Tea Information:
Leaf Type: BlackTea
Where to Buy: Tea For All Reasons
Tea Description:
For all of you Downton Abbey and Earl Grey fans, this is a must! I’ve created this new blend in honor of the irrepressible Dowager Countess. You are aware of a strong presence whenever she enters a room, impeccably dressed, with rows and rows of creamy white pearls. She makes no apologies for her strong sense of tradition, and underneath her sharp, dry wit, there is a sweetness that she tries to keep well hidden. Much like the Dowager, our new Earl Grey blend is “steeped” in tradition, has a strong, tart Pomegranate presence, with an underlying sweetness, and is dressed up with creamy white pearl dragees. Enjoy!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve reviewed teas from Tea For All Reasons in the past and you may already know that I love their thoughts behind their blends. I love their names. And they are pleasing to the nose, eye, and tongue. This time around I am tasting the Dowager Countess Grey – a specialty black tea – from their Downton Abby Series Collection – which makes a cross over to their Earl Grey Collection, too!
What isn’t overly present is the stereotypical bergamot you would find in an Earl Grey. Instead – Tea For All Reasons has ‘thought outside the box’ (or the tea bag rather) and decided to pair this blend with pomegranate. I really enjoy the Pom-Flavor in this loose leaf black tea based blend of flavors. It provides a subtle tartness without it going to wild. There are hints of cream towards the end sip that are quite intriguing as well.
I infused for about 3 to 4 minutes and eventho this is a black tea base the post-infused liquid color isn’t all that dark in the cup. But that’s ok…what it lacks in color/tone – it makes up for in aroma and taste! This is a nice sipping tea when hot and a jolly-good gulping tea when cold.
If you are looking for a creative blend with a little bit of tarty-fruit notes – try this one, if you are a Downton Abby fan – put this one on your list – or if you are into flavored Earl Grey’s – give this one a whirl!
Pomteani from Lemon Lily
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
Organic Ingredients: Black Tea, Pomegranate, Safflower, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
For this review, I felt a little bit at a disadvantage. This Pomteani from Lemon Lily was another of the three teas that I received in the most recent edition from Postal Teas’ subscription service, but because Postal Teas hasn’t updated their blog in a long while and because I was unable to find this tea anywhere on the Lemon Lily website, I couldn’t find any information about the tea – not even a photo of the loose leaf tea. (And my camera battery, of course, needs to be recharged.)
So, I’ll just wing this review without a description from either company and without photos. Hey, I can do this, I’m a professional. (No wisecracks!) Well, maybe I’m not a professional reviewer – but I pretend to be one on the internet.
First of all, I need to say that I don’t know how accurate the ingredient list is. I see the bits of lemon and orange peel, I see the bits of safflower petal and the black tea leaves. I don’t see any pomegranate arils, but what I do see is a powdery substance that reminds me a bit of the beet powder that I found in the Beauty & The Beet blend only this powdery substance wasn’t hot pink. It’s more like a pale blonde color. Is this the pomegranate the ingredient list speaks of? I’ve never seen pomegranate look like that before. But either this is, in fact, the pomegranate, or there’s another ingredient that the list above doesn’t include.
To brew this, I used my Breville One Touch. I added 500ml of freshly filtered water into the jug and 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket of the tea maker and set the parameters for 2 1/2 minutes at 212°F.
And I definitely taste the pomegranate. I also taste notes of citrus. The black tea is medium bodied tea with an even tone and texture, I suspect it’s a Ceylon. It has some astringency to it and it’s an astringency that seems to build, as I found the second half of my cup to be more astringent than the first half.
It’s a flavorful cuppa, and would make a nice afternoon tea. I guess it would also make a nice cocktail – or at least a very attractive one to serve for today: Valentine’s Day.
Overall, this tea is just alright. I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’ve enjoyed the other offerings that I’ve tried from Lemon Lily.
Pomegranate San Francisco Black Tea Blend from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
Our Pomegranate San Francisco has lovely hints of vanilla and chocolate sprinkled with candy like notes. Cup has a ‘sec’ (dry) character that highlights the tea flavor!
Learn more about this tea blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This is good stuff!
First, I have to tell you about the aroma because it won me over before I even took a sip. It smells sweet and evokes thoughts of the aromas that might surround me if I were to walk into a candy shop. YUM!
To brew the tea, I measured out 1 bamboo scoop of the loose leaf tea into the basket of my Kati Tumbler and poured boiling water into the cup. Then I let it steep for 3 minutes. The result: irresistible yumminess!
The pomegranate notes are tart and sweet, and I love the way they mingle with the notes of vanilla and chocolate. It’s a sweet treat with delightful, contrasting notes of tart. And the black tea base is smooth and full-flavored, with a pleasant malty note.
As the tea cools – or perhaps as I continue to drink – I pick up on more creamy chocolate notes. The chocolate is further accentuated by hints of vanilla, making it a very sublime creamy experience. This flavor combination becomes a very captivating flavor, as if it’s enveloping the palate with notes of sweet chocolate and vanilla. Mmm!
This reminds me a bit of grenadine. The fruitiness of the pomegranate together with the creamy notes give it a thick sort of texture that you might experience if you were sipping on grenadine. But … this is even better, because: a) it’s tea, and b) it’s not syrupy. But it does have that sort of yummy factor that I mentally associate with grenadine, like when I was a kid and I’d sneak a sip of grenadine! Hey! I liked it a lot when I was a kid!
But now that I’m no longer a youngster, I much prefer my grenadine experiences to be involving tea – like with this Pomegranate San Francisco!
Product Review: Organic Lime Pomegranate Lightly Sweetened Iced Green Tea from steaz
Product Information:
It starts with certified organic and fair trade green tea sourced from around the world – we then brew our tea with the most flavorful fruits that are rich in antioxidants and finished with a hint of organic cane sugar for a healthy and delicious refreshment that will enhance your senses. And becuase our farms are Fair Trade Certified™, we ensure equal pay, better health care and equal opportunities for our farmers – so they too can reach new heights as well.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve said before that I’m not the biggest fan of RTD (Ready to Drink) teas that are available in just about any convenience store or grocery store. Most of them are crafted primarily of sugar or other sweeteners. They tend to be so full of sweetener and flavoring that the drinker can’t even taste the tea!
Occasionally, I come across one that’s different or at least, I come across one that seems to promise to be different. This can of Organic Lime Pomegranate iced green tea from steaz says “Lightly Sweetened” on it, and that’s what immediately caught my attention about it. Other eye catching features: “Organic” and “Fair Trade.” Two other things that I appreciated.
So, I’ll give it a try.
The description above states that there is a “hint of organic cane sugar.” However, the ingredient list tells a slightly different tale:
INGREDIENTS: Filtered water, organic evaporated cane juice, natural pomegranate & lime flavors, organic lemon juice, fair trade certified™ organic green tea.
When the ingredient is second on a list five ingredients, that suggests to me that maybe there’s a little more than just a “hint” of sugar in this. Also, after reading the ingredient list, I’m a little disturbed by the fact that the green tea is the LAST ingredient on the list! What?!?
And unfortunately, with this tea, you can taste the ingredients as they’re listed. I taste more sweetener and flavoring than I do green tea.
That said, this drink does have some redeeming qualities. It is a tasty drink. The lime is the strongest of the flavors, but I taste a sweet-tart pomegranate note in there too. While I do taste more sugar than I do tea, it isn’t TOO sweet or cloyingly so. This isn’t as sweet as say … the typical soda pop would be. My teeth don’t feel as though they’ve been coated with sugar as I drink this beverage.
It’s a tasty, refreshing beverage. I do wish I could taste more tea than sugar or pomegranate and lime. I feel like this has been marketed as a tea product and as an organic product for the health appeal without any real focus on the tea. Those who are trying to make “healthier” choices while shopping would probably buy this. This isn’t a drink for tea drinkers, it’s a drink for those who probably have never really tried green tea and think that this is what green tea is supposed to taste like.
Pomegrape Flavored Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
A few weeks ago, I got a delivery from FedEx just as I was brainstorming tea ideas. The poor delivery guy had no idea what he was getting into, bringing me a package at that moment. “Quick! Give me an idea for a yummy flavored tea,” says I, to which he merely responded with a blank, mildly confused stare.“Well? What kind of tea should I make, man?”“Uh… I–I don’t know.” He really wanted me to sign for the package and leave him alone.“Do you like tea? Do you like flavored teas?” He nodded. “Well, what would be a good flavor for a flavored tea?” He still looked baffled. “What sorts of dessert or fruit flavors do you like?”“I like grape. And pomegranate.”“Awesome choice! Pomegrape tea it is!” So, I signed for the package and gave him one of our grape flavored Southern Boy Teas iced teas for helping me out and sent him on his way. And then I got to work on this delicious blend of buttery sweet Chinese sencha, freeze-dried grapes and pomegranate airils, and organic grape and pomegranate flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I really wasn’t all that excited when I learned about the tea of the week for the week of July 21st: Pomegrape Green Tea. Not because of the pomegranate, but because of the grape. I’m just not much of a fan of grape flavored things, as I’ve confessed on this blog at least once or twice (and probably more than twice, actually).
I don’t like grape flavored candies, I don’t like grape ice pops, I don’t like grape soda. I just don’t like that overly sweet flavor that comes with the grape flavored thing … whatever that thing might be.
That said, I love grapes. I love the sweetness of a grape, the sweetness that comes from nature. But I don’t dig the overly sweet interpretation of grape flavor when it comes to candy or other grape flavored edibles.
However, I have managed to find some grape flavored teas that I actually have enjoyed (and I do love the natural muscatel of a second flush Darjeeling!) So even though this tea smelled like a bag full of grape flavored runts when I tore open the pouch, I decided to not let that deter me and I was going to taste this tea with as open minded as possible.
So I measured out two scoops of the tea that smelled of grape candy into my tea maker (along with 500 ml of water) and let the tea maker do it’s magic (175°F for 2 minutes) and hoped for the best.
While the tea is still hot, the flavors are a little … muddled. I taste notes of grape (and not an overly sweet grape, either) and I taste notes of pomegranate and I even taste subtle hints of green tea in there too, but it’s all very obscure and difficult to really describe other than to say it tastes muddled.
So I let the tea cool a little longer, as it has been my experience with flavored teas that sometimes a short cool time allows the flavors to become focused. And that is true in this case. Now I’m starting to pick up on flavors that are a little more concise.
It’s sweet. But it’s tart too. I think that the tartness of the pomegranate flavor helps to offset some of the sweet, candy-like flavor of the grape, allowing it to taste more like grape and less like soda pop. These two fruit flavors balance each other quite nicely. It’s a little tart, a little sweet and a whole lot fruity, but not as candied as I thought it would be. Yeah, I still get that candy taste occasionally, but it’s not in my face. I don’t feel like someone melted a grape Popsicle in my green tea.
And I’m also happy to say that the green tea isn’t completely overpowered with these flavors either. I taste the sweet, buttery notes of the Chinese Sencha and it has a creamy taste and texture to it that is an unexpected yet appealing complement to these fruit flavors.
So, this flavor combination is a win for 52Teas! I liked it hot and I liked it even better iced. I’m glad I decided to give this one a chance!