“Malty rolled Yunnan tea with sweet lemon pastry and a vanilla glaze”. With a description like that, I was drooling long before I cut open the package to get into the Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Tea in A Quarter to Tea’s teabox. Easily one of the most underrated muffins, people don’t think much about the Lemon Poppyseed flavor until its put in front of them. And yet it’s always a pleasure when you have it so I was definitely intrigued to say the least.
I opened the package and was immediately enveloped in the smell of lemon poppyseed muffins. Bright and fresh yet also a touch sweet…and that’s just the scent of the dry leaf.
Upon my first taste, I’m impressed more than anything at how this captured “muffin”. It’s not baked goods. It’s not pastry. Somehow this is 100% a distinctly muffin tea. Not just any muffin either. It’s a fresh baked lemon poppyseed muffin, just out of the oven on a Sunday morning. The black tea is the perfect bready base while the lemon is soft and sweet. Somehow even the mouthfeel is thick enough (without being overwhelming) to sell the concept of “lemon poppyseed muffin”. Plus, the touch of vanilla is the icing on top of the cake…well, muffin. Smooth and gently creamy.
Honestly, this tea so accurately captures its namesake that I am half expecting to have to pick poppyseeds out of my teeth later. While some lemon teas can border on the edge of cleaning products, this manages to keep everything so perfectly balanced. It is a blast from the past and yet it’s making for one tasty present. Yum!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
This tea is sold out but more information can be found below.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Maple Vanilla Earl Grey from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
Today I got to thinking about fun ways to make teas. Lately I have been experimenting. Cold brewing in chocolate milk. Topping iced teas with lemonade. I have been having fun playing with my teas. So when I had a Vanilla Frosty in my freezer from Wendy’s that seemed daunting to eat on its own, I thought to myself, “what can I do with this?” Well, an affogato came to mind.
For those of you that don’t know what I am talking about, an affogato is an Italian dessert that typically takes the form of a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream topped with a shot of hot espresso. Mine, on the other hand, took the form of two scoops of Vanilla Frosty topped with tea. Maple Vanilla Earl Grey tea by A Quarter to Tea to be specific. Why that tea? Well all recipes I looked at online suggested using strong flavored teas like chais or earl greys. I went with what I had readily available and the Maple Vanilla Earl Grey Affogato was born.
Since I have never had an affogato made by someone who knows what they’re doing I am not sure if this is right but I am sure it is good. It’s more a drink than a dessert you could eat with a spoon but there is a little ball of frosty still present. The liquid is so rich and creamy. Obviously it has a ton of silky vanilla flavor given both the frosty and the tea have vanilla flavoring. More than just the vanilla, there is a distinct maple sweetness that is a little more earthy than the vanilla but still very sweet as well as a little bit of a honeyed quality coming from the rooibos. The bergamot, for those that don’t like it very much, is actually really lovely here because it just adds a bit of brightness to counteract the other sweeter elements while the black tea base and cinnamon work to do the same thing in their own ways by adding some spice and some softer tea flavors. It’s really quite delightful because you get both the flavor of the frosty and the tea distinctly but at the same time they work together so nicely making for a delectably creamy and flavorful treat.
All in all, I would say this was one successful experiment if for no other reason than the affogato was gone in under five minutes. Seriously, i just kept drinking and actually finished the affogato before I finished the review. Oops.
Ultimately I am not sure how successful this tea would be on its own as I used the whole sample I had for the affogato but used the way it was here, this tea was certainly a home run.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
A brisk cup of Earl Grey, mellowed with the sweetness of maple and the smoothness of vanilla with still giving you that satisfying bergamot punch that makes Earl Grey so special
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
On Wisconsin from A Quarter To Tea. . . . Part Two
I have actually written a previous review about On Wisconsin by A Quarter to Tea, the tasty honey cheesecake tea. For that reason, this review is more about a tea experiment I did with On Wisconsin as opposed to the tea itself.
For a while I have been obsessing over iced lattes. I have tried and tried but can never get my iced tea lattes to be as rich and creamy as the ones you get at places like Starbucks (though I think that because Starbucks uses whole milk loaded with syrup). Instead mine are almost watery. As a result, I have been searching the internet, reading recipes and watching YouTube videos, trying to get new and inspiring ideas for iced lattes. I came across one video by The Domestic Geek called 5 Fave Iced Coffee Hacks which has 5 tasty looking ideas that could easily be adapted for iced tea lattes.
One hack that really caught my attention was the third hack for Inside Out Lattes. For this hack, The Domestic Goddess made ice cubes out of coffee and chocolate syrup. She filled a mug with the coffee ice cubes and topped it with milk. Since I don’t drink coffee, I followed her lead but made my ice cubes out of a concentrate of On Wisconsin tea. I made the cubes by steeping the tea per the recommended parameters but using about 3-4 times the amount of leaf suggested. I then poured the concentrate into the ice cube tray and left them to set in the freezer overnight.
Once the cubes were set, I took the hack a step further and decided to blend my tea ice cubes with the milk. I used about 5 cubes to about a 1/2 a cup of milk but it was too thick so I added about another 1/2 a cup of milk. Then something weird happened as the icy milk foam separated to the top of the glass and the milky tea separated to the bottom. After some aggressive stirring to combine the foam and the tea, I was still surprised at how loose the tea tasted. I expected a smoothie-like or iced Aroma type consistency and instead it tasted like cold, milky tea. Personally I blame my ratio of cubes to milk but also the use of the On Wisconsin tea which has a strong honey flavor that competes with the milk as opposed to mixing with it.
Ultimately the experiment turned out good but not great. I think next time I need less cubes but also I think a different tea would improve the results drastically. My guess is a chocolate tea would suit this type of thing better. Though this is definitely an improvement from other iced lattes I have tried in the past as milky tea in an iced latte is better than watery tea in an iced latte so at least I am working in the right direction.
Tropical Peach Bellini from A Quarter To Tea. . .
Peach Bellinis were my drink as a young teenager just discovering alcohol. At first I only drank the frozen slush kind that tasted more like candy than it did a cocktail. Then I went to Venice, Italy and tried their take on a Peach Bellini which was a more adult combination of Peach Nectar and Prosecco (if I am remembering correctly).
Unfortunately, the hot tea tastes like neither. It is a sweeter tea and though there are underlying fruity vibes that lean towards peach, the mao fang takes over making this more vegetal than fruit. Also, I hoped for more mango to make this feel tropical but that isn’t coming through very clearly either.
The iced tea is just more of the same. I give this points for consistency but that also means that, like the hot tea, I am left wanting more. More peach. More bellini. More tropical. More of something other than a sort of generic and slightly fruity green tea.
Though the base is nice and the fruity vibes are pleasant, it is not selling the Tropical Peach Bellini flavor I was promised by the name. I wanted to like this one but, for me, it fell a bit flat.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Like a Bellini but better. A touch of mango and mao fang sweetness make this a 2018 treat.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Earl of Time from A Quarter To Tea. . .
Up to today’s bat is the Earl of Time, a Quarter To Tea blend that blends a black Earl Grey with vanilla and black currant.
I’m not sure why it’s called Earl of Time, but I SUSPECT it’s because Earl Grey got a message from a Time Lord to add these inclusions for a COMPELLING BREW.
Time Lord: “Listen, I’m from 3030, and Skynet just figured out a bangin’ way to make your trademark beverage a little more exciting.” Earl Grey: “My trademark beverage? I just throw a little bit of citrus into my black tea.” Time Lord: “Believe it or not, that’s going to be YOUR THING. You will be known through ALL OF TIME for that one thing.” Earl Grey: “What about my charity work? My metal band? My hand-tatted doilies?” Time Lord: “No.” Earl Grey: “My way with words? The fact that I am an expert cat cuddler?” Time Lord: “None of that makes it to the future.” Earl Grey: “So I’m just… like… a spritz of bergamot?” Time Lord: “And now… some vanilla and black currant. Try it.” Earl Grey: “That’s DELICIOUS! So creamy! That berry flavor, with the slight citrus edge! WOW! I might write a poem about it.” Time Lord: “It’ll be forgotten to the sands of time, but sure, I mean, go ahead.” Earl Grey: “Roses are red / violets are blue / I like this tea / and so might you.”
(illustration by Super Starling herself!)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
A fun and fruity twist on the classic Earl Grey! This one features black currant, vanilla, with that classical satisfying punch of bergamot.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
