Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Purchased from Mint Tea
Product Available Online at Strand Tea
Tea Description:
Premium Ceylon Black Tea with all Natural Apple Bits, Orange Peel, Currants, Cinnamon, Almond Flakes, Cloves and Safflowers.
This tea fills the room with enticing scents and brews a delightful rich cup of tea.
Taster’s Review:
A few weeks ago, I visited Mint Tea in Vancouver, Washington with my oldest daughter. We had a lovely lunch, and this is the tea I enjoyed with my delicious salad. When we left, I couldn’t help but pick up a pouch of this tea to enjoy at home. While there, the friendly cashier told me that their teas were procured from Strand Tea, and this is where this tea can be purchased online, if you don’t happen to be visiting Vancouver any time soon.
This is a delicious black tea blend. It has quite a bit going on, but somehow it all seems to work together. The dry leaf is very visually appealing, with big chunks of apple and orange peel, whole currants, slivers of almond and cinnamon chips, and whole cloves. It smells delightful, warm and spicy with a yummy fruit undertone.
Once brewed, the aroma becomes much more muted, but it is very flavorful. The black tea sometimes seems a little lost amid all these fruits, nuts and spices, however, I do taste it. Its there, in the background, but sometimes it does seem that the other flavors – especially the spices – overwhelm it.
The cinnamon and cloves present the strongest flavors here, followed by a lovely orange note and a hint of almond. The currant and apple are much softer, but if I really focus on the sip, I taste them.
Even though the spices and orange are the strongest notes, I wouldn’t consider this to be a typical orange spice tea, because it isn’t. The flavors of an orange spice are indeed there, but, it is much mellower than the standard orange spice tea.
This is a very enjoyable cup of tea, and makes a nice tea to sip with lunch or in the afternoon, when you want a lighter cup. It would also make a very refreshing iced tea!
Eternal Life from Element Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green & White
Where to Buy: Element Tea
Product Description:
The varieties of Green tea in this blend will truly have you living a long life. This mild and subtle tea is the perfect way to start the day!
Ingredients: Green Tea -China Sencha -Ming Mee, -Pai MU Tan, -Gunpowder, -Jiaogulan, -China Wu Wu, Flavoring, Jasmine Blossoms, Red and Black Currants, Cornflower Blossoms, Apricot Bits
Taster’s Review:
I am really liking this! I am usually somewhat skeptical when it comes to “flavored” jasmine teas – that is, jasmine teas that have additional fruit or flower flavors – because I worry that the jasmine notes will be overwhelmed by the other flavors. But that didn’t happen here.
The jasmine flavor is delicate, but, I like that I can taste its sweet floral essence. The jasmine doesn’t taste soapy. It offers a whisper of jasmine that remains throughout the sip and then lingers on the palate in the aftertaste. The lovely floral presence in the aftertaste is especially nice.
The combination of currants and apricot offers a delicious fruity tone to this cup without it being too strong. The apricot is sweet and the currants give this a little tartness and a very pleasing depth to the flavor.
This is a very well-balanced cup. The fruit and the flower come together very nicely and do not compete for the attention. The green tea is a very light taste, but it lends a sense of freshness to the cup with its delicate grassy note. If I were to offer any complaint about this, it would be that the Pai Mu Tan is practically indistinguishable amongst these other flavors. Occasionally, I do taste a very distinct white tea taste, but, it is just a momentary glimpse, and disappears just as quickly as it appears, never appearing very often.
That being said, I am very pleased with this tea. It is very flavorful and would make an excellent iced tea for these warm summer months! It is equally as nice hot. A lovely selection from Element Tea!
Hibiscus Berry from Rishi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Product Description:
Luscious currants and delicious forest berries complement this fruity and balanced blend with a wonderful scarlet red infusion that refreshes and rejuvenates.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve said on several occasions, I’m not a big fan of hibiscus. Generally speaking, it is too tart for my personal taste. But, I know that some people out there love the stuff (otherwise, the tea companies wouldn’t be selling it, right?) so when I decided to give this tisane a try, I did so on the premise that I would be fair and objective about the tisane and try not to let my own personal feelings get in the way.
But you know what? I’m actually enjoying this! I am surprised that I am actually enjoying it.
I steeped it for just five minutes. I find that steeping hibiscus-laden tisanes any longer results in a very thick, syrupy, tart cup. But, five minutes is just long enough to extract flavor and a little bit of body out of the hibiscus without going overboard on the tartness.
And while this IS a tart tisane, it isn’t too tart. I don’t pucker up when I take a sip, but I do feel that sourness hit the back of my tongue – and its ALMOST a pucker. I did add a dollop of honey and I am sure that helped to curb the tartness a bit, but it also did something else too; it added definition to the blueberry, currant and mango flavors.
I love that I can taste the sweetness of the mango, and the thickness from the hibiscus makes the mango flavor almost nectar-like! I can also taste the blueberry peeking through. It’s a very flavorful, fruity cup and it is one that I am sure kids will LOVE (and this is much better for them than soda pop, even with the honey!)
So, it just goes to show you, don’t let the name of a tea affect your decision to try it. If I had done that, I wouldn’t be drinking this tea right now, and I am liking it!
Black Currant from TeaGschwendner
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: TeaGschwendner
Product Description:
These lovely summer berries are immensely popular in Europe. Ready for a continental treat?
Ingredients: Black tea from India, black currant leaves, black currants and flavor.
Taster’s Review:
When I first opened the package of this tea, my nose was met with a lovely berry aroma. It smelled juicy and delicious!
But I was a little disappointed with the first couple of sips. I wasn’t getting nearly the currant flavor that the fragrance led me to believe I would. The first few sips tasted mostly of black tea with mere hints of black currant flavor and a slightly tart finish.
However, as I continued to make my way to mid-cup, I found that the flavor intensified. It is still a little softer than I had hoped but it is much nicer now than at the start.
I believe the black tea base is a Ceylon. I base this on the flavor – it is very even-toned, with a smooth and mellow taste. It is not an aggressive flavor, but, I happen to think that is a good thing, because if this were a stronger tea, it would probably overwhelm the black currant flavor altogether.
The black currant flavor is delicate but pleasant. It has a delicious taste that reminds me a bit of my favorite tea cake (which I haven’t had in quite some time) which is laden with black currants… it leads me to believe that this tea would be a fantastic choice to serve with shortbread cookies or some other butter-rich pastry-like treat.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this cuppa, but it isn’t one that I would consider a favorite.
Black Currant Bai Mu Dan from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Company Description:
Sometimes I think white tea is not as much fun as the others. It’s such a delicate and subtle flavor to begin with that it doesn’t lend itself to things like chocolate peanut butter cup. What DOES pair well with it are nice sweet fruits, like black currant.
Taster’s Review:
52Teas is one of my favorite tea companies. Why? Well, there are several reasons. They offer a new flavor every week, and these flavors are usually just a little bit out of the ordinary. And, perhaps most importantly for me, they offer these new and unusual teas in a quantity that I can feel comfortable about buying – 1 or 2 ounce pouches, depending upon the type of tea, and they are easy to store and are re-sealable. This is the perfect amount of tea for this tea reviewer because it’s not a huge commitment, but it is just enough to taste the tea several times to determine whether I like it enough to sit down and write about it, and it’s also enough to share some with my SororiTEA Sister, Jennifer.
All of this, and their prices are reasonable too – usually just $7.99 per 2 ounce package (and did I mention that the shipping is free?)
All of these reasons really wouldn’t add up to much, though, if the teas didn’t taste good. And I must say, while I have tasted quite a few of 52Teas offerings, I’ve yet to try one that disappoints me – and more often than not, I am very pleasantly surprised by them.
This is one tea that really surprised me. I held off buying it for a while because I’ve never really considered myself to be much of a fan of black currants (although, I don’t know why, as I love black currants in tea cakes and most of the black currant teas that I’ve tasted have been delicious). I am glad that I finally gave in to my curiosity and tried it, because it is really quite good.
The fruit flavor is vibrant and yet it does not overpower the delicate flavor of the Bai Mu Dan. It is sweet and refreshing – especially when served chilled. This is one of my newest favorite iced teas! It is much tastier than any of those RTD bottled teas out there – and the best part is that because you brew it yourself, you can control the amount of sweetener you add to it, or you can choose to not sweeten it at all! I do add just a little bit of agave nectar to mine, because this really brings the fruity flavors into focus plus I can taste some of the sweet, delicate notes of the white tea just a little better.
Another outstanding tea from 52Teas!