Tranquility from Beleave Teas isn’t normally something I would grab off the shelf first but there is something about this herbal tisane that spoke to me. After some rather long reflection and sipping I cam to the conclusion it was because of the vanilla dancing with both the peppermint and the spearmint that was what spoke to me the most.
The chamomile was plentiful in this tisane but the mint and vanilla helped smooth it out and calm it down nicely. The raspberry, papaya, and star anise played a subtle but appreciated part. I noticed the wild cherry bark more as an afterthought and aftertaste more than anything but it was something that lingered nicely as well.
Tranquility from Beleave Teas took me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting much from it but with everything that went into this herbal and the impression it left on me the more and more I appreciated it.
The first few sample sips I tried were as a hot cuppa but I kept wondering how it would be iced so I finished the rest of the batch cold and it was just as good if not better! It certainly pays to think (and sip) outside of your comfort zone and Tranquility from Beleave Teas was a great reminder of that!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy: Beleave Teas
Description:
This tea looks as lovely as it tastes with ingredients to calm even the most restless soul. Chamomile, rosehips, raspberry, papaya, peppermint, vanilla and star anise just to name a few.
- Origin: Small farmers from around the world.
- Ingredients: Chamomile flowers, rosehips, raspberry, papaya, peppermint, spearmint, strawberry leaf, vanilla, passion flower, red clover, star anise, and wild cherry bark.
- Caffeine Rating: None
- Steeping Instructions: Temperature 208 degrees, Steep 4-6 Minutes
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jane Austen’s Black Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail Tea
Our Sister’s Thoughts:
I have to say I’m LOVING these new Literary Teas from Simpson and Vail and today I will introduce you to Jane Austen’s Black Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail Tea.
Jane Austen’s Black Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail Tea is strong and independent…meaning it has a flavor all of its own. After reading the ingredients of Black teas, spearmint, lavender flowers and vanilla flavor I thought I knew what this tea would taste like but I was surprised with the flavor of this tea. Here’s why…yes, the black tea is strong and I LOVE that. The spearmint mixed with the lavender is what changed it up for me. Something happened when the spearmint and lavender joined as a union in this cup of tea. It formed it’s own flavor! Then you add that bit of vanilla in there to smooth it out and it’s unlike anything I have had before.
I LOVE being surprised – or better yet – proven wrong – by a tea and Jane Austen’s Black Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail Tea did exactly that! This is just what I needed to start my day on a crazy Monday morning! I just might have to buy this one in bulk and soon! This is a heavy-duty tea that gets a GOLD STAR from me!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail Tea
Tea Description:
Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775. After receiving her primary education at boarding school, Jane returned home where she and her older sister Cassandra would spend long hours in their father’s library reading the classics and writing their own stories. Jane had a close relationship with her father and he encouraged her creativity by supplying her with the paper and writing utensils she desired. In 1811, Jane’s first novel Sense and Sensibility was published and met with immediate success. Jane Austen’s novels illuminate the everyday lives of young women in the early 19th century and blend contemplative pastoral prose with witty banter and intriguing romance plots. Besides writing, she was an avid gardener who tended to her own plants late into her life.
The delicate prose of Jane Austen’s novels is evoked in this blend that combines peppermint with a gentle touch of vanilla. Lavender flowers, which look lovely in both the cup and the gardens around Jane Austen’s estate, add a sweet floral taste that complements the mint and vanilla wonderfully. This blend captures the color and joy of Austen’s characters while taking inspiration from the herbs and flowers she cultivated in her own garden. It brews to a refreshing cup with a cool mint flavor that’s softened by the warm vanilla and the sweet lavender flowers.
Ingredients: Black teas, spearmint, lavender flowers and vanilla flavor.
Certified Kosher
Brew tea at 212º – steep for 3 minutes.
4 Ounces of loose tea makes approximately 50 cups of tea.
Please note that the photo is shown for our 4oz tin. We are also offering this in a 4oz pkg size, which will come in one of our double lined bags labeled with the name of the tea.
Novels by Jane Austen:
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Emma
Northanger Abbey
PersuasionCheck with your local bookstore for these titles or for recommendations for further reading.
Learn even more about this tea here.
Wai Tisane from PONOinfusions
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: PONOinfusions
Tea Description:
Wai will refresh you with a tranquil infusion of herbs & botanicals, inspired by breathtaking waterfalls, streams, and fresh water pools, all preciously vital to life in Hawai’i. Made from certified organic and fair trade ingredients and caffeine-free, Wai immerses you in a marriage of mint & berry. Wai means fresh water in Hawaiian—a precious resource in Hawai’i’s fragile ecosystems.
To learn more about efforts to conserve wai and the native plants & animals who call Hawai’i’s wai home, such as the endangered pinapinao (Hawaiian damselfly) and the uluhe fern featured on this package, please visit the Native Flora & Fauna section of our website.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
PONOinfusions is a company I only very recently discovered. So far, I love everything about them from their use of organic and fair trade certified ingredients to the incorporation of Hawaiian ingredients in their blends, creative themes to their teas, incorporation of Hawaiian culture and most importantly the strong emphasis on the fauna and flora in Hawaii which are endangered or at risk. On each tin you can see some of these species highlighted in the packaging, and a portion of their sales go to support working to sustain and preserve Hawaii’s natural resources and plant and wildlife.
As described on their site, ‘pono’ means ‘the right thing to do’ and my first impression here is that Alex and Andrea are certainly doing their best to do that for Hawaii! I am very excited to get my first taste of one of their blends.
The tisane I’m trying today (and not all of the teas in their line are tisanes) is called “Wai” which means fresh water, and the feature fauna and flora on their package’s design are the Hawaiian damselfly and uluhe fern. As I taste this for the first time, I’m definitely keeping the intended ‘theme’ in mind and will be seeing how the flavour compares to it.
My first impression of the taste is that it’s very familiar in a really comforting way. Breaking down the flavours I can see why; a lot of the ingredients are ones I like a great deal individually and they’re working very well combined. The body of the flavour of comprised mostly of the mint in the blend. I know this uses both peppermint and spearmint, but the spearmint is definitely more of a dominant/concentrated flavour than the peppermint is. Layered under that is the raspberry. It’s not raspberry in a really obvious way; but a gentle, subtle soft hint of raspberry that provides contrast from the mint. The nettle leaf is a little earthy and unrefined, it seems to roll in and out of sips as a flavour that I’m noticing. Finally there’s a floral aspect that finishes the sip. It reminds me of a mild jasmine though as far as I’m aware there isn’t actually any jasmine or floral ingredients in the blend.
While none of these ingredients individually make me think of fresh water there’s something about the way they interact with each other that’s very calming and tranquil and reminds me of seafoam, and skinny dipping with friends in the middle of July as the sunsets. Additionally, I remember reading a poem not too long ago that compared the ocean to a womb, first and foremost giving life and that’s the kind of feeling I get from drinking this tea. I want warm waves to wash over and cradle me.
Overall, I really like the overall taste of this tisane but more importantly I love the way it makes me feel. I haven’t been this excited about a newly discovered company in a really long time, and I’m excited to hopefully try more of their blends (in particular I’m hoping I get to try Nahele) and I very, very much recommend checking out their website! Definitely a cool company, and I think they deserve a little more attention.
Enlighten Mint Yerba Mate from Guayaki
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Guayaki
Tea Description:
Enlighten Mint has a minty flavor with a touch of honey flavor, and an earthy note from the yerba mate. It’s easy drinking and clean tasting, and not too sweet.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Continuing with the exploration of Guayaki drinks, this is the one I was most skeptical about of the three I picked up. I’ve tried a few yerba mate and spearmint blends, and actually have one stocked right now so I know that it’s not a terrible pairing; in fact it’s a pretty popular pairing. It’s actually the honey aspect of this that scares me; when it comes to more commercial tea beverages, ‘honey’ usually means very sweet.
However, because Revel Berry maintained a respectable level of sweetness I was open to this one; hopefully it would do the same. I was poorly mistaken in my assumptions, however. This was assaulting; the spearmint was ridiculously strong and sweet in and of itself; like those Spearmint leaf five cent gummy candies that come in giant bulk bags. I’ve never been a fan of those. They taste so fake. On top of that the sweetness of the honey was equally as intense. The yerba mate, while pretty drowned up, did come through a little bit but it felt kind of grimy, and yet at the same time all three notes together conjured up the image of neon green slime.
To me, it tasted like one of those five cent candies dipped into a bottle of raw honey and then sprinkled with a little dirt. Why would you willingly put that in your mouth? I struggled through a third of the can and then finally called it quits and tossed it. It makes me more skeptical to try the third, and last, one I bought now knowing just how big the range between ‘hit’ and ‘miss’ from this company can be. Personally, I’ll be avoiding (and internally wincing) this flavor every time I pass it in the aisles at work – but if you’re feeling bold enough, and you like super sweet mint flavored things, I guess giving it a try couldn’t hurt.
Thé Vert à la Menthe Nanah (Spearmint Green Tea) by Kusmi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Kusmi
Tea Description:
Nana mint is the mint used for teas in the Middle East and North Africa. Its refreshing taste makes Spearmint green tea perfect for after a meal.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The first thing I noticed about this one is how wonderful it smells – fresh, strong, sweet spearmint, right from the get go! I prefer spearmint to peppermint in general, but spearmint teas seem relatively scarce in comparison, so I’m pleased to have found this one from Kusmi. The dry leaf is very dark green and tightly rolled. There’s no indication on the tin of the variety of green tea this is, but I would guess Gunpowder from looking at the leaves alone. I could be wrong, but that’s my educated guess. For my cup, I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it 2 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a golden yellow, and smells primarily of spearmint with an underlying hint of green tea.
To taste, this one reminds me a bit of chewing gum, or softmints. It has the same intense initial sweet mint flavour, which lingers decently into the aftertaste. Spearmint is pretty much all I’m getting from this one, so it comes across fairly one note, but if spearmint is what you’re looking for, then it’s certainly what you’ll get. I had thought I’d be able to taste the green tea base a little more, but it remains firmly in the background. There’s the tiniest hint of it right at the end of the sip, but in a blind tasting you could tell me this was a pure spearmint tea and I’d probably be none the wiser.
As a fan of spearmint, I really like this one. It’s sweet, clean-tasting, and refreshing, and makes for a very pleasant cup on a warm summer afternoon. I imagine it’d also work well cold brewed, which is something I’ll have to try in the coming weeks. It’s not as punchy as peppermint in terms of flavour, and it lacks the intensely cooling effect that mint sometimes has, so this tea is just the thing if you like your mint a little softer and more gentle. This is a wonderful offering from Kusmi, and well worth a look this summer if you’re in the market for a mint green tea.
