Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Green & White Teas
Where to Buy: Newport Skinny Tea
Tea Description:
Malibu Beach Beauty Tea has ingredients that soothe inflammation in your body, especially your tissues, and regulate the hormones that cause acne and skin irritation to show up on the surface. Ingredients in it strengthen collagen production, eliminate excess water trapped in your tissues and reduce the look of cellulite. After using the tea bags, you can place them on your external skin to reduce redness and inflammation of acne, keep away from your eye area.
Learn more about this tea blend here.
Enter to win a Newport Skinny Tea 21 Day “TeaTox” Pack!
Taster’s Review:
Before I even brewed this tea, I read through the description card that came with my sample of this Malibu Beach Beauty Tea and browsed the ingredient list and this tea has a lot going on! Check it out:
Ingredients: Earl Grey Tea, Young Hysson Green Tea, White Tea, Calendula, Lavender Flowers, Red Clover Blossoms, Peppermint Leaves, Rose Flowers & Hips, Linden Leaf & Flower, Elder Flower, Chamomile, Lemon Peel & Oil, Gota Cola, Honeysuckle Flower, Blackberry Leaf, Privet Fruit, Stevia Leaf, Mangosteen Peel, Natural Flavors.
See what I mean? There’s a lot going on. I hope that it’s not too much going on! But I won’t know until I try it. So, I’m off to go brew it in my Kati Tumbler. I’ll use 2 teaspoons of tea in the Kati basket and add 12 ounces of hot water (but not boiling). The parameters on this description card suggest boiling water but with that many herbs plus green and white teas, I feel that boiling water is going to be too hot. I’ll opt for a lower temperature: 180°F, and steep it for 4 minutes. Let’s see how it goes!
Hmm … interesting. It’s an interesting flavor – in a good way! And as I said, there IS a lot going on. Because of that, the result is a flavor that’s a bit more like an herbal tisane than a tea. But that isn’t a bad thing. I like that I’m tasting the lavender and lemon and honeysuckle! I like that I am picking up on the flavors of peppermint and elder flower and rose! And I can still taste notes of bergamot (which are highlighted by the lemon notes) and the black, green and white teas.
I like that there is a lot going on but it all seems to work together in a way that pleases my palate. When I take a sip, my palate is intrigued and interested in what its experiencing. I find myself wanting to sip more rather than push the cup aside – which is, quite frankly, what I feared! I thought I’d take one sip of this and say NO! No like! But that’s not what’s happening. Yeah, it’s different. Yeah it’s a busy tea. But I like it!
The prevailing note here is floral. The lavender and honeysuckle and rose and linden and elder flowers give this a very floral flavor, but it doesn’t cross the line into perfume-y. It doesn’t even really toe the line because there’s other flavors going on to help it take a couple of steps back and keep it tasting floral/herbaceous without going into the icky area of floral/perfume-ish.
This is something I can see myself wanting to drink on a regular basis. It’s a got a really interesting flavor that compels me to continue drinking.
If the idea of beauty from the inside out interests you, check out Newport Skinny Tea’s complete line of teas. You can even enter their raffle – they’re currently giving away a 21 Day TeaTox package!
Apple Jack’s Apple Harvest Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
YEE HAW! Listen up, everypony: this tea is a delicious blend of hay-like shou mei white tea, freeze-dried red-delicious- and granny smith- apples and organic flavors. This tea tastes like heaven and is great hot or iced. Don’t be surprised if drinking it leaves you uttering strange phrases like, “What in the hay is going on?”
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, when I first saw “Apple Jack’s” in the name, my thoughts weren’t of ponies but of breakfast cereal. I love Apple Jacks. And that would be a really good tea flavor … don’t you think? Maybe a green tea, apple, cinnamon, some barley or malt for the grain-y/cereal-y flavor. Yum.
But this tea isn’t that tea. This is a apple flavored white tea. No cinnamon or grain flavors. And it’s been named after one of those ponies. My daughter used to be into those, but, she’s outgrown them. We recently took a bunch of them to the thrift store as a donation. Hopefully someone will love them as much as she did.
Moving on to the tea that is in my teacup at the moment, eagerly awaiting me to take a sip…
The dry leaf smells delicious – like apples! The aroma of the brewed tea is much softer but I’m still able to pick up some delicate apple notes.
To brew this, I brewed the tea in my Kati tumbler. I put about 1 1/2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket and poured 12 ounces of 170°F water into the tumbler. Then I let it steep for about 3 1/2 minutes.
The flavor is very apple-y! It is definitely like an apple harvest in a teacup. There are both sweet and tart apple notes and I appreciate that there seem to be more sweet notes than tart. Just enough tartness to offer contrast without making me pucker.
The Shou Mei base is ideal for these flavors, I think, because the flavor of apple is on the delicate side and the light flavor of the Shou Mei allows for a good balance of both white tea and apple flavors to shine through. I taste the sweet, hay-like notes of the Shou Mei and the natural fruit notes of the white tea elevate the apple notes.
A really delightful apple tea that will provide you with several delicious infusions. I infused the leaves three times. I got a nice apple flavor in all three, but I noticed that the flavor was starting to drop off a bit by the third cup so that’s why I stopped there. A really tasty tea that tastes great hot (cozy and autumnal!) or iced (sweet and refreshing!)
Kenya Silver Needle White Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
Our Kenyan Silver Needles hits the usual notes usually associated with good quality Silver Needles while having its own unique characteristics not usually found in other Silver Needles. Kenyan Silver Needles is on the fuller side of the Silver Needle scale and features lovely soft tannins, making it perfect for those who find the more traditional Silver Needles too subtle and overly delicate. Our Kenyan Silver Needles represents a chance to try one of the great Chinese teas grown in the unique terroir of Kenya.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Most Silver Needle teas tend to be on the delicate side and this Silver Needle would be considered “delicate” if it were being compared to a green or black tea, but it’s much stronger in flavor than many other Silver Needle teas I’ve had.
But I brewed it the same way I’d brew a Silver Needle: I used my gaiwan and heated the water to 170°F. After a 15 second rinse, I steeped the first infusion for 2 minutes. I added 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion. And one thing you’ll find with white teas – they’re ready to keep on steeping! You’ll easily get five or six infusions out of this tea – perhaps more!
The first infusion was sweet and hay-like. I also got some lovely melon notes as well as a crisp, floral note. And even though the approach of a white tea tends to be subtle, I find so many wonderful layers of flavor. I think that’s why I enjoy them so much. True, they’re not the type of tea that will get in your face with the flavor. Instead, it offers its love sweetly and gently.
The second infusion was even sweeter than the first. A little less like hay and a little more like a sweet, juicy melon! Lovely! I am noticing very little to no astringency with this cup. I did notice a wee bit of astringency with the first infusion … not much, but some. Now, not so much.
The third infusion was very much like the second – sweet, melon-like, very little astringency and very few vegetal/hay-like tones. Later infusions slowly started to become less fruit-like and I started picking up on more of the hay-like flavors again as well as hints of an airy floral quality. Imagine the “taste” of the air when you’re walking through a field of flowers. Something like that. Really beautiful and wonderful to experience as those tastes washed over the palate. I started to notice a loss in flavor by the fifth infusion. It still had a lot of flavor but not as quite as much as the four that preceded it.
This is a fantastic Silver Needle. If you’re one who tends to avoid Silver Needle White teas because you find them to be too soft in flavor … don’t give up on Silver Needle teas completely – just widen your search to include this Kenyan Silver Needle! I think you’ll find it much more flavorful!
White Coconut Crème Tea from Art of Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Art of Tea
Tea Description:
Immerse yourself into a cup of this dreamy tropical infusion! With its light body and smooth creamy texture, it’s no wonder this tea is a favorite of many Art of Tea customers! Delivers a sweet and soothing balance of coconut and is great hot, iced or as a dessert tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum!
I figured I’d like this tea. I mean, I like coconut and the lighter flavor of the white tea base would really allow those coconut flavors to shine through nicely. And this is a really tasty tea!
To brew it, I grabbed my reliable Kati tumbler and put 1 1/2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket (when it comes to brewing white teas, I usually use a little extra leaf) and heated the water to 180°F. That was an absent minded mistake, actually. I usually use a lower temperature for white teas, but, I was thinking “green tea” when I started brewing this tea. I’m not sure why, exactly. I steeped the tea for 3 minutes.
Fortunately, my absent minded mistake while setting the temperature for the kettle didn’t upset the tea!
The coconut is really strong and flavorful. And it tastes like genuine coconut. It doesn’t have a fake or artificial flavor. It’s smooth and it has that slick “coconut” flavor.
The white tea base is sweet and light in flavor. It’s a delicate tea. The Art of Tea website doesn’t reveal what type of white tea this is – or at least, I couldn’t find the identification of the white tea anywhere on the website. But to this tea drinker’s eye, I would say that it is either a White Peony or a Shou Mei. The sampling that I had of this tea appeared to look more like a Shou Mei or at the very least like a combination of both White Peony and Shou Mei.
I like that while the coconut is a strong taste in this cup, it doesn’t overpower the hay-like notes of the white tea. It has a sweet crispness to it. The white tea is tasted but it still allows the blend to serve as a celebration of the sweet, creamy joyful taste that is coconut!
This tea would make a really delightful dessert tea, and it tastes great hot or cold. (Note: the tea actually seems to get “creamier” as it cools! Mmm!) I found the tea to be really enjoyable and I’d recommend this tea to anyone looking for a delicious coconut tea!
Assam 2nd Flush 2014 Silver Needle White Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A great tasting Silver Needle with a delicate sweet taste and no detectable astringency.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Assam 2nd Flush Silver Needle White Tea is quite unlike any other Silver Needle White tea I’ve tried to date. So to brew it, I decided to follow the purveyor’s suggested parameters and heat the water to 175°F (OK, the parameters suggest 176°F, but my Breville heats water at 5 degree intervals, and I figured 1° wasn’t going to make or break the tea.) I measured two pinches of tea into the bowl of my gaiwan and steeped the tea for 1 1/2 minutes for the first infusion, adding 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion.
Note: The steep time and the measurements that I used were my own, not the purveyor’s suggested parameters. I only used their temperature suggestions. What-Cha suggested 2 minutes steep time and 1 teaspoon per cup. But because I was using my gaiwan, I went with slightly more tea and slightly less time.
As I said, this tea is quite unlike any other Silver Needle Tea that I’ve experienced until now. Yes, there are some similarities to the Silver Needle teas I’ve had in the past. First of all, the leaves look very much like a silver needle, except that these are probably a little darker green than the silvery pale green that I’m used to seeing with a Silver Needle.
And there is a distinct hay-like aroma and flavor to this Assam Silver Needle, and that’s something that I typically experience with other Silver Needle teas. But the hay-like aroma here, especially in the dry leaf, is intense! It smells like the air of the countryside after a field of hay has been cut. Like within the hour of the hay cutting! It’s a strong scent. The fragrance softens when the tea is brewed, but there are still some strong hay-like notes to the cup.
And to the flavor! The hay notes are strong in the taste as well. It’s sweet and delicate – like a Silver Needle – but those sweet and hay-like flavors are stronger than in a typical Silver Needle.
If compared to a Silver Needle tea, this Assam Silver Needle would not be considered a delicate tea. But if compared to an Assam Black, then yes, this is definitely delicate in comparison.
Interestingly enough, I think that it’s appropriate to compare this Assam white tea to an Assam black because there are some similarities to the “more familiar” black tea from the Assam region. For example, I can taste notes of malt to this. I didn’t expect to. Sure, it’s an Assam tea, but, it’s a white tea … and I figured this Silver Needle would be far too delicate to detect the malty flavors. But no! There is a lovely malty sweetness to this cup.
It’s a smooth, calming drink. As the above description suggests, there is no astringency to this. It starts out sweet. The texture is silky. The aftertaste offers a delicate sweetness. I also pick up on a subtle citrus note in the aftertaste.
In later infusions, I began to notice the hay-like flavors begin to soften somewhat, not really waning, but instead, melding with the other flavors and allowing those other notes to come into focus. I started to pick up on gentle fruit notes and a lovely floral note.
A really delightful, deliciously different Silver Needle! This is another MUST TRY from What-Cha Tea. They are becoming THE source for some very unusual marvels of the tea world!