Aronia Plumberry from St. Fiacres Farm. . . .

This tea is like the tastiest, plumiest, most perfectly-spiced fruit jam you ever did taste. Now, I could sit here and regale you with how my tastes have been changing to stray away from my heavy, wintry, black tea favorites lately (they have), or how all I want lately is fruity and fresh and bright and vegetal (I have)– but really, all I want to do is tell you how yummy this herbal infusion is.

I couldn’t find much about this tea on St. Fiacre’s website, but let me tell you– the dry leaf here can speak for itself. Big, bright berries pepper this dry leaf, and some of my favorite spices are large, in charge, and immediately visible– spicy cardamom pods, sweet licorice root, fragrant anise seeds– the gang’s all here!

And this blend takes all those unique ingredients and perfectly blends them together. Heavily fruity, but not overly-sweet– the warming spices bring a nice balance to the otherwise sweet herbal blend, hitting all those notes of lightly spiced jam that I just can’t get enough of. Now, if some enterprising tea-drinker would only *actually* turn this tea into a jam for me, we’d be in business. Crumpets, anyone?


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Herbal
Where to Buy: St. Fiacres Farm
Description

TEA CLUB OVERSTOCK! Missed out on the Aronia Plum Berry from our VIP Tea Blend in December? We have a little bit left that you can try or stock up on more if you loved it. A spin off the traditional sugar plum which is a candy that has a hard outer coating of sugar… think along the lines of the Jordan almond or an M&M type candy. A sweeter tea thanks to the licorice root, almond extract and vanilla. This tea also features Oregon grown aronia berries, plums and cornflowers

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Oolong Royal Tea from Praise Tea

Tea Type: Oolong Tea

Where To Buy: Praise Tea

Product Description:

This enchanting oolong is softly flavored by the wonderful union of red aronia berries, bright mango cubes, passion fruit and dark red rose petals. A royal treat for even the finest of palettes.

Origin: Formosa (Taiwan)

Ingredients: Formosa Oolong, Mango, Aronia Berries, Rose Petals

Steeping Guidelines:
Water: 176°- 194°F | Use 1 Tsp per 6 ounce cup | Infusion Time: 2 – 3 minutes

Infusion tips:
Use COLD filtered or spring water, whenever possible
Don’t over boil water, Don’t over steep tea
Remove leaves after recommended time (adjust to taste)
*Vary time according to taste, & remember that steeping tea leaves beyond 3 minutes does not contribute to flavor, only bitterness.
If you want a stronger taste, use more tea leaves instead of steeping for a longer time

Tasters Review:

DRY – Oolong Royal Tea from Praise Tea looks like a woodsier Oolong mix.  The aroma is mostly oolong and mango.  I can tell there is a little something else fruity-wise too but it’s not really identifiable as berries or passionfruit.

Once infused the liquor is pretty dark for an oolong- much like a medium-brown colored black tea.  It smells slightly fruity and woodsy.

The taste is DARN GOOD.  It’s a smoother oolong taste with hints of sweeter-wood but the fruit notes pair up beside the oolong very well.  All of the fruit ingredients mesh well with each other and no one ingredient really barges in front of the others.

The rose hides out in the background and if I didn’t take the time to really notice it I probably would miss it.