Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Flower
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A flowery tea that tastes clean and perfumy with a natural rosy aroma: Made from 100 percent genuine organic rosebuds and naturally dried to retain all the health benefits. A delicious and soothing cup to enjoy on a quiet afternoon or after a yoga session.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a LONG while since I’ve had a pure rose tea like this one … so long that I can’t even remember when the last time was!
And I love the flavor of steeped rosebuds!
What makes this particular Rose Flower Tea from Teasenz so special is that it’s organic. The rosebuds are whole, gorgeous rosebuds. They aren’t crushed nor are they just petals. These are the whole, young rosebuds, clipped before they’ve had a chance to open up and bloom.
I steeped these beautiful, fragrant rosebuds in 190°F for six minutes. And the result is a golden amber cup of sweet, floral deliciousness that smells as wonderful as it tastes.
The flavor is sweet and floral. It tastes distinctly of rose without tasting like a cup of perfume. It’s light and refreshing and aromatic, and there’s something so soothing and relaxing when I sip it. And I like it hot or chilled – the flavor is superb!
Snow Chrysanthemum Flower Tea (Xue Ju Hua Cha) from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Flower
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A ‘heavenly’ rare flower tea that is grown only in the Kunlun mountains, where slow flower growth results in a delicious flower taste with notes of caramel and dark red tea liquor. Snow Chrysanthemum flower tea contains high amounts of amino acids and proteins, which are beneficial to your health by lowering blood sugar, reducing high cholesterol, and preventing heart diseases. A Teasenz favorite.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have tried a few chrysanthemum teas in the past, but I have never tried a chrysanthemum tea like this Snow Chrysanthemum tea from Teasenz. The flowers are dark red – burgundy! – the chrysanthemum teas I’ve had in the past have been white, and the petals are yellow. The aroma of the dry flowers is (not surprisingly!) floral and sweet.
The tea brews up dark. After reading more of the information provided about this tea on the website, I may have oversteeped these flowers, since it says that you should stop steeping when the liquid turns slightly red. This liquid has a deep burgundy hue similar to the color of the centers of the flowers. (For point of reference, I steeped these for five minutes.)
But the flavor is delightful, so I’m not complaining! I’m not upset … this doesn’t taste like over-steeped tea to me!
It has a wonderful, honey-caramel flavor. And even though the color would indicate that it’s “over-steeped” as I said, the flavor offers no such indication. It’s not bitter, and the flavor is remarkably mild and beautifully sweet with pleasing notes of flower. It’s very smooth from start to finish. The aftertaste is lightly sweet, reminiscent of the aftertaste I might experience if I were to have eaten some wildflower honey.
According to the Teasenz website, this is not only a tasty beverage, but a healthy one too:
Due to 18 kinds amino acids, researchers claim that it can prevent high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, coronary heart diseases, inflammation, colds, and insomnia when consumed in form of tea. Wild Kunlun snow daisy has been passed down from generation to generation as a Uighur medicinal herbal flower tea.
Now, I don’t usually drink something just because it’s healthy. There has to be a flavor payoff for me too. I have to like the way it tastes. What can I say? Life’s too short to drink something that tastes bad. But this doesn’t taste bad! It’s actually quite a tasty tisane!
It’s a very relaxing, soothing drink. I found it most enjoyable while the tea was hot. As it cooled, the flavors diminished somewhat, but it was still quite tasty. That is to say, it’s better when it’s hot, but it’s still good when it’s cold.
Jasmine Bloom Flowering Tea from Nuovo Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Nuovo Tea
Tea Description:
Meant to delight your eyes as well as taste buds, these awe-inspiring ‘display teas’ unfurl when added to water, revealing delicate flowers hidden within. The practice of hand-sewing leaves into ‘blooming teas’ is an age-old Chinese art form that dates back centuries. Adagio has infused state-of-the-art packaging into this ancient delight, ensuring maximum freshness and superior flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really enjoy brewing “art teas” like this Jasmine Bloom Flowering Tea from Nuovo Tea. It’s fun to watch the art reveal itself. It starts out as a hand-sewn bulb of tea leaves, and as it brews, the leaves begin to unfurl, revealing a beautiful “blossom” tucked inside the tea leaves.
This particular art tea unfurls pretty quickly in comparison to some that I’ve encountered. After my first infusion of 3 1/2 minutes, it was still a bulb, but I could see that quite a few of the leaves had begun to open up and away from the bulb to form the blossom. I’m sure that with another minute, this art tea would have been unfurled and revealed to me the beauty inside.
But I didn’t want to oversteep the tea. I don’t brew these art teas just for the art, after all … to me the true art is the beauty of the flavorful liquid so I’m always mindful of this and take care to brew each cup carefully – whether it’s an art tea like this, or a loose leaf tea or even a bagged tea. I want the best flavor I can extract from any tea.
The first cup is delicate and sweet, with notes of jasmine and hints of buttery vegetables. There is also a pleasing fruit note that is reminiscent of a sweet melon.
For the second cup, I infused the partially open bulb for 4 minutes, and within a minute, the bulb had opened and I could see the pretty white flower peeking from inside the tea leaf “blossom” that enveloped it only minutes ago. Beautiful!
This cup had a stronger flavor than the first cup, but, I think I prefer the delicate quality of that first cup more than this stronger tasting cup. Oh, it’s still tasty, don’t get me wrong! But, I really liked the soft, buttery notes that I experienced in that first cup, and now, this is more like a grassy green tea with notes of jasmine. I appreciate that the jasmine is soft and not tasting like soap. It’s not a bitter tea, it’s a pleasing jasmine green.
A beautiful tea experience – these “art teas” make a great tea to serve when you have guests! Be sure to brew them in glass teacups (I don’t think that these little bulbs are quite large enough for a large teapot) so that everyone can watch the splendor as it unfolds! They make a great conversation starter … not to mention produce a really tasty cup of tea.
Love & Joy Tisane from Verdant Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Tulsi, Herbal & Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tisane Description:
The light apple aroma of the chamomile is tempered by herbs and florals and grounded with cacao. This blend does what tea is known to do – bring you to a place of relaxation and reflection. Love & Joy blend tastes sweet and has a soft and round mouthfeel. Sip, relax and enjoy.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
What an interesting tisane! This Love & Joy Tisane from Verdant Tea is the second tea that I’m tasting from February’s Amoda Tea Tasting Box. Yeah, I’m a little behind. My March box should be arriving within days, and I’m still getting around to tasting February’s teas! Better get a move on!
This tisane has an abundance of ingredients:
Marigold (calendula), Goji, Linden Leaf + Flower, Honeysuckle, Chamomile, Tulsi, Elderberry, Cacao, Coriander, Frankincense.
And even though there seems to be a lot going on here, the flavors all meld together in an agreeable way. The first flavor that I can identify is the chamomile, and it offers a light, crisp, apple-y flavor to the cup. Then I notice the tulsi, and it tastes of basil and mint. There is a background of berry notes, and these berry notes come forward in the aftertaste. I get that tart note, that tingly berry sensation that you might experience after eating a tart berry.
After my first few sips, I start to realize that there is a distinct lime-ish note to this and then I re-read the ingredient list: linden! Yep, that would do it. The linden really brightens the cup.
There are light floral notes, not so much from the calendula (I very rarely taste a strong flavor from the marigold petals), but from the honeysuckle. It tastes sweet and floral and I like this little bit of sweetness from the honeysuckle.
In this cup, I smell the frankincense more than I taste it, but there is a warm spiciness to this cup which is not just from the coriander (and the tulsi!), but also the frankincense.
I found myself wanting more cacao. No big surprise there, I guess, since I am a chocoholic. My first 1/3 of the cup, I didn’t really notice much cacao at all, but by the time I finished that first 1/3 of the cup, I started to pick up on the notes of chocolate, and … YUM! I like the way the notes of chocolate meld with the other flavors of this cup. Sure, I’d like more cacao, but, I always do, don’t I?
As it is, this is a really interesting, intriguing cup. It seems to draw me deeper into the depths of its flavor with every sip. I discover more flavors each time I take a drink.
I have to admit that I like this a whole lot more than I thought I would. I’m not usually all that excited to try tisanes, but, this is really tasty!
White Chrysanthemum Tea from Teasenz
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Flower
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tisane Description:
Soothing, calming and refreshing. You may have sampled chrysanthemum tea in Chinese restaurants. Now, Teasenz brings you the highest grade of chrysanthemum tea available in China. Our white chrysanthemum tea is a truly lovely flower tea that just can’t be resisted.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
The picture above shows you exactly what I saw when I opened the package of this White Chrysanthemum Tea from Teasenz. Lots of big, dry white chrysanthemum blossoms! They’re whole blossoms, not dust or particles, and they range in size from about the size of a dime to the size of a quarter in diameter.
The aroma isn’t as pleasant to my nose as say, a jasmine or a rose tea. Then again, I’d much rather smell a bouquet of fresh roses or jasmine flowers to a bouquet of chrysanthemums. I just happen to prefer the fragrance of roses and/or jasmine blossoms.
But the tea produced from steeping these chrysanthemums is absolutely lovely! It’s a pale yellow-ish color liquid, and the flavor is quite pleasant. It has a sweet taste, almost honey-esque in flavor. It’s quite soothing to sip. The flavor is (obviously!) floral, but it’s kind of an herbaceous flowery taste. If I were to compare it to more “popular’ flower teas, I would say that this tastes more like a chamomile tea than a rose tea.
That said, I’d much prefer to sip a chrysanthemum tea over a chamomile, as I do find the flavor of the chrysanthemum more to my liking. The herbaceous tones remind me vaguely of straw. Like dried straw. And there is a slight earthiness that goes along with the straw-like flavor.
Overall, I found this to be a very refreshing, tasty cup of tea. A really pleasant change of pace!