaf smells remarkable as well, but the brewed liquid is almost intoxicating – it smells so good! The combination of the spices and the rose is simply amazing. It doesn’t smell too spicy, it doesn’t smell too rosy, it just smells dreamy. Much like the name of the tea suggests.
Seriously, this scent should be made into potpourri or something. Or soap!
To steep it, I poured the contents of the sampler pouch into the basket of my Kati and added 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F and let it steep for 6 minutes. Originally, I thought that I’d steep it for 10 minutes, the length of time I would normally steep a tisane without hibiscus, but the aroma of the dry leaf was strong and I felt that if I went for the full 10 minutes that this would come off tasting too strong.
After I finished steeping, I kept the cup up to my nose for several minutes, just inhaling the fragrance. So beautiful! Then the thought that enters my head before I take a sip is: should I be drinking this? It smells TOO GOOD to drink, as in it smells like something I’d want to wear or possibly perfume my living room with but would I want to consume it?
But the ingredients suggest to me that this should be alright to drink. There are some of the “usual ingredients” for a chai and I like chai. There’s saffron and I like that too. Licorice root and fennel are two of my favorite tea ingredients. And I love rose teas and I enjoy lemongrass. There’s nothing here that offends my palate so even though it smells like perfume hopefully it won’t taste that way.
So, I let the tea temperature drop to a drinkable temperature and took my first sip. This is actually really nice! It’s a strong taste – I’m glad I didn’t go ahead and steep it for my usual 10 minutes – but it’s quite pleasant. There are a lot of layers to the flavor because I can taste each ingredient.
I notice hints of citrus at the very start of the sip. It’s a warm, spicy citrus note, and about half a second after the citrus comes through clearly, the cinnamon and ginger come into focus. Then I pick up on the rose and the saffron. By mid-sip, the licorice and fennel are recognized by the palate. In the aftertaste, I notice notes of rose and a cola-like flavor that I attribute to the cardamom. It’s a warm and soothing cup, but it does have some invigorating quality to it too.
It’s a really unique beverage but I find myself enjoying it much more than I expected to. To be honest, when I saw that today’s tea was an herbal, the thought going through my head was “again?” You know, a kind of disappointed “again.” But now that I’ve tasted it, I’m really happy with this!
Thank you, Teanzo for this beautifully fragrant dream of a tisane today!
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 8 from Teanzo 1856
Hello, tea lovers! Today is day eight of this holiday countdown, which means there are seventeen days until the big day, sixteen days to shop before the big day gets here and there have been eight wonderful days of tea!
Today’s artwork was created by artist Liane Ceglar for one of the 12 Days of Christmas swaps that I was involved in.
I’m quite proud of my Christmas tree. Well, not the tree itself (I’m actually in need of a new artificial tree as the one we have now is quite old and has had better days), but what I’m proud of is that every single ornament is different, and I’d estimate that 85 – 90% of the ornaments on the tree are handmade and of those handmade ornaments. I grew up in a household that had a very boring tree with boring round, glass bulb type ornaments. You know, the kind that you buy in the store and they all look the same?
One thing about my tree – it’s not boring! I love that every year when it comes time to put up the tree, that I’m not only putting up decorations but little works of art. Like this piece from Liane. This is one of my favorite ornaments because I love how the crystal bead reflects the light.
Let’s find out what tea Teanzo sent me on this, the eighth day of our holiday countdown!
Acai Berry Green Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
Reminiscent of juicy berries, this healthy loose leaf green tea is full of antioxidants. Acai Berry Green Tea has a sweet finish without using any added sweeteners, so you can drink this luscious green tea guilt-free. Acai berry is also known as the youth berry. You will love this berry tea! Drink it as a hot tea or serve this berrylicious tea over ice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Acai berry tends to be a tart berry, so I usually am just a bit apprehensive when it comes to trying an acai berry tea. I’m not big on tarty flavors in tea, however, I do appreciate a tart taste when the overall tea offers a balance of both sweet and tart notes. I like there to be a contrast.
And with this tea, there is a nice contrast between sweet and tart. The sweet, fresh flavors of the green tea offer a pleasing counter note to the tart berry.
The sip starts out sweet with light grassy notes and a buttery taste and texture from the green tea. The description of the tea does not indicate the type of green tea used in this blend but based on the taste and appearance of the tea, I would guess that it’s a Chinese Sencha. It has that smooth, buttery flavor of a Chinese Sencha, and I like the way these flavors mingle with the tart of the Acai.
By mid-sip, my palate is introduced to the notes of berry. These notes start out gentle and sweet and as the sip approaches the finish, the tart notes begin to develop. And then there is that berry, tarty tingle at the finish.
To brew this tea, I used my Kati Tumbler again and poured the fragrant sample into the basket, and added 12 ounces of water heated to 175°F. I let the tea steep for 2 minutes. The brewed liquid is a golden green color and has a delicate berry aroma.
I enjoyed the tea served hot, but I stopped drinking it hot after I had finished about half the cup so that I could try it cold. I think this is even better as it cools! The flavors become smoother and more unified. This would make a very refreshing iced tea when the weather is warm!
It’s good hot, even better iced!