Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Luhse
Tea Description:
STORY:
Unbeknownst to most, Queen Song longs for the day when she meets her island mate, King Kong. She has recently taken up hula dancing to keep fit and has begun wearing sexy, eye-catching outfits to attract attention. Despite the gang’s misgivings, she can be found wearing risque coconut bras when she is not at work.
TEA DESCRIPTION:
Coconuts have migrated into your cup of tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Another Luhse sample from my recent order. Nice Coconuts is a white blend, flavoured with coconut. The dry leaf smells amazing – strongly of coconut, with an undertone of creaminess, and a hint of something almost rum-like. Alcoholic, at the very least. The dry leaf looks to be a mixture of silver needles, which are white and downy, and white peony, which is blackish-brown in appearance and not particularly fresh looking. There’s a predominance of broken leaves and twigs. Scattered throughout are red safflower and blue cornflower petals, and a smattering of dried coconut shreds. There’s enough leaf in the pouch for about two cups, although if your cup is larger than average you might want to use the whole sample (about 3 tsp), as per the recommended parameters. My cup is on the smaller side, so I went with 1.5tsp of leaf, and gave it 2 minutes in water cooled to around 175 degrees. The resulting liquor is a medium yellow-green; the scent mildly coconutty with a floral undertone.
To taste, this one is deceptive! I wasn’t convinced at all by the scent of the brewed liquor, but it’s actually very pleasant. The initial sip is all coconut cream; sweet, tropical amazingness! It has remarkable depth of flavour, with just a hint of rum rolling around the mid-sip, and an almost thick mouthfeel. It’s like a decadent dessert – rum babas, maybe, with a side of coconut ice cream. It’s possible to taste a little of the white tea towards the end of the sip, although it’s by no means prominent. Just an edge of floral, hay-like sweetness. Mostly, the white tea seems to contribute most towards the mouthfeel, and doesn’t at all overpower the sometimes-delicate flavour of coconut. This really is a delicious, summery cup. I’m impressed with this blend, and it’s definitely one I’d consider repurchasing in the future.
Berry Flavored Oolong Tea from Tea Licious
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
China green oolong, safflower, blue flower and acai berry.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm … this Berry Flavored Oolong Tea from Tea Licious is pretty tasty. But, it took me a while to get to the point for me to determine that I liked it. After a quick rinse of the leaves, I really wasn’t all that crazy about the first infusion. I mean, it was OK. But, I don’t know that I’d actually say that I liked that first cup. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t like it. I was just kind ‘meh’ about it … kind of neutral.
Then I decided to give it another shot, and I re-steeped the leaves. The second infusion is quite tasty! And now that I’m tasting the second infusion, I think I’ve figured out what it was about that first cuppa … the acai flavor was just too bitter … that it threw off the natural sweetness of the Oolong tea. With this second infusion, the flavors have melded somewhat, and the bitterness of the acai has softened. Now I taste just a hint of that bitterness, but, now, because it’s a softer bitter tone, it actually contrasts the cup in a nice way … I like the way the sweet, creamy Oolong with its floral tones tastes with the tart berry.
This tea is best enjoyed when it’s hot, I think … and it’s one that you definitely want to infuse more than once. The second infusion was delightful, so I took it for a third infusion, and this cup was also quite pleasant. The flavors are softer, but it’s still a very flavorful cup. The third cup is the smoothest of the three, while I would say that the second cup had the roundest flavor … very palate pleasing. As for that first cup, I’d suggest trying it with just a little sugar (or perhaps a teeny pinch of salt!) to offset the bitterness of the acai.
Overall, an enjoyable Oolong … and one that proves to me once again that sometimes it’s a good idea to give a tea a second chance!
Cinnamon Apple Crunch from Steep City Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Steep City Teas
Tea Description:
Wonderfully tasty! This green tea blend will bring back memories of your favorite apple pie, sweet and warm with a cinnamon crunchy texture. The perfect tea cup for kids and grownups. It is perfect for a tea party, tea in the afternoon or as a special drink for the holidays!
Green tea, apple pieces, natural flavors, cinnamon pieces, safflower, and rose petals
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Cinnamon Apple Crunch from Steep City Teas is a nice departure from the norm. It has a light summer time apple flavor with just a light enough floral undertone to make you feel like laying back in the green summer grass and catching some rays! The cinnamon is subtle and I like that. I love a little cinnamon in tea but often times the cinnamon can take over a blend, diluting the other lovely ingredients.
While this could surely be a lovely holiday time drink, with its apple pie flavor and sweetness, I actually prefer it more in the summer as an iced tea. The sencha base adds a wonderful buttery flavor and mouthfeel which absolutely support the flavors in this blend. I feel that it adds to that “crunch” flavor. It reminds me of that crumble on top of an apple strudel. I love that oversteeping this tea is nearly impossible even with the green tea base. Trust me, I gave this tea a good test in that area, by error of course, but even when steeped for a good long 7 minutes it was still amazing!
Wether you enjoy it warm, or cold, you will appreciate the versatility of this scrumptious blend. I also agree that people of all ages will enjoy this tea. It is not too sweet but just sweet enough, naturally, so that the kids will enjoy it. Speaking of naturally, there is no a bit of artificial flavor to this tea. It tastes like fresh juicy apple, not some nasty artificial flavoring. The floral note comes from real rose petals, not a perfumery substance that imparts bad flavor in the tea.Another winner from Steep City, but then every tea I have sampled from them has been delightful!
Rainforest Nectar from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Take a trip to the Rainforests of the world. Visit the flavors of delicious papaya, passion fruit and mango from the Amazon. The amazing flavors of a kiwi from New Zealand and a pineapple from Hawaii. So many amazing fruit flavors combined with incredible black and green teas. This one is sure to please!
Ingredients: Black tea, green tea, mango and passionfruit flavor, papaya bits, pineapple and kiwi bits, safflower
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The moment I opened my sample bag of Rainforest Nectar from Della Terra Teas I knew two things. First I knew that I was going to be ordering more soon. Second I knew I had to have it iced. This tea is scrumptious hot, but iced, it is just nothing short of dreamy!
This tea brings back memories, memories before I was a loose leaf tea lover, and once in a great while would find a tea that was so yummy that I had to buy some. This tea specifically reminds me of a tea that I once bought from a local small business coffee house, but as soon as I realized just how much I loved it, they were out, and never re-stocked. That was always one thing that kept me from discovering my love of tea, locally where I live, there are no “tea shops” but that was before I discovered the joys of online ordering.
As I sit here writing this review this tea sits, iced, in a tall glass, yet I still can smell the wonderful aroma that I am used to only smelling when a hot tea sits cooling beside me. This tea is strongly scented and flavored of everything tropical.
The papaya, and pineapple are the most distinguishable flavors when trying to pick out one note at a time, then passion fruit, mango, and kiwi following, in that order. Yet when all of these flavors meld, as they do so well in this tea, there is a resounding peach flavor that develops.
I love that this is a black and green tea blend. I can taste both base flavors and they are the most perfect and harmonious backdrop for these sweet fruits.
The tea does not need even a sprinkling of sugar as it is perfectly sweet all on its own.
As I sit here watching the sunset on this rather pretty, and warm, winters evening, I can’t help but long for summer to hurry and get here only because I know this is the tea I will be sipping all summer long!
Creamy Eggnog from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Creamy Eggnog is part of our holiday series that encompasses a number of holidays from different religions. Many people might not think of eggnog as their number one choice for a Christmas flavor but Eggnog is particularly important in my family’s tradition of celebrating Christmas. Eggnog always marked the beginning of the Christmas season and was the last thing we would drink before we would try to go to sleep Christmas Eve. As a child, getting any sleep Christmas Eve would have been a miracle. There was always so much excitement and anticipation building. Creamy Eggnog pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with a rich creamy eggnog flavor. The tea and flavor work well with each other and neither overshadows the other. This tea is sweet with a heavy cream and eggy quality. Add a little brown crystal sugar and the tea becomes extremely creamy, rich, and very much like eggnog. Some vanilla notes become pronounced and so do the egg notes. We added safflower for a touch of red for a festive Christmas colored tea.
Ingredients: Organic Chinese Tea, Safflower, Organic Natural Flavoring
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 FLearn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Creamy Eggnog from Butiki Teas is a tea that I could drink anytime of day, all year long. I don’t need a holiday to sip on this creamy wonder!
There is such a sweet and subtle spice in this tea but the vanilla cuts it so that it does not come off on the palate as a spiced tea at all. I get just a hint of a note of nutmeg in the cup. The tea sits somewhat heavily on the palate and the mouthful is very creamy indeed. So unexpected from such a light colored tea, which is a clear, and pale, sunny yellow.
The base tea, Huangshan Mao Feng has a nutty, buttery flavor that truly compliments this blend.
Completely organic, and vegan this tea is sure to please anyone and everyone who tastes it.
An excellent flavor for the holidays or to satisfy that sweet tooth! Yes you can add rock sugar, or your favorite sweetener to it and it becomes even more decedent but if you are watching your sugar intake you really do not need it as this tea is stands on its own perfectly.
I tell you, this tea is screaming to be created into a latte with some frothed milk or milk substitute sitting on top! Add a little nutmeg or cinnamon – sinful … I’m going to go do that right now!