Day 9!
The 12 Teas of Christmas are counting down! Day 9’s blend is Chestnut Praline Green tea. This tea is the epitome of chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Tightly rolled green tea leaves bring a bit of smoke and a bit of natural nuttiness to form the base of this blend.
The forward flavors are all brown butter and roasted chestnuts. This tea reminds me of every old-fashioned candy that tastes best this time of year, like toffee or butterscotch. Using a green tea base lets more of the nuttiness come to the forefront, instead of competing with a bold black tea.
This tea is smooth yet crispy, with warming notes and a hint of saltiness that makes you think of peanut brittle. If you can’t eat these old-fashioned desserts, just brew a cup of this tea blend instead.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
For our Ninth Tea in our Holiday countdown, I created this tea – inspired by the newest member of our family, Jimmy! I asked him for some ideas for a Christmas tea and he listed off a bunch of different flavor ideas, and two of those flavors were Chestnuts and Pralines – I’ve not done a Praline tea yet and I also didn’t have any chestnut teas planned for the season, so I thought it would be perfect to combine the two.
And YUM! This is a delightful flavor combination!
I started with a blend of organic Chun Mee and Gunpowder green teas. I added chestnut and praline essences (don’t worry – this is nut free!) and a little bit of cinnamon for some seasonal warmth. Then I tossed in some calendula petals for a little color to the blend.
This is sweet, smooth and nutty and deliciously holiday-ish!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Roasted Chestnut Rooibos from Simpson & Vail #VeganMoFo2016
Today for the Vegan MoFo prompt it’s “Comfort Food” and since here at Sororitea Sisters we post about teas and tisanes I have chosen Roasted Chestnut Rooibos from Simpson & Vail to be featured today. This Rooibos offering surprised me on so many levels that I just HAD to share my experiences with you!
Not only is Roasted Chestnut Rooibos from Simpson & Vail one of their holiday blends that I could totally see myself sipping on while under a blanket and/or near a fire but it’s super tasty and comforting on the flavor level, too! Right off the bat I can tell you that the color of Roasted Chestnut Rooibos from Simpson & Vail infuses to an exciting and vibrant orange-golden-light-brown color that really draws me in!
It’s smells wonderful with the sweet yet creamy notes, the orange pokes, and the nuttiness! There is a butteriness that I haven’t tasted in other rooibos offerings that I am super stoked about in this S&V creation. This just might be one of my favorite flavored rooibos tastes of this year! Roasted Chestnut Rooibos from Simpson & Vail is a terrific comfort cuppa. I think the reason I am overly excited about this one is because I am not a Chestnut Guru or a Rooibos Rabid Fan! Which makes this even better, I think!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description: Usher in the holiday season with this joyous brew. If you like chestnuts roasted on an open fire you’ll love this caffeine free tisane! The dry leaf has the aroma of nutty, heavenly goodness and the brewed cup explodes with this flavor followed by a light buttery taste. So curl up by a fire with this delicious cup while you read your favorite book and listen to holiday songs. We dare you to try not to sing “that” song!
Ingredients: Red Rooibos, orange blossoms and flavoring.
Brew tea at 212º – steep for 5 minutes.
Caffeine free. Certified Kosher
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Dragon Well Green Tea from Canton Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
This delicious organic Dragon Well is grown in the hills of Zhejiang Province near Long Jing, the village where this famous tea originated. The green tea leaves are picked young and taken back to the village where the skilled tea masters use their bare hands to press them flat in a hot, dry wok in the traditional way. This arrests the oxidation process and ensures the liquor carries the notes of freshly cut grass, rounded off by a soft, nutty flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Dragon Well has become, to my surprise, one of my favourite green tea varieties. I used to think I didn’t like green tea, but I’ve been persuaded over time by some those I’ve been fortunate enough to have tried. The leaves of this particular Dragon Well have been folded and pressed flat. They’re around 1cm in length on average, although some are longer and some are a little shorter. The overall tone is variegated, running from the dark green of pine needles to the lighter green of spring grass, some with a yellow mottling. The scent is quite heavily vegetal. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 170 degrees. Once unfurled, it’s clear that the leaves are mostly partial, although there are some almost whole leaves complete with stems. The resulting liquor is a medium yellow green, the scent remaining vegetal.
To taste, this tea strikes a pleasant balance between grass, green beans, and chestnuts. The initial sip is almost sweet, in the way of freshly shelled peas, but this quickly deepens to a more vegetal intensity. I’m reminded very much of freshly cooked green beans – still retaining some sweetness, but with an overriding savoury flavour. There’s a grassiness in the mid sip that continues the sweet theme, and which helps to brightens up the heavier notes of green bean. The end of the sip is mildly nutty, with a slight roastiness, putting me firmly in mind of chestnuts at Christmas. I’m usually the kind of person that drinks green tea more in spring/summer, but this one seems particularly well suited to autumn. It’s a relatively complex green tea with multiple layers of flavour, but they’re all complementary and work well together to create a beautifully flavourful cup that still possesses some subtlety. Nothing here is overpowering. I also feel I should commend this tea for its smoothness and lack of astringency. It’s almost buttery in terms of mouthfeel – silky and decadent.
I really enjoyed this cup, and I’d definitely look at Canton Tea Co. for green tea again in the future. This is a beautiful example of a Dragon Well, and I’d like to think it could please connoisseurs, while also converting those less certain about green tea in general. This tea is a green tea everyone should try.
Holiday Crumb Cake Tea from The Tea and Spice Exchange
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Buy: The Tea and Spice Exchange
Tea Description:
Come home to the Holidays! Indulge and wrap your senses around this cozy cup of tea. Orange,raspberry, ginger, and cinnamon combined with black tea creates a flavor worth celebrating! Contains Black Tea, Orange Peels, Ginger, Cinnamon, Raspberry Leaves,Cranberries, Safflowers, Natural Cranberry and Chestnut Flavors.Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of three teas that I received in my holiday stocking. Granted, I had to buy these teas myself to stuff in my own stocking, but, my husband DID take me to The Tea and Spice Exchange knowing full well that I had teas on my shopping list, including this Holiday Crumb Cake flavored black tea.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for limited edition teas! I think this has something to do with the fact that I’d categorize myself as a “taster” … I like to try teas, but, I rarely find a tea that I’d want to drink every day. I might like a tea … even love it, but, there are so many teas out there to try, and who knows what I might discover next! There have been some teas that I have enjoyed enough to want to keep stocked in my cupboard … but this is a rare occurrence.
This tea is really good! It’s a really tasty spin on the classic cranberry orange cinnamon holiday blend. The addition of chestnut flavors gives this tea a real cake-y kind of taste: warm, nutty, and sweet. The cranberry is tart and offers a nice contrast to the sweeter flavors. The cinnamon gives the tea the delicious warmth of spice, and the orange – as well as the raspberry leaves! – give this tea a burst of brightness. It’s a really nicely rounded cup of tea.
And what I like best here is that the black tea is not overwhelmed by all that’s going on. It is a sturdy black tea, robust, and even has a hint of smoke to it, which sort of plays to the idea of crumb cake … that browned crumb topping that tastes of caramelized sugars. There is some astringency to this tea, I’d classify it as a moderate to medium amount of astringency – nothing overwhelming.
A very enjoyable blend – around for just a limited time!
I’ll Be Home For Christmas from Adagio Signature Blend by Rachana Carter
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Adagio
Product Description:
I have combined mostly creamy chestnut, buttery caramel, and spicy cinnamon to warm you up this holiday season. Enjoy a hot steaming cup with your best of friends and family. May it help stir up warm and found memories of Christmas past and help create new memories to come. Give it a try with some milk and sugar/sweetener. Just be sure to heat up the milk first. Enjoy!
Created by: Rachana Carter
Contains: chestnut, caramel, cinnamon
Tasters Review:
I thought it was the perfect time to say THANKS AGAIN to Rachana Carter for sending me some of this specific Signature Blend of hers that she blended over at Adagio.
I found the more I drank this one…the more I enjoyed it! And now I am out of my stash! All good things really do come to an end, don’t they!? Anyhow…here are some of my findings…
The aroma is very light but warming. What I can smell of it is the Chestnut and a tad of caramel. I’m not smelling much cinnamon – but I’m fine with that…as I think many teas tend to over-do it with the cinnamon. This was a great happy-medium with black tea, spices, and other flavors.
It infuses to a pretty dark brown.
I really like the fact that the Black Tea taste is upfront and the flavors are on the assist. The flavors play nice together. They circle around in your mouth nicely, too. I can taste the Chestnut and Caramel pretty much equally and the cinnamon acts as the caboose.
I like it! The cinnamon is JUST RIGHT…it’s really all you need.
A little spice is OH SO NICE this time of year! This one had me grinning from Ear-To-Ear!
SororiTEA Sisters wish you Holiday Cheer!