Iced Tea Blend from Tetley

TetleyTeaTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy: Tetley Tea or where Tetley Products are sold.

Tea Description:

Round, stringless tea bags are made with our unique Perflo tissue—sturdy, yet soft and porous, for faster tea infusion and better flavor release. 2 tea bags make 2 quarts of iced tea.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I don’t usually buy bagged teas off the supermarket shelf – and by this I mean to say, I just don’t do it.  I guess I’m a bit of a tea snob.  But when Tetley sent me a box of their Iced Tea Blend to try, I was willing to do so because a) that’s what I do, and b) tea.  Tea makes me happy.

And really, when it comes to iced tea – especially cold-brewed iced tea – I really do prefer a bagged tea to a loose leaf tea.  When drinking hot tea, I’m all about the loose leaf but when it comes to cold-brewing tea for iced tea, I prefer the convenience of a bagged tea because less mess = happier me.

So, I was actually happy to have this tea sent to me to try.  I’m getting a little low on my cold-brew tea options (time to shop) and this helped to postpone my shopping for a little while, anyway!

To brew it, I filled my half-gallon glass iced tea pitcher full of freshly filtered water and then I dropped in two of the large tea bags from Tetley into the pitcher.  Then I put the lid on the pitcher and stashed it in the fridge overnight.

Note:  This is essentially “sun brewing” the tea too, because the sun doesn’t actually heat the water sufficiently to ‘brew’ the tea when you put out a jar of sun tea.  By cold-brewing the tea using my above described method, you’re doing the same thing that you’d be doing to make sun tea except that my cold-brewed tea is now chilled.  Eliminated a step!  Yay!

The flavor:  it tastes like black iced tea.  This is an enjoyable unflavored black tea blend.  I think I would prefer this to most other readily available grocery store blends.  It’s refreshing and thirst quenching and the flavor is there.

This tastes like a pleasant iced tea.  It doesn’t taste “dusty” the way some of those supermarket teas can taste.  It’s smooth – not astringent and not bitter.  It is brisk without an overly aggressive flavor.  It’s a medium to full flavored tea, I suspect it’s a Ceylon or since it’s a blend, it’s comprised of mainly Ceylon leaves.  It has that very clean, moderate, no-nonsense type of flavor that Ceylon tea is known to deliver.

If I were in need of an iced tea fix and I wanted a good, unflavored iced tea, I could see myself grabbing a box of this tea off the shelf.  And since it is an unflavored tea, it allows for many interesting possibilities:  try adding a few thin slices of lemon to the iced tea pitcher when you’re brewing it, or perhaps some crushed mint leaves or a couple of cinnamon sticks!

Tequila Sunrise Iced Green Tea from Southern Boy Teas

SBT-GREEN-Tequila-SunriseTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Southern Boy Teas

Tea Description:

Tequila-, orange- and cherry organic flavors blended with our awesome organic Chinese sencha fannings make this iced tea bliss. Blow your guests away with this awesome iced tea!

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.

Taster’s Review:

As I mentioned in my review of 52Teas Tequila Sunrise Black Tea – it’s been quite a while since I’ve had the cocktail.  To be honest, tequila isn’t my favorite alcoholic beverage – but as far as cocktail inspired iced teas go, this Tequila Sunrise Iced Green Tea from Southern Boy Teas is a refreshing drink.

I don’t really taste ‘Tequila Sunrise’ here.  Then again – it HAS been a long time since I’ve had one, so don’t rely upon my memory of what a tequila sunrise should taste like.

During the sip, I taste green tea with hints of citrus.  In the aftertaste, I taste cherry and orange more distinctly and occasionally, a flavor crosses my palate that reminds me of tequila.  But that doesn’t arrive until the aftertaste.  During the sip, I taste green tea and notes of bright, sunny citrus flavors.

What I do like about this particular iced tea is that it’s refreshing and it’s quenching my thirst without tasting overly sweet.  I’m enjoying that I taste more green tea than flavor.

It’s a pleasant iced tea.  Not my favorite from SBT, but they can’t all be my favorite.  Even so, I like it enough to say that I might buy it again.

Strawberry Lemonade Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas

SBT-HONEYBUSH-Strawberry-LemonadeTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Honeybush/Herbal

Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas

Tea Description:

Premium organic caffeine-free honeybush with organic flavors. Each 14g teabag will make one 2-quart pitcher of DELICIOUS iced tea. Steep teabag in enough boiling water to cover the teabag (and to allow it a little room to expand) for 4 minutes or longer (honeybush cannot be oversteeped). Then combine with ice and water to make a 2-quart pitcher. It couldn’t be simpler–OR more delicious!

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about SBT’s subscription here.

Taster’s Review:

Strawberry Lemonade. . yes please! Any tea that has that combination that doesn’t have red rooibos in it, I’m all about.  And oh mama. . .this one did not disappoint!

I have been cold brewing like mad lately! I love it.  I throw a pitcher in at night with either loose leaf or one of these SBT pouches (which are just too handy!) and in the morning before I head out to take the kiddos where they need to go, I have my tea all set.  It is fantastic! For some reason, I always shied away from these in the past, not sure why.  Maybe I was just not sure about the whole cold brew thing. But not anymore!

I am a huge fan of lemonade.  So I thought this one I would enjoy.  I think I cried when I finished this one up and wasn’t able to steep it anymore ( I think I got about 3 infusions out of it).  This is probably my favorite of all of the SBT offerings.  The strawberry flavor is spot on. Sweet but not overly so.  The lemonade has that fresh squeezed lemon taste to it. No chemical taste or artificial tastes to this delightful treat.  Only berry lemon goodness.    Neither flavor dominates the other either.  The honeybush provides the a touch of sweetness and a hint of creaminess to the iced tea.  As I am typing this up I am wondering if I can justify to myself ordering about 10 pouches of this stuff right now. . . just so I have my own little stockpile.

I am really happy with it.  And highly recommend it.  This tea is going to be perfect for the awesome weather coming our way in a few weeks.

Earl Blue Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas

SBT-Earl-BlueTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Southern Boy Teas

Tea Description:

Our awesome organic Iyerpadi black tea blended with organic bergamot and blueberry flavors. This is sure to wow your guests.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.

Taster’s Review:

I know that I’ve mentioned on this blog at least once before in a review of one of Zoomdweebie’s Earl Grey/Bergamot teas that I’m not particularly crazy about the bergamot flavoring that Zoomdweebies uses.  Maybe I’m a bit of a bergamot snob or something but Earl Grey tea is something I take very seriously and it should be right.  So, when this Earl Blue Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas was announced as a recent tea of the week for SBT, I wasn’t all that excited about it.

But this isn’t too bad.  It’s actually pretty tasty.  As an Earl Grey tea or more accurately as a ‘twist’ to the classic Earl Grey -well, it doesn’t really cut it as an Earl Grey, I’m afraid.  But, as a flavored iced tea, it’s really pleasant.  The blueberry is strong and yummy.  The bergamot – well, it doesn’t taste as bergamot-y as I’d like it to.  But when I just drink it and I don’t think “bergamot” and instead, I think “citrus” it works for me.

It has a really enjoyable, sweet-tart fruity flavor to it. And the black tea base is smooth and brisk.  No bitterness, no astringency – just really tasty black tea and fruity flavors.

This is something that I could see myself putting in my shopping cart again the next time I’m shopping at Zoomdweebies dot com.  It’s very refreshing and it’ll be really nice to have it chilling in the fridge on those warm summer days that lie ahead.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Southern Boy Teas

SBT-GREEN-Pineapple-Upside-down-cakeTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Southern Boy Teas

Tea Description:

Our premium buttery sweet organic Chinese fannings green tea blended with organic yellow cake, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of maraschino cherry flavors. This is ridiculously delicious. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about SBT’s subscription here.

Taster’s Review:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake used to be one of my favorite desserts my mom would make as a child.  Growing up, my brothers and I were never fans of the traditional birthday cake.  My poor mom would always ending up baking a pie or some other dessert (she tried once to make orange fluff and put candles in it-true story).  She would ask us if we were sure we didn’t want a chocolate cake and we would always say no, we want pie or we want cheesecake.  Or we would ask for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Which was a little different than the traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  My mom would make it as a cheesecake instead.  To this day, even as adults,we devour that dessert whenever she makes it.  And she makes a healthy version of it now too- so you don’t have to feel guilty about cramming huge bites of it in your face.

This tea brought all those warm and fuzzy memories to me.  This tea reminds me of that dessert my mom makes minus the cheesecake part.  So good! The green tea provides a rich buttery base.  The pineapple flavor is mixed in with just the right amount of brown sugar and maraschino cherry flavoring.  You can seriously taste each flavor separately.  But they do mingle very well together.  The only flavor I didn’t pick up was the yellow cake but I’m wondering if that was a flavor that the green tea kind of overshadowed.  Oh well.  Regardless I am really enjoying this one.

I cold brewed this one and was very happy with the results.  I didn’t try making it up like a hot beverage because I ended up steeping this one until there were just no more infusions in the poor little tea pouch.  I  see myself picking more of this one up for sure.  This one is going to be a fantastic addition to those teas I keep on hand to keep my sweet tooth from demanding a piece of candy or junk food around 2pm each work day.