Herbal teas are great for me because I can have them at night without worrying about being awake until 3am. I also think it’s a huge plus when the ingredients are all actual plants instead of mystery flavors and sugar. So I was pretty happy to give this sample of a honeybush tea blend a try. It only has five ingredients and they all actually grew out of the ground.
The dry leaf smells exactly like dried cranberries, to the point that I’m surprised they’re not an ingredient. The tea brews up the same color as a slice of blood orange. The brewed tea tastes entirely of juicy plum and hibiscus. I couldn’t taste the honeybush in it at all. The risk you run with hibiscus is always that it will drown out everything else. That seems to have largely happened here, though the plum does hold its own. I also got a pleasant second steep out of it, which doesn’t always happen with herbals. If I had more leaf, I would try steeping for 4 minutes instead of 5 to see if that helps tone down the hibiscus a bit.
I don’t know that I love, love, love this blend, but you might if you really like plum and hibiscus!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Harlow Tea Co
Description
This caffeine free tea is a great tea for any tea drinker, someone brand new to tea or have tried it all.
Honeybush tea is vey mild, but gives great flavor without caffeine. Floral hints from rose hips, hibiscus flower, and lady’s mantle is balanced with the fruity aroma of dried plums
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
“Idris” Hot Chocolate Infused Chai from Calabash Tea. . . . .
A tea friend and I rather randomly ended up at Calabash Tea Bar & Cafe last time I was in D.C. The owner of this gorgeous cafe is an herbalist, so the blends focus on the medicinal value of tea, herbs, and spices. It started raining just as we got there, so we decided to settle in and stay a while. I’m so glad we did. We got to try several of their teas and both fell in love with this one (though really, who could resist Idris?). I ended up buying this and the anti-inflammatory Triple Goddess blend to take home.
I have brewed this tea a few times now. I always brew it hot – it just seems wrong to drink a chocolate chai iced. My favorite way to enjoy it is with a splash of chocolate almond milk, which turns this into a creamy chocolate bit of heaven in a cup. Even without any additions, the chocolate flavor is rich with a bit of the bite that dark chocolate has. The most dominant chai spice here is clove, but it is not overwhelming. I’m also picking up maltiness from the base tea, cinnamon, and a hint of citrus (though I am not at all certain that there is either cinnamon or anything citrusy in the blend). The clove, malt, and chocolate notes linger after the sip, with the clove lingering longest because of that tingling sensation clove can cause. This blend can be steeped a second time, though it loses the cocoa notes and comes out a tad watery. Some almond milk fixes that right up though.
Overall, this makes for a great fall tea that doesn’t require milk but does benefit from it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Calabash Tea
Description
Add an extra dash of spice makes Calabash’s Hot Chocolate Chai a delight!. This organic chai is strong, spicy, sweet and unapologetic about waking you up for a lil’ lovin’ in your cup. INGREDIENTS: The highest quality Assam Black Tea, Cocoa Powder, Chai Spices, Chocolate Buttons & lots of love.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Honey Red Jade from Golden Leaf Tea. . . . .
I’m a sucker for bug-bitten oolongs and their characteristic honey flavor. Although I usually avoid black teas for health reasons, I couldn’t resist a straight black tea with honey in the name. I did not know anything about it at the time I drank it and took notes, but I have since looked it up and am not surprised to learn that this is a Taiwanese black tea produced from tea leaves that have been nibbled on by leafhoppers. It tastes exactly like you would expect that description to taste, in the best way.
The sample I received came in a pyramid sachet. This is also available in loose leaf. I brewed three steeps in the sachet, but if I were to do it over again I would cut open the sachet and put the loose leaf in a steeper. I opened up the sachet when I was done and the reddish-brown leaf was still not fully unfurled even though it had filled up all of the space available. It’s just really good leaf, and it deserves room to breathe.
The dry leaf smells like honey, malt, and sugar. It steeps up a nice amber color. The flavor is malt and honey. Simple but beautifully executed. It’s seductively smooth for two solid steeps. A third steep is possible but comes out watery; I had to top it off with some actual honey. If you’re looking for a black tea that’s a little different than the usual, this one’s worth a try.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Golden Leaf
Description
Third Place Award Winner at the North American Tea Championship 2015. Honey Red Jade Tea is a unique fermented black tea from the pristine hills of Taiwan. Hand-picked and processed, Honey Red Jade Tea is grown naturally to encourage the tea leafhoppers to feed on the tea leaves, producing a natural honey fragrance when the enzymes from the leafhoppers interact with the tea plants. This tea brews to a dark caramel color with a sweet fragrance and refreshing taste.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Soothing from Balcony Teas. . .
Between my stressful job and predisposition to be a night owl, I’m always looking for a good calming or bedtime tea. This one seems like a good candidate because I like all of the ingredients individually. It comes in convenient pyramid sachets, which I actually like for herbals because herbals generally don’t need much room to expand and I often prefer easy prep at bedtime.
The dry blend smells like equal parts chamomile and rose. I would totally wear a floral perfume that smelled like this! The hot brew smells of apple, rose, and a hint of lavender. It is, indeed, a soothing scent. Unfortunately, the flavor is less complex than I had expected. The dominant note is the apple-like chamomile, to the point that I can’t make out any floral or other flavors at all.
The chamomile is sweet and calming but the absence of floral flavor is disappointing. I made this three times on two different days just in case the problem was user error but I got the same results each time.
Still, I have to give this blend credit for living up to its name. I happily drank all three cups before drifting off to sleep.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Balcony Teas
Description
Feel transported to a beautiful evening in the Mediterranean. All is calm and you can smell wild flowers. Perfect for a moment to yourself or to wind down after a busy day.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Monkey Picked Iron Goddess (Fujian Monkey Picked Ti Kwan Yin) from Tea N Joy. . .
Ah, oolongs – my favorite type of tea. There’s no bad time of year for a good ti kwan yin.
Summer? Cold brew. Winter? Western-style brew in a giant mug. Any time? Gong fu.
The dry leaf of this particular ti kwan yin is forest green with brown stems. It is semiball-rolled. I could not find brewing guidelines on the company’s website so I improvised from experience. I got five decent steeps out of this leaf, all delivering a pale gold brew. I prepared the first steep at 205f for 40 seconds. The wet leaf looks and smells good. The leaves have substantially unfurled. They are medium sized, torn at the edges and sometimes in the middle, and attached to the stems. They give off a scent of light roast and honey. The flavor of this first steep is initially a light honey sweetness, followed by a soft nutty note.
Subsequent steeps bring out some bitterness in the leaf. At 205f for 60 seconds, the second steep may have been too long, too hot, or both. I have trouble identifying the flavor but the closest I can describe it is a stone fruit such as apricot. For the third steep, I keep it at 205f for 60 seconds rather than increasing the steep time. The flavor is a kale-like bitterness with a hint of sweetness.
As it cools, the bitterness fades (though never fully disappears) and a honeydew note comes to the fore. The fourth steep – 200f, 60 seconds – is less bitter and generally lighter, but overall similar to steep three with a slightly bitter honeydew flavor. The fifth steep – 200f, 2 minutes – isn’t bitter but is losing flavor. It still has a light and sweet melon note but this is the last steep.
For thoroughness, I decided to also make this Western-style. I used plenty of leaf and tried a lower temperature to see if that would reduce the bitterness. I brewed it at 185f for 4 minutes. That eliminated the bitterness but it also resulted in a less flavorful brew. There was a nutty note and a honeydew note, but they were weak and watery compared to the flavor of the gong fu preparation and other oolongs I’ve prepared Western-style. I would stick to preparing this tea gong fu style.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea N Joy
Description
This wonderful oolong tea comes from the Wuyi Mountains of Fujian Province. Gongfu style preparation is recommended for this high grade Ti Kwan Yin. The tea’s name came from a legend that told of monkeys being used by monks to retrieve this tea from the high mountains. In general, monkey picked tea are from wild tea plants that grow in inaccessible places, such as on high cliff faces. When brewed, this golden liquor gives a floral flavor with a hint of chestnut and a delightful aftertaste.