Tea Information:
Tea Product: Cold Brew Infuser
Where to Buy: Country Line Kitchen
Tea Description:
- Make your own cold brewed coffee easily and without the mess in our two quart mason jar brewing system. Components are easy to clean and dishwasher safe.
- Made with high quality, BPA free materials. Includes a Ball brand jar and lid, heavy duty stainless steel filter and silicone seal. Includes an instruction manual with several pages of recipes!
- Uses a versatile and durable mason jar for brewing. No fragile borosilicate glass or plastic containers. Add your own mason jar to store your cold brewed coffee while making a fresh batch.
- The extra large filter allows a 1:3 coffee to water ratio that results in a strong coffee concentrate. In addition, the silicone seal allows the jar to be shaken during brewing to ensure thorough wetting of the grounds to extract the maximum intensity from the coffee.
- Also makes a great loose leaf tea infuser and fruit infuser. Make a batch of delicious sun tea or infuse ½ gallon of water with your favorite fruits!
Learn more about this tea product here.
Taster’s Review:
Who doesn’t love a fresh crisp glass of cold brewed tea? The problem is that I haven’t found the best way to go about making it. Sure you can just dump some tea leaves into a vessel of you choice and put it in the fridge overnight. But the problem with doing that is the mess that it creates afterwards. Tea leaves always end up in your tea and you have to scoop out the remaining leaves and wash and rewash the vessel to make sure it is clean. Hence, it is a pain but the tea tastes amazing. Cold brewed tea allows the tea leaves to really explode with flavor and sometimes hidden flavors that you couldn’t taste in a hot brewed tea will become more pronounced.
Welcome to my teaware family this wonderful 2 QT Mason Jar Infuser! Yes, the main purpose for this infuser is to make iced coffee but I have to say I haven’t even tried iced coffee yet in this delight. I am just addicted to the cold brew tea I have been devouring over the last week.
The concept is quite simple. A giant (very cool looking) Mason Jar with a filter that runs the full length of the jar and a plastic lid. That is it. Put your tea leaves into the fine mesh filter, fill with fresh cold water, screw on the lid, and wait. 8-10 hours (or less depending on your preference) and you have yourself some wonderful cold brew tea. I have been cold brewing teas like mad and loving the flavors and undertones that I hadn’t picked up from the tea when I drank it hot. I have also found that some teas that I may not have necessarily cared for taste amazing cold brewed, giving me a chance to drink down some teas I have been neglecting in the back of the ol tea stash.
I actually used the same leaves for almost a week, just continuously pouring in fresh water and allowing the tea to sit for a while. To clean the infuser all you have to do is scoop out the tea leaves in the filter, toss them in the garbage or garden, and clean the glass jar. That is it. No harder than cleaning any other kind of infuser.
A really great way to enjoy your tea and the fact that the get up is easy to clean and easily fits in your fridge (another bonus!), just makes this product even more enduring to me. I’m buying another one so we can have one for coffee and one for tea but I have a feeling I’ll be just using the second infuser for more tea!
Asobu Ice Tea Infuser Glass Water Bottle To-Go
Tea Ware:
Where to Buy: Amazon
Tea Description:
- 14-Ounce Iced Tea Infuser Glass Water Bottle
- Made of heat resistant, insulated glass
- Removable top and bottom lids for easy use with loose tea leaf
- A great Tea thermos and mug
- Dishwasher safe 100% BPA free
Taster’s Review:
Sometimes we get so excited about the tea we drink that we don’t chat about the amazing pieces of tea ware that are out there. Recently I picked up a few and some of them have really impressed me. As a tea enthusiasts who has to constantly re-organize her kitchen and desk at work because of all the tea ware she gets, I always love hearing what others pick up that help me brew up my favorite beverage. This particular bottle is one of those pieces.
This cold brewing bottle is fantastic. Easy to use, easy to clean, as far as I’ve experienced-leak proof, and most important of all- the easiest way to cold brew tea that I’ve come across so far. I love cold brew tea but I didn’t have a great way to do it. I came across this bottle and instantly bought it.
The bottle itself is super easy to put into action. This bottle comes in a few pieces, a top lid, a bottom infuser, and a lid for the bottom of the bottom, plus the bottle itself. All you need to do to create delicious cold brew tea is unscrew the infuser bottom basket, add in your loose leaf tea (more than you would for brewing your typical hot tea), put the infuser into the bottom of the basket with the opening facing out, screw on the lid, flip the bottle over (make sure that bottom lid is screwed on tight), and screw the lid on. Place the bottle in your fridge overnight. When you wake up, you’ll have fresh cold brew tea. Simple and easy without having to have several pieces of tea ware to get the desired effect. What is even better is that the bottle is a nice size and it fits perfectly into the side of my laptop bag or in my purse. It can also double as a fruit infuser if you are in the mood for more of just a plain fruit flavored water.
Such a great tool and I’m so glad to have it. Cold brewing tea can sometimes draw out hidden flavors in your tea that you couldn’t pick up brewed hot. It is also a great way to use up any extra tea that is hanging out in your tea stash since you have to use more tea than when you brew hot.
I’ve been using this bottle for cold brew for about 2 weeks now and have found that I have been reaching for the bottle to make iced or cold brew tea more than my tea pots. Just a fun piece to have!
Product Review: White Chocolate with Jumpy Monkey Yerba Mate from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate/Chocolate
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
Looking for a rich and decadent pick-me-up? Check out this deliciously creamy chocolate bar, a combination of the finest imported white chocolate and our java-spiked Jumpy Monkey tea. With yerba mate, cocoa nibs and coffee beans, it makes for an exotic taste of the rainforest at its finest. Made in partnership with a Montreal chocolatier.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve had this tea before as a latte, and as far as I can remember it wasn’t too impressive. Kind of run of the mill, actually? However I was still pretty pumped to see it in chocolate bar format at the store yesterday because, first off, I love white chocolate though also because even though I’m not a huge fan of coffee I have a special place in my heart for white chocolate coated coffee beans. My Dad used to buy them in bulk, and late at night I’d sneak into the kitchen (when I was around eleven) and eat small handfuls out of the bag in the pantry. And of course, I’d have problems falling asleep after that…
However, this is a slight let down if I’m being honest. I mean, the white chocolate is really good! I love the white chocolate that DAVIDsTEA uses for these chocolate bars. The problem, for me, is that it really over powers the flavour of the tea/coffee. It doesn’t help part of the profile of this tea is white chocolate in the first place. I’m conflicted by this. One thing I dislike about DAVIDsTEA’s chocolate bars is that the infused chunks are often too large but in this rare occasion I really wanted more large pieces because without them the tea is lost. I wish there was a better way to ensure a more consistent size for the pieces used in these chocolate bars, but I don’t know what the best way to go about finding it would be. However, it does at least seems like DAVIDsTEA is trying to do that because these newer bars do at least seem to consistently use smaller pieces and I know that was something that was really being criticized prior to the change. So I commend them for that.
But without the flavour of the tea, this is just a super expensive white chocolate bar.
Review: The Tea Book by Linda Gaylard
Book Information:
Where to Buy: Dorling Kindersley
Description:
Where does tea come from? With DK‘s The Tea Book, learn where in the world tea is cultivated and how to drink each variety at its best, with steeping notes and step-by-step recipes. Visit tea plantations from India to Kenya, recreate a Japanese tea ceremony, discover the benefits of green tea, or learn how to make the increasingly popular Chai tea. Exploring the spectrum of herbal, plant, and fruit infusions, as well as tea leaves, this is a comprehensive guide for all tea lovers.
Learn more about this book here.
Review:
Linda Gaylard’s The Tea Book is the kind of book I’ve been looking for a long time. From the time I first started drinking tea “seriously”, I’ve been reading books about it as well. Many were disappointing for various reasons – too short, too brief, too perfunctory, too basic. Even after spending hours looking online, I hadn’t really come up with anything close to what I wanted, which was a book that would provide not only the introductory stuff, but also some more detailed information about the different types of tea, growing regions, varieties from those regions and their characteristics, and maybe a little about tea rituals in those places. I’d pretty much given up hope of finding such a book – until now!
The Tea Book is all these things and more. Written by Tea Sommelier Linda Gaylard, it’s a definitive guide to tea and tea drinking – perfect for both beginners and more experienced tea connoisseurs. Split into 5 sections, the book begins with a chapter on what tea actually is, discussing the Camellia Sinensis plant, its growth and terroir, harvest and production and a quick overview of the various varieties. The second chapter looks at brewing – comparing loose tea and tea bags, storage methods, water, and equipment, and provding some rule-of-thumb preparation guidance for green, white, oolong, black, pu’erh, and yellow teas. The third chapter looks in more depth at the history of tea, and the different tea producing countries and regions. This was the most fascinating section for me, as it also outlines the various tea rituals of the world and a step-by-step guide to performing them. It’s not just the big three of China, India and Japan, either – less well known tea producing nations such as Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia are also featured. Tisanes have a chapter all of their own, with sections on roots, barks, flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds.
The final section of the book is dedicated to recipes, featuring both tisanes which can be created from scratch (i.e. Fennel, Lemongrass and Pear, Spring is Here, Rosehip, Ginger and Lemon, etc.), and recipes using various tea varieties (i.e. Salted Caramel Assam, Matcha Latte, Spicy Ceylon, etc.) In depth instructions are provided for the creation of Iced Tea, Kombucha, Masala Chai and Bubble Tea. It really is a fascinating section, with a lot of inspiring ideas, and more than proves that tea can be so much more than just a few leaves and some water.
I’ve spent many happy hours perusing this book, and I’ve learnt things I’d never otherwise have known. The standard of photography throughout is excellent – clear, illustratively useful in the step-by-steps, and sometimes just plain mouth-watering! If there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to know about tea, doubtless you’ll find the answer here. It’s a great book, containing a wealth of information and inspiration. I’d consider it a worthy addition to any tea fanatic’s bookshelf.
Product Review: Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh by Cheribundi
Product Information:
Product: Ready-to-Drink Black Tea Beverage
Where to Buy: Cheribundi
Product Description:
We made our name with juices that pack 45 tart cherries into each bottle. Though we love these products, one gets the urge to spread their all-natural-juice-loving wings once in a while. This time, our juice makers looked east. To the far east, to be exact.
To the source of fine black tea. The range of benefits in black tea have been touted for centuries. It’s the perfect partner for the nutrients in our cherries.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love summertime. I love the longer days, the hot weather, the chance to dip my toes in the ocean, and the visits to the Farmer’s Market. Going to my local Farmer’s Market might be my favorite thing, especially when the cherries arrive. For a few short, wonderful weeks there is a plethora of lovely bright red cherries at many of the stalls, and I buy several bags of them for my family to enjoy. In my opinion they are one of the perfect summer fruits. Unfortunately, cherry season is very short here, so I’m often left looking for something with a real cherry taste that I can continue to enjoy throughout the summer. Thanks to Cheribundi I’ve found not only a great cherry drink, but a great cherry tea. Win!
Cheribundi’s Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh is made from fresh pressed cherries and fresh brewed black tea. The flavor is simply amazing. The cherry juice and tea are well balanced. The tea is brisk while having some depth. There’s a bit of a malt flavor that pairs well with the cherry. The cherry juice gives the tea some sweetness, but since tart cherries are used it’s not an overly sweet flavor. I enjoyed the balance that Cheribundi managed to achieve with this drink. I like that I was drinking a high quality black tea with a super fruity cherry kick. This is so much better than many of the cherry teas I’ve tried that either ended up tasting like cough syrup (yuck.) or highly artificial and candy-like. Having real cherry juice in my iced tea is an absolute yes for me. Now that I’ve tried it I can’t believe I haven’t been drinking this for years!
If you are a fan of cherries then I highly recommend trying this drink. The quality of the tea is top notch, and the added cherry juice adds a refreshing twist on an already tasty beverage. Well done, Cheribundi!
