Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
With this orange pekoe offering from Sri Lanka, Kally Tea again offers what we feel is the best of the best. This is graded as SFTGFOP-1. This translates to “Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe-1. This tea is wirey with extra-long leaves and nice faint golden tipped leaves. A refined and respectable tea from one of the most honored estates.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m not always particularly excited to try a pure Ceylon tea, mostly because, Ceylon is generally the tea that is used when creating a flavored black tea because Ceylon tends to be a rather even-tempered, moderate, mild-tasting tea. Brisk, but not bold … just kind of … there. You know what I’m saying?
However, this New Vithanakanda Ceylon SFTGFOP-1 Black Tea from Kally Tea is an exception to that … this Ceylon has some real GUSTO … which really took me by surprise.
Yes, this tea does have many of the qualities I’ve come to expect from a high quality Ceylon – it is a even-tempered tea, but, I certainly wouldn’t call it mild! It has a lovely robust, malty quality like an Assam might offer, but it is not as aggressive as an Assam. It has a very smooth, even flavor to it … smooth from start to finish. Toward the finish, I notice hints of citrus … it’s a really refreshing finish.
A really delightful Ceylon that tastes great hot or iced. I found myself wanting more when my cup was empty! One of the nicest pure Ceylon teas I’ve had in a while – I recommend this one highly.
Berry Chocolate Tisane from Kally Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
Satisfaction! That’s the feeling that comes to mind while sipping on this berry delight. We start off with a mix of phenomenal honeybush and Rooibos, and then delicately mix in safflowers and marigolds, and just as you would think that’s enough, we take the taste buds to a whole new level by adding strawberry and raspberries with a kick of chocolate to finish! Satisfaction!
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I have to be honest, I wasn’t too sure about this Berry Chocolate Tisane from Kally Tea after the first couple of sips. Mostly, I was tasting the rooibos and honeybush, and I found myself wondering, where is the berry? Where is the chocolate?
But after the third sip, the berry flavor really emerged! Now, I taste more berry than honeybush or rooibos. It is a lovely berry note too, authentic, it doesn’t taste like artificial berries. It tastes sweet, it tastes tart … it tastes like raspberries and strawberries!
I’ve often said that I like it when tea companies combine rooibos and honeybush together, because I find that these two herbs really complement each other nicely. The honey-esque tones of the honeybush help round out that sometimes funky sweetness from the rooibos, creating a very enjoyable sweet note that requires no additional sweetener. Delightfully nutty, the combination of honeybush and rooibos melds nicely with the berry flavors.
This is definitely more berry than chocolate, and while the chocoholic in me would rather it be the other way around, I am still finding the berry notes in this tisane to be very rewarding. The chocolate takes a little while to sort of develop, it doesn’t really hit the palate until about the third sip, and then it is rather delicate. By mid-cup, there is more chocolate-y flavor, but, it is still not as strong as the berry flavor.
The berry notes are sweet and tart. The tartness lingers in the aftertaste, but it isn’t a pucker-y kind of tart … more like that tingly sensation on the tip of the tongue – as if I had just eaten a fresh berry. The chocolate notes lend a sort of creaminess to the cup, and together with the bright berry flavor… it’s really quite yummy!
This tisane tastes good hot or iced, I am actually liking this better as an iced drink, but that could also be because we’re experiencing some rather warm weather lately and the cold beverage is just so refreshing to sip. It’s nice and comforting when served hot late at night … like a decadent late-night treat, but one that won’t keep you up because it’s naturally caffeine free.
Tropical White Pu-erh Tea from Kally Tea
Tea Type:
Pu-erh
Where To Buy:
Kally Tea
Product Description:
Take a journey to the tropics with this Pu Er blend. Taste the complexities of Pu Er balanced with an elegant Show Mei white tea. Then with an added finish of Tropical flavors, it makes you think of sitting on the beach relaxing in a lounge chair, soaking up the sun!
Tasters Review:
This smells AWESOME for a pu-erh! Tropical but not fake! Almost Champagne-like, too!
It has a really neat semi-cloudy/texture-type amber color to it.
The aroma magnifies after infusion is complete! It still smells wonderful! Very tropical, airy, fruity, fresh!
WOW! Now this is a flavor I could see myself drinking more and more of! It’s a lovely flavored pu-erh! Very unique and creative! Juicy! With just a hint of woodsy-puerh to it.
It lingers with a smoother tropical fruit flavor that is very satisfying.
Above all else…a VERY nicely flavor pu-erh! I would certainly put this in my mid 90s of favorite pu-erhs thus far!
Tropical Heaven Oolong from Kally Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
This luscious treat begins with an exciting characteristic green Oolong. Then we’ve added marigold, safflowers and finished with tropical flavoring. The aromas and the tastes that unite in this tropical delight make you just want to…
“LIMBO!! How low can you go?” (Insert island music here…)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh wow! This is really yummy! The flavor of this Tropical Heaven Oolong from Kally Tea is intense! I love that while the tropical flavors are strong, I still taste the Oolong. It tastes sweet, fruity and creamy … and yes … heavenly!
The Oolong tea adds a touch of creaminess to the cup as well as a light vegetative tone and a very pleasant sweetness that enhances the sweetness of the tropical flavors. While Kally Tea does not go in to detail about which flavors are in this Tropical Heaven … I definitely taste pineapple. Perhaps some mango and/or papaya. My first sip, I noted a flavor that tasted remarkably like peach, although that could have been the Oolong as I often associate the fruity tones of an Oolong tea to be very peach-like. The fruit tones are very smooth and sweet. Only hints of tartness just to keep the palate’s interest piqued.
I love how smooth this cup of tea is. The fruit flavors are sweet and are washed in a creaminess that is absolutely delectable … it almost tastes like a flavored milk Oolong … that’s how creamy this tea is! It’s one of those teas that disappear from your cup so fast you wonder if someone has been drinking the tea out of your cup when you’re not looking! Before I knew it, my cup was empty, and I resteeped the leaves. The flavors are less intense with the second infusion, but still very present and absolutely delicious – this is definitely worth the second (and even a third!) infusion.
A really great flavored Oolong – a truly yummy cuppa!
Organic Simply Strawberry Green Tea from Kally Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
Here is an elegant green tea blended with sweet succulent strawberries creating a light balanced flavored tea. The sweet strawberry aroma arrives as you first add the water to your cup. When you take the first sip, you will relish the delicate green tea flavor with the background flavor of the strawberries. Seems like spring in a cup! Wonderful!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It is cold outside, and while I DO prefer this weather over warm weather (hot tea tastes so much better when it’s cold outside, don’t you agree?) that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate a journey of the mind that takes me outside the scope of the reality that it’s cold outside. Take this Simply Strawberry Green Tea from Kally Tea, for example. The delicious, bright flavor of strawberry combined with the fresh, lush green tea taste takes me on a seasonal voyage to the days in spring when we start to see the first fresh strawberries at the local produce stand.
And while I do prefer cold weather to the warmer days of spring, that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the thought of the warmth of spring and the fresh juicy strawberries it brings! So sweet and luscious!
This tea also has pineapple in it, and the pineapple offers a very compelling element to the cup. The two flavors – strawberry and pineapple – are both sweet-tart kinds of fruit, and they meld together very well. Some of the acidic nature of the pineapple brings out the berry tartness, and that tartness lingers into the aftertaste. But as tart is not always my favorite flavor, I like that there is a balance between the two contrasting characteristics. I find that the sweet flavor of both fruit complement each other nicely here.
And the sweet, creamy taste of the green tea base is not missed in the sip, either. It has a very pleasing, smooth taste that is not grassy or bitter, and has very little astringency. It’s just sweet … and smooth and gives the overall cup a nice round taste.
A very nice cup – one that has me thinking of the coming months and looking forward to strawberry season!