Up until recently, I’ve been a fairly skeptical green tea drinker. So many of the greens I’d tried before were super grassy or a little bitter. But as I’ve been reviewing here at our beloved SororiTea Sisters, and getting to try more green tea samples and expand my palate over the years, I’ve come to learn that– whoa. I actually DO like green tea, you guys.
This particular blend from one of my top-five favorite tea companies does my green collection justice and more. It’s light and slightly vegetal, but also robust and fruity from the rose hips, hibiscus, and fruity extracts. As always, I adore how Jamah at Blend Bee combines incredible, medicinal herbs with teas and add-ins to make a blend that’s not just tasty, but healthy, to boot. I’ve been finding myself obsessed with this one iced, and have been sipping cup after cup straight from my fridge. Even my husband, a skeptical fruity-tea drinker, found this one the perfect balance of fruit and sweet with herbs and tea.
Another winner from Blend Bee, and a great addition to your summer-sipping that will be upon us soon!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Blend Bee
Description
This fruity fresh blend contains amazing ingredients designed specifically for gorgeous hair, skin and nails. We also kept anti-aging in mind while formulating this blend. Crafted with a medium amount of caffeine, and can be enjoyed throughout the day. Bomb-tastic!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lemon Biscottea from BlendBee. . . .
I made this tea the other day and then I got distracted and never got around to drinking it. Thankfully my Sororitea Sisters were generous with their sample and I am getting to enjoy it now…and enjoy it I am!
Comprised of South African Honeybush Red Tea, Lemon Peel, Lemon Balm, Lemongrass, Jasmine Flower, Agrimony Herb, Marshmallow Root, and Lemon, Vanilla & Custard natural flavor extracts, this Lemon Biscottea tea claims such benefits of reducing inflammation, aiding digestion, helping depression, controlling blood sugar, and much more. However, I personally never cared for any of the health benefits claims. For me only one thing is important and that is taste…and this delivers on taste.
This is creamy and lemony. It reminds me of Fauchon’s L’Hiver or Butiki’s Lemon French Macaron for those that have tried those teas. The flavor is soft and fluffy, probably in large part due to the marshmallow root. Lemon is clearly the star of the show but it is a gentle and sweet lemon that compliments the vanilla and custard pastry notes perfectly, as opposed to a bright citrus or a harsh sour. As it cools, there is a more herbal quality at the end of the sip which I’d attribute to the lemongrass. As a whole, it certainly captures a treat but to me I would say it is more akin to a pastry than a biscotti.
Regardless of how you’d describe this, this is definitely a dessert tea. A little more herbal than I like but only when it cools so best to drink this one hot.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description
Tea party anyone? This beautiful blend will whisk you away to a lovely tea party set with delightful treats, close friends, fresh spring flowers and lemon trees. This naturally caffeine free blend is absolutely divine hot as well as cold brewed on a warm day.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Heavenly Hazelnut from BlendBee. . . .
“ A rich and decadent blend that will leave you euphoric!” Interesting. I’d like to be left euphoric!!! Today really isn’t the best day I don’t really feel great and i’m just really tired and kind of cranky. So, naturally, I will turn to tea to give me some relaxation and happiness. I am a stay at home mom to a beautiful and lovely 8 month old baby and it’s tough and really weighs down on you. But anyways, tea usually brings me some peace….especially Blendbee. Not only does Blendbee deliver great taste but the teas also have many added health benefits and they are all listed on the packaging. For Heavenly Hazelnut, it looks like some of the benefits are easing of stomach ailments, immune system support, and eases allergies and helps to cure colds. Sign me up!! This is perfect for me for today because for some reason i’m feeling slightly sick. Maybe this will help.
I brewed up a nice mug of this tea and snuggled into the couch while my daughter played with her toys and made cute cooing noises (I love babies!). The first thing I noticed about this blend was that I wasn’t smelling hazelnut in the dry leaf. I could, however, smell it in the steeped liquid. Oh, yum! Yes this is definitely heavenly! So heavenly, so hazelnut, so vanilla, so relaxing. I am officially euphoric! This tea totally lived up to its name and description. It’s creamy and sweet, with notes of vanilla. It’s nutty and earthy, with notes of hazelnut and honeybush. I am just sipping this down, drinking and breathing it in! The delectable taste mixed with the health benefits IS euphoric. I will totally recommend this blend 100 times over, but I also really recommend the company. They have other great teas and I just love the cute packaging and the fact that they are health-conscious. Definitely give them a try!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description
A delightful and highly beneficial Honeybush tea blend. Paired with rich ingredients like Chicory Root and Carob Bean. Rounded out with super nutritious Agrimony Herb and infused with exquisite and nutty Hazelnut & Vanilla extracts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blueberry Custard customized from BlendBee.com
Confession: I’m completely fine with drinking alone…. Tea, of course 😉 But drinking with friends offers some undeniable benefits – laughter and memories made, more importantly a spread of tastebuds that offers better insight than just one picky tongue.*
There are so so many beautiful ingredients in this custom Blueberry Custard from Blendbee, I needed all the help I could get to do it justice! First off, I highly recommend using a clear brewing system (gravity steeper or mason jar) to be able to fully enjoy the making of this majestic Purple infusion. (Fortunately I had just cleaned the hard-earned tea patina off mine with baking soda and vinegar, so it was even more beautiful than my usual cuppa!)
Between the three of us sipping, only one added sugar and it really took away from the innate sweetness of this mix, hmmm better off just trusting the blend maker on this one. Some of us were crazy about this tea, but others found the herbals to be unpalatable. So we looked into what exactly were imbibing…
With Blendbee, you can create your own mix weighing anywhere from 1 oz to ½ pound. You start with a choice from 15 tea bases, and here they chose the China Green tea.
Next there are over 90 categorized ingredients to choose from (though it’s recommended to stick below 8). Must be a tough decision from all those options! This blender chose 7:
Earthy and pungent category: yarrow flower;
Mild and fruity category: elder berries;
Herbaceous herb category: strawberry leaves;
Mild and nutty category: ashwaganda root;
Mild and herbal category: agrimony herb, and coriander seed;
And one uncategorized, marshmallow root.
Next the website offers additional extracts and flavors (up to 3 per blend). Here the blueberry and custard flavor extracts were used. (It was argued at one point that this put the ingredient count to 9, above the recommended 8, but that person is a stickler for semantics and didn’t like the tea anyway, so read that with a grain of salt).
Some of these herbs strike me as acquired tastes, beyond that, I would’ve preferred having actual blueberries instead of the extract, though I didn’t see it as an option (yet) and the extract probably consistently offers more flavor in a smaller space.
This organic blend featured so many different flavor profiles, it was a… memorable… experience for well-developed sippers, and newbies alike.
*The best part of sharing with friends is finding a loving home for leaves that aren’t your favorite (yet). Thanks H.R.!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description:
Create custom teas, with more than a hundred quality and organic ingredients to choose from.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ginger Ninja from BlendBee. . . .
Let me take you on a little adventuring in brewing this tea, friends. Imagine: a normal office environment. One woman… her desk, full of tea. Her morning: slow and in need of a pick-me-up. Everyone else around her: hacking up a lung from the winter-sick that sets in every year around this time. She’s desiring something that feels a little medicinal, but also tastes good (obviously). Skeptically, she picks up this tea from her stash– “Ooh, ginger!” she thinks. “Oh… green tea?” This isn’t looking good for one such green tea skeptic.
Regardless, she pours some hot water from the tap, giving it a second to cool down, and hesitantly scoops the dry leaf into her cup. Two and half minutes later…
She takes a whiff. “Ooh, grassy– not my favorite,” she ponders. But she persists. A quick sip– “where’d that grassiness go?” she wonders. It’s gone! It’s replaced with spicy, warming, peppery ginger, a light hint of floral and her favorite: sweet and mellow licorice root. Sure, there’s a hint of green-ery (if you will) in the background. But it’s not overwhelmingly herbaceous, as her first sip would’ve had you believing. It’s sweet and warm and unusual, and surprisingly addictive– within a few minutes, she’s downed the whole cup. Who’s a green tea skeptic? Not her, anymore. Another cup? Don’t mind if she does…
And scene.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description
You start off with nice and sweet Green Tea, Rose Hips, Licorice Root, Orange Peel and Stevia Leaf. Then your taste buds go for a spin with Ginger and Black Pepper. You’re welcome.