Even though we are in the midst of pumpkin flavored and heavy spiced teas, I still yearn from brighter and more vibrant flavors. Mainly, because in my neck of the woods, the days have certainly been gloomier and more on the rainy side.
The other day I remembered that I had picked up some samples from Amitea Organics, an Etsy Tea Shop. If you aren’t familiar with Amitea Organics, take a moment and check out their wide variety of amazing teas. I’ve been a fan of theirs from the very beginning and just love the flavors they are able to capture with their hand blended creations.
Since this is a green rooibos base blend, I decided to go ahead and brew this tea up with fresh boiled water at 212F and allowed the tea to steep for 5 minutes. With the rest of the flavors being primarily orange zest and safflower petals, I wasn’t worried about any kind of oversteeping.
After allowing the blend to steep for a bit, I also allowed the tea to cool. Took my fist sip and was happily greeted with the warm fresh flavors of orange and a sweet vanilla honey note from the green rooibos base. Sunshine in a Cup is what I’ve nicknamed this tea. This blend is simple yet vibrant and so happy to deliver flavors that are more reminiscent of summer. I wouldn’t say this blend reminds me of a cremsicle but with a bit more orange and vanilla, you probably could easily get there.
I’m a huge fan of all things flavored orange, so this tea was right up my alley. I enjoyed several cups of this tea hot and should have saved a bit for a decent cold brew, but couldn’t resist. The flavors were just so soothing and warming, I just found myself gulping this tea prepped hot down.
This blend is one to keep close for those warm snuggly nights in the not to distant winter future that my area will see. Being one that doesn’t love chai blends, I’m always on the look for blends that give you that warm and fuzzy feeling, and this blend does just that.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: Amitea Organics
Description
Light tasting Green Rooibos makes a fantastic base for just about any flavors and additions. This Orange herbal blend is juicy and fruity. The perfect caffeine free iced tea, or enjoy it piping hot on a cold evening, it won’t keep you awake, and might just soothe you to sleep!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Rocket Fuel from Adagio Teas. . . .
Among the many fandom blends Adagio has to offer, there are a few Adagio collections waiting to be found. One such collection is the Tree House Collection made up of Tea Rex, Monster Brew, and this tea, Rocket Fuel. All the teas come is silk tea satchets stored in colorful tins and all are caffeine free as the lot are meant to be child friendly in look, contents, and taste.
Rocket Fuel is blended with green rooibos tea, apple pieces, raspberry leaves, orange peels, blueberries, natural orange flavor, natural blueberry flavor, marigold flowers & blue cornflowers. I had enough to make this both hot and iced, each steeped for 3 minutes in 200F water.
I tried to start with the hot cup but tbh it was a bit too hot and I didn’t taste very much so this note, I will be starting with the iced tea to give the other time to cool. The main flavor of the iced tea is definitely apple. Apple and the rooibos base which is the very slightest bit woody. I even get the slightest touch of orange peel but not much. More than anything, this is an apple tea.
Hot, the rooibos base is much stronger. In fact, here it is the most prominent flavor, followed by orange peel. The apple comes in at the tailend of the sip to add some sweetness but is not nearly as strong as in the iced tea.
have had this previously, both hot and iced, and remember really enjoying it. The iced tea I remember having a great citrus flavor while the hot was full of berry flavor. However, that was over three years ago and it would see my tastes have changes as these two cups were disappointing and not at all what I remember.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
A powerful tea to provide the energy you need to travel fast and far, and visit new worlds, like Venus and Mars.
blended with green rooibos tea, apple pieces, raspberry leaves, orange peels, blueberries, natural orange flavor, natural blueberry flavor, marigold flowers & blue cornflowers
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jumpin’ Jelly Beans from The NecessiTeas. . . . .
Picture this: it’s Easter. You’re eight years old. You see a big ol’ bowl of jellybeans sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for family members to arrive to celebrate and nosh on.
Now picture this: you’re uncomfortable in your Easter dress. You’ve been at church all day. Your kitchen smells delightful, but you have to wait until everyone comes before you can eat anything. You just want A FEW JELLYBEANS, dangit. So you fish out as many of the green beans as you can find, toss them in your Easter hat and sneak away to have a little pre-dinner aperitif.
And then everyone comes for dinner and no one even questions the lack of green jellybeans in the bowl. If there aren’t any at all, did they ever exist in the bowl in the first place? Mwahaha.
You guys– this tea is a perfect recreation of those sugar-filled springtime holiday memories of yore. I iced my sample of this one, because hello– and that was the right decision. It’s a sweet, fresh, fruity candy-Cherry flavor, and makes for a delightful chilled treat anytime of the day, given its lack of caffeine. I could see this one being a great tea for little ones to sip on, as well. This one reads more like a treat tea than an everyday tea for me, but it was especially delightful and spot-on to the flavors noted. And would probably be a great sipping companion to an Easter-hat filled with green jellybeans. Not like I would know.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
For Lemon-Lovers – #Limoncello from #TheNecessiTeas
Heads up for you lemon-lovers out there, this tea is definitely for you!
The namesake of this tea, Limoncello, is an Italian liqueur made from the zest of lemons. It’s known to be a sweet drink, despite the yellow citrus fruit’s sour reputation. This tea definitely tastes like distilled lemons and keeps the perfect sweet-tart flavor balance of citrus and cream, very much like tart lemon dessert bars with powdered sugar.
In the dry leaf, this tea smells strongly of citrus, but the lemon myrtle in the blend keeps the flavors natural and herbal, rather than smelling too much like lemon cleaning products. Along with all the zesty fruit flavors, there is something creamy and dessert-like in blend as well. Sweetness comes in the form of almost-caramel, brown sugar notes. This tea reminds me of the classic lemon drop candies or even luscious lemon meringue pie.
Despite being a green rooibos tea, this blend still brews up potent and flavorful. This would be a great iced tea lemonade companion, or a great surprise sweetness in an unconventional cocktail. I had to pucker up and kiss this tea goodbye after I blew through my sample size. Order a good size package of this sweet tea, you won’t regret it!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description:
The Italian dessert drink has made its way into a tea. Imagine lemon meringue teasing your taste buds, while sweetly melting in your mouth with a blend of vanilla and brown sugars. The lemony brightness shines through with lemongrass and a sprinkling of golden marigold petals, all topping a green rooibos tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Cookie Tea With A Green Rooibos Base from Simpson and Vail. . . .
I only recently found out about Simpson and Vail. I have really loved each tea ive tried from them. I’m not usually a huge fan a rooibos though. For me, it is almost always a little too “woody” tasting. However, I couldn’t resist getting a little bit of the Caramel Walnut Shortbread Rooibos. Doesn’t it sound divine? Like, I am now debating making a caramel walnut shortbread cookie because the combination just sounds so yummy!
Last night I was up until 4 a.m with my little one. I have an (almost) 8 month old daughter and I don’t know if it’s maybe the whole daylight savings thing or what, but she has been up at all hours of the night and refusing to sleep. Because of my lack of sleep I was dying for a nap, but of course I needed to make a cup of tea first. This was the perfect time to try out a yummy new rooibos blend, as rooibos is naturally caffeine free!
The smell of the dry blend is totally cookies. Caramel cookies with a hint of nuttiness! Even my boyfriend was like “WOW that smells good.” He could smell it from across the kitchen soon as I opened the tin! Super yum. I brewed this tea for about 7 minutes with near boiling water and added just a pinch of agave to bring out the flavors and sweeten it up just a bit.
The smell of the brewed liquid is definitely still caramel and cookies with undertones of nuts and the woody rooibos. However, upon tasting this tea I was surprised that it was pleasantly smooth and did not have that wood-taste that usually comes with rooibos. The rooibos was mellow and just in the background. Caramel cookies and nuttiness was definitely in the forefront. This was a great after-dinner/dessert blend. It evokes the sense of comfort and makes me want to curl up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and a good book. Definitely worth trying!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Featuring another delicious caffeine-free addition to our Dessert Tea line. This new blend was easy for us to agree on. This Green Rooibos blend brews to an amber cup with a nutty, buttery taste and deep caramel overtones. A delectable brew that needs no sweeteners.
When I asked Jim for his feedback on this blend he gave it to me along with this “4 out of 4 people recommend this. I know usually it’s 4 out 5 but we didn’t like the 5th person’s comments so we threw his results out and him in the quarry”. I think this caffeine free blend might be just what Jim needs this afternoon!
Ingredients: Organic Green Rooibos, flavoring, safflower blossoms, and orange blossoms.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
