Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: The Art of Tea
Tea Description:
One of Art of Tea’s most popular offerings, this delectable dessert infusion is sweet and flavorful with notes of honey, caramel, and fresh baked pear.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the teas that was included with the Steepster Select box for August … which also happens to be the last box in this Steepster Select Program. I’m a little sad about this program coming to an end … it seems like two of my favorite subscriptions – Foodzie and Steepster Select – are ending at just about the same time.
For the final box, Steepster decided to go with the theme “Founder Favorites” and feature three teas/tisanes that the men who brought us Steepster consider favorites. The theme card says
Steepster is filled with amazing opinions from thousands of avid tea drinkers, but wanted to share a few of our own. This month we bring you three favorites of the guys behind Steepster. Teas that inspired us, evolved our tastes, and made us fall in love with tea all over again.
These past 12 boxes have been a great ride for us. Thanks for all our support and see you soon. – Jason, Jack, Mike and Ricky
I’ve tried two out of the three teas/tisanes featured in this month’s box, including this one. But, I don’t mind, because these teas are such excellent selections that I don’t mind having them in my stash once again!
As I said, I’ve tried and reviewed this tisane previously, and to be honest, my opinion of it has not changed. It still tastes just like pear … I would swear that I can even feel the texture of the pear in every sip. It is so true to the fruit. And I love that it tastes like baked pear. So YUM!
Even if you don’t really care for rooibos, this is a blend that I’d recommend trying. It has such a sweet, delicious taste, that you will forget that you’re drinking rooibos (you don’t really taste much of the rooibos anyway!) A stunning dessert tea – you’d swear it was loaded with calories! But it’s not! Yummy!
Starry Night from Art of Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & White
Where to Buy: Art of Tea
Product Description:
Pour the night sky into your cup. Organic Assam black tea combined with natural soothing vanilla bits along with star-shaped white tea.
Taster’s Review:
This is a tea that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. What can I say, I’m a huge fan of Vincent Van Gogh, and Starry Night is my favorite painting of all time. It has such beautiful emotion – the brushstrokes speak to me in a way no other painting ever has.
But you didn’t come here to read about my love of art (unless we’re talking about my love of Art of Tea!)
This is a fascinating tea. The black tea is a stout Assam, which can pose some interesting complications when paired with a white tea. I chose to steep it at a middle-ground temperature (180° F) and steep it for just 3 minutes.
The result is delightful! Although I don’t get much noticeable flavor from the white tea (that’s not to say I cannot taste it because it’s there, but it is something that I really need to focus on intently to detect it), the Assam tea is so deliciously flavorful that it would seem rather ungrateful to be complaining about the white tea not being prominent.
There is a rich malty tone to the Assam – and it has been flavored with vanilla and the vanilla lends a creaminess to the malty note that is rather irresistible! This is an excellent, full-flavored Assam that has a toothsome quality to it and a hint of baked flavor in the background.
A smooth, bold tea that despite its name, is not a tea that I’d recommend sipping in the evening – unless drinking a strong, caffeinated tea in the later hours of the day would not keep you stirring at bedtime! It would take the additions of milk and honey very well, although it is quite nice without them too. I personally like my Assam tea with a drizzle of honey or agave nectar because it can be a little harsh without sweetener, but, with the vanilla here, it doesn’t really need it! It definitely has an EDGE to it, but, it isn’t hard to handle.
I love this tea!
Summer Rain from Art of Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Art of Tea
Company Description:
The taste of fresh sliced melon washes the palate and refreshes the spirit. A special blend of organic white tea with all the antioxidant power that white tea leaves have to offer and fresh cantaloupe essence and jasmine. Perfect as an iced tea or after a meal.
Taster’s Review:
Fig orchard! Yes, that is what I think of when I smell this brewed tea (especially when chilled!)
As far as I know, there are no figs in it, but, there is something about the aroma of this tea that mentally transports me to the fig orchard that I spent many an hour in as a young child, picking sun-ripened figs and eating them right there in the orchard.
Weird, right?
But, I do want to clarify – this tea DOES NOT taste like figs. It doesn’t even really smell like figs. There is just something in the aroma that brought that memory to the surface for me.
The white tea base is – not surprisingly – rather delicate but I can definitely taste it – it tastes refreshing and light. There is a pleasant balance between tea and melon taste. The melon tastes juicy and sweet – a very pleasant fruity taste that complements some of the softer features of the white tea.
As tasty as the melon flavor is here, there is a part of me that wishes it were not quite so strong so that I could taste more of the jasmine, which just sort of lingers – whispering ever so softly – in the background. It is a nice touch, but, this jasmine lover wants just a little more of jasmine’s sweet song to dance upon my palate.
This is a delicious blend that is very refreshing. It is very good hot, but, I strongly suggest trying it iced. It’s truly amazing as an iced tea and has become one of my FAVORITE teas to serve iced. And I’ve tried a lot of teas!
French Lemon Ginger Tea from Art of Tea
Tea Type: Honeybush
Where To Buy: Art of Tea
Product Description: A breath of fresh air! This organic ambrosia is the answer to a clean fresh cup. Combining lemon verbena, lemongrass, botanicals, and ginger complimented with the sweetness of South African honeybush.
Tasters Review:
I’m not normally a fan of ginger in teas…at least most of the time I am not. French Lemon Ginger from Art of Tea may have just changed my mind. USUALLY I have found most ginger teas to be too fierce for me…but I will say this one is darned good! It’s a smooth taste. There is just a bit more lemon than ginger and they are in perfect harmony! There’s the slightest bit of Honeybush in the actual blend but wouldn’t suggest any more! This is the perfect amount of that, too! This one blew my doors off! I was totally surprised by this and think it’s just darling!
Organic Ginger Matcha from Art of Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where To Buy: Art of Tea
Company Description:
An essential blend in any chef’s kitchen. Sweet Green Matcha with freshly ground ginger. Also great as an ice blended beverage.
Taster’s Review:
This is a delicious flavored Matcha, one of several different teas from Art of Tea that I’ve been enjoying lately (more reviews to come!)
Because this is not a ceremonial grade Matcha, it does have a little more bitterness to it than a ceremonial grade Matcha, but, with the spicy bite of the ginger, that bitterness seems to work well. The natural sweetness of the matcha also curbs some of the bitter flavor as well. It is a very delicious combination of flavors.
What really makes this Matcha stand out is the ginger. It offers a nice kick of warm spice to the cup (err… chawan), yet it doesn’t overwhelm the sweet-bitter Matcha flavor. And, if you like ginger (and I do!) every once in a while, I come across a tiny piece of ginger in the cup. Bite into it for a peppery punch! Yum!
The description of this tea provided on the Art of Tea website (above) promotes it as an ingredient for cooking as well as a beverage. Here’s a simple but delicious smoothie that I made with this Matcha:
- 6 oz. vanilla yogurt (I used organic yogurt, and I have also used Kefir instead of yogurt and it is also quite delicious!)
- 1 medium sized banana
- Frozen Peach slices (I used 5 slices of frozen peaches)
- 2 scoops (heaping chashaku scoops) Ginger Matcha from Art of Tea
I first blended the yogurt and peaches together to ensure that the peaches were adequately blended throughout the yogurt, and then I added the two heaping scoops of Ginger Matcha. It does blend up to be a funky green color, sort of like split pea soup or maybe baby food peas, but, if you can look past the color of the smoothie, you’ll be in for a treat.