Almond Cookie by Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Information:

Leaf Type: Tisane

Where to Buy: Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Description:

It is a taste experience unlike any other! Pairing sweet apple and beetroot pieces, this tea once brewed has a red color nuance. The flavor note is determined by tempting, sweet, roasted, caramelized almonds. Our tip: simply try it and…enjoy! For a perfect taste impact, brew for a full 10 minutes. Naturally caffeine free.

Ingredients: apple pieces, planed and crushed almonds, cinnamon pieces, beetroot pieces, flavoring.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I simply love a good almond cookie, however when it comes to almond cookies I tend to be very particular! The flavor has to be just so. I blame it on a small Asian restaurant my family would go to when I was young. They had the best almond cookies ever. Then again I was very young so what did I know. However to this day I always try to find that elusive almond cookie flavor when I pick up almond cookies at the store, or have a chance to have one from a restaurant. Until now, I can’t say anything has truly touched upon that flavor from days gone by.

This tea is my secret sin! I can’t get enough of it yet I tend to hide it away for those “me times” when I want to just slump back and savor every drop of sweet almond goodness.

Who would have thought that I would find my perfect cookie in a tea? Not only have I found my favorite cookie but with that a piece of my childhood, a good memory.

This tea smells so sinful when you open the bag. While steeping, like you are in the middle of a sweet cinnamon and sugar dream. I think perhaps the one ingredient other almond cookies lacked was the cinnamon. Its absolutely not a harsh cinnamon, I don’t even care for cinnamon in tea, and while I realize that cinnamon is not mentioned in the ingredient list given by Joy’s Teaspoon, I taste it. I don’t know if it is real cinnamon or cassia which is usually what you buy in a grocery store, a cinnamon knock off, but it is so delectable and in just the right dose.

It requires absolutely no milk and no sugar. It is quite perfectly sweet yet balanced all on its own. Usually I don’t use additives unless it is a “desert” type tea like this one and often I find you almost have to add a little sugar and or milk to help nudge the sweetness slightly over the edge to perfection but Almond Cookie is already right there!

The apple is fresh, crisp, and pairs wonderfully with the cinnamon giving it just a smidgen of a cider taste. I absolutely taste the caramelized almonds as I use them frequently in salad dishes I make at home. Now as for beetroot, I won’t even pretend to know what that should taste like but if it concerns you, don’t let it. I should google beetroot to find out what it is – something like rhubarb perhaps, root of beets I assume, I don’t even like beets, I detest them, they taste like dirt to me, but in order to end this run on sentence let me just say this tea tastes nothing of beet, beet root, or dirt.

Each ingredient is discernible if you sit back and try to detect each and every one of them, they are there, to be found. However this tea is meant to be simply enjoyed in my opinion. It is far more fun to just let the tea speak to you as a wondrous blend rather than sleuthing each element out. Granted tea reviews often tend to pick a tea apart looking for what makes a tea so scrumptious but as for this one, I am just going to enjoy the bliss that it is – melding in such unison, with such grace, that you won’t be able to determine the cider like flavor from the caramel almond flavor, from the apple itself, or that beetroot, it just blends so beautifully that it becomes the almond cookie to end all almond cookies!

 

Red Elephant from Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Description:

Our Kenyan orthodox black breakfast blend is a high quality CTC tea that packs a punch and will jump start your morning. Clean leaves, honey-like aroma, floral flavor with no harshness and excellent with a splash of milk.

A beautiful scene unfolds as you envision the tea bushes, grown on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya at a relatively high altitude of 2036M above sea level, situated between two main rivers (Rundu and Mukengeria) that have their source in the Mt. Kenya forest. The area is farmed by approximately 3,700 small scale tea farmers with a combined acreage of about 847 hectares (2,092 acres.) Most of the farmers are related and farm ancestral pieces of land that have been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the pluckers are women who farm tea farms that belong to their husbands or fathers. Land is usually inherited patrilineally, though recently women have begun to inherit and purchase their own tea farms.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Now that’s what I’m talking about!  This tea has got some heft!  This is the kind of tea that you want to drink on those mornings when you’re having a hard time keeping your eyelids open,  This tea is sure to help with that!

This tea is good and strong, and a little goes a long way.  That is to say, when measuring, you don’t need to add a little extra to the teapot for added strength!  This is plenty strong on its own.  Use the amount you’d usually use, or even just a little less.  If you usually use a heaped teaspoon, use a level teaspoon for best results.

This is a very rich and flavorful tea – there is a freshly baked bread and burnt sugar kind of taste to it.  Sweet, caramelized burnt sugar.  YUM!  There is a pleasant earthiness to this as well as some hints of malt … but don’t go thinking this is similar to an Assam, because the malty tone is where those similarities end.

This is a very enjoyable, full-bodied black tea that is strong enough to give a good kick start to anyone’s day, and it’s just what I needed to help shake that groggy, sleepy feeling I had this morning.  This tea has managed to chase those feelings away without a trace!  I’m awake and raring to go!

Summer Sunrise from Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Description:

Like a refreshing dessert with a touch of something special – a very trendy finale to the perfect dinner.  An elegant decoration of fine marigold blossoms simply adds to the beautiful image of this blend.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I brewed this tea without looking it up (yep, I did it again!) and I brewed this Oolong blend as a black tea, using boiling water and steeping for 2 1/2 minutes in my Breville One-Touch.

Dry, the leaf looks very much like a black tea, as the tea leaves are quite dark, so I thought it was a black tea and brewed it the way I would most black teas.  Also, I must admit that the name tricked me a little bit.  With the dark leaves and a name like Summer Sunrise, my thought was:  this must be a black tea!

However, Joy’s Teaspoon has it categorized as an Oolong, and after first looking for the tea under “Flavored Blacks” and then finally finding it under “Flavored Oolongs” I started to worry that I might have scorched the leaves with the high temperature.

However, one taste tells me that the Oolong leaves did not suffer from the exposure to the boiling water, nor did the flavor suffer.  This is a really delightful cuppa!

This is one of the more unique flavored teas I’ve tried, with its slightly spicy, basil overtones and a hint of lemon in the background.  The basil gives it a peppery taste, with a hint of menthol and a slight sweetness.  The lemon is more prominent at the start of the sip, like a quick “how-do-you-do?” and then quickly subsides into the background, giving it a bright, sunny flavor without tasting like a strong, distinct lemon note.

Despite these strong flavors, the tea is not overwhelmed.  The Oolong tastes sweet with notes of peach in the background.  The mouthfeel is quite smooth and silky.

Unique – yes!  Delicious – definitely!  If you’re one who enjoys unusual tea blends, you should add this one to your must try list!

Japanese Cherry from Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Joy’s Teaspoon

Product Description:

Cherries play an important role in Japanese culture.  The cherry blossom festival which takes place every year is beautiful to look at.  The exquisite Sencha base was refined with high-quality sour cherries and a tempting cherry flavor.  This blend is doubtless a real classic among the flavored green teas and belongs in every assortment.

Taster’s Review:

I contemplated saving this review for publication in spring, because when I sip cherry flavored green teas like this one, it inspires thoughts of springtime.  But, I figured I could still channel my “inner springtime” with this tea, and enjoy it now even the weather tells me it is definitely NOT springtime.

But that’s OK.  I’ve got all I need from spring right here in my teacup.  The green tea base is delicate and sweet with a smooth, creamy taste to it.  It supports the flavors of cherry well, and I’m happy to report that the cherry here tastes authentic.  It doesn’t have that off-cherry kind of taste, and those who have experienced that off-cherry taste know exactly what I’m talking about.

Instead, the cherry flavoring here is light, with a pleasing sweetness and an ever-so-gentle hint of tart.  And, I think it is that sour cherry flavor that gives this tea its sense of authenticity … it tastes very much like a real cherry, and not cough syrupy.

A delicious way to celebrate spring, any time of year!

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling (TGFOP1) from Joy’s Teaspoon

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Joy’s Teaspoon

Product Description:

A sparkling, fully aromatic tea from the beginning of the second flush period with a full amber colored cup.  The bouquet is spicy with a hint of sweetness.

Taster’s Review:

I’ve had several Margaret’s Hope Darjeelings in the past, but, it seems that the time between them is distant, and in the time of absence, I seem to forget just how good the Darjeeling tea from Margaret’s Hope estate really is.

The brewed tea has a delightful fragrance.  It has an overture of spice – clean and refreshing – with a mid-note of wood and a pleasant undertone of fruit-like sweetness.  This is one of those teas that you should inhale deeply before taking a sip to get full satisfaction from the tea.

A crisp, medium-bodied tea, this Darjeeling has an amazing flavor that is somewhat spicy in composition.  Not spicy-hot kind of spicy, but a savory, hint of pepper and woody spices kind of spicy.  There is also a sparkling fruit-like taste to it.   The finish is sweet with an aftertaste of fruit and pepper.  I’m also finding this to be only slightly astringent – not nearly as astringent as some Darjeeling teas can be.

This tea makes for a very pleasant afternoon tea.  A fine representation of what Darjeeling should be!