Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pouchong & Green Tea
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Tea Description:
Discover the power of vanilla and oolong, with a little hint of orange. It’s temptingly rich. We’ve used Pouchong tea leaves, the least oxidized of oolongs, which gives it a lighter, fresher taste. Delicious and totally addictive on its own, we also love blending this with fruit flavoured teas for a touch of creamy sweetness.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love vanilla flavored tea. I usually get all hyped up over a chocolate tea or a caramel tea, but when it comes right down to it, I find myself just as enamored by a vanilla tea as I am one of my “favorite” flavors. That creamy, smooth, sweet taste of vanilla just works so well with the warmth and soothing quality of the tea … it becomes such a comforting drink.
And I’m absolutely LOVING this Vanilla Oolong tea from David’s Tea. Usually, I find myself preferring a black tea base for the sweet, creamy, exotic flavor of Vanilla, but, the blend of Pouchong and green tea leaves just WORKS so well here.
The Pouchong offers a lightly sweet, creamy base that melds beautifully with the creamy tones of the vanilla. To be honest, I’m not tasting a whole lot of flavor contribution from the “green tea leaves” here, but the ingredient list says they’re there, and I can’t say that this blend would taste the same without the green tea. I do taste a slight vegetative note to this cup, but that could be from the Pouchong too.
The vanilla is the star of this show. It is creamy, sweet and just DECADENT. Accenting the vanilla notes are hints of citrus from lemon myrtle and orange flavoring. These notes are subtle and do not interfere with the other flavors, but they definitely brighten the overall cup and keep the flavors interesting and inviting … and keep them from becoming cloying or overly sweet.
This tea could easily be a substitute for a dessert … I think I’d just as soon have this as a bowl of vanilla ice cream! It is really just a heavenly vanilla treat – this tea. If you’re a fan of vanilla – you’ve got to try this!
Mandarin Silk from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The smooth Mandarin Silk Oolong Tea introduces organic pouchong loose-leaf tea blended with lemon myrtle, marigolds, and natural essence of vanilla. Awakening the senses with hints of cream and a stimulating citrus finish, the Silk Mandarin Tea is a rich and fragrant choice for your tea experience.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is lovely! The vanilla and the pouchong together deliver such a creamy smooth texture and taste … so sweet and indeed silky! It’s such a pleasure to sip.
The pouchong is a base that I don’t encounter very often in tea blends, it seems, and I wish that it was utilized more. It is so wonderfully soft and easy to sip, and it has such a lovely taste that melds well with other flavors. It tastes sweet and slightly vegetative on its own, but with these flavors of vanilla and lemon-y citrus, the palate seems to want to explore some of the pouchong’s fruity and floral tones, allowing for some of the flavors to come forward that I might otherwise overlook.
The citrus tones are subtle, and don’t seem to hit the palate right up front. At first, it’s really all about the vanilla and the tea, but then by about the third or fourth sip, the citrus tones arrive on the palate, just in time to give the palate something new to explore. The citrus notes start off gentle and sweet, and eventually become this very pleasantly tangy taste to offer some contrast to the creamy, sweet vanilla.
What I’m liking best about this tea is that it is a very gentle tea. It doesn’t go overboard with any of the flavors at any time. It has a very easy kind of flavor, something that you could easily curl up with while reading a good book or while relaxing in a bubble bath. It’s one of those teas that can serve as a pleasant, contemplative cup, as well as one to sip when you need something to help you clear your head after a long, stressful day.
I like this tea!
White Tea Riesling from Vintage TeaWorks
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Vintage TeaWorks
Tea Description:
Inspired by Riesling, we blended natural ingredients to create a white tea blend that is light, aromatic and playful. Honeysuckle, jasmine, apricot and lemon combine to celebrate a few of the unique characteristics of Riesling.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m no connoisseur of wine. I could not tell you the difference between a Riesling and a Merlot, except that I think that the Merlot is a red wine and a Riesling is a white wine. But even that I’m not certain about! I can’t tell you the last time I’ve had a Riesling wine … because I don’t even know if I ever have!
But I am enjoying this White Tea Riesling from Vintage TeaWorks. It’s very light and crisp and flavorful, just as I would expect a white wine to be. It has a very enjoyable fruity foreground note of apricot that marries very nicely with the floral background notes of honeysuckle and jasmine.
The fruit notes are complex here. The apricot is the strongest flavor, and it’s noticed not just in the taste but also in the delightful aroma of the brewed tea (as well as the beautiful dry leaf!) I taste notes of lemon as well as hints of crisp apple in the fruit notes, as well as the subtlest whisper of sweet grape. As I continue to sip, my palate tingles slightly from the sweet-tart notes of the fruit in this cup.
I think I’m enjoying the fragrance of this tea as much as I’m enjoying the taste, the apricot notes remind me of a homey, comforting apricot cobbler. But examine the bouquet even further and I notice a beautiful airy, floral background that brings out the fresh notes of the fruit in a really lovely way.
The white tea marries very well with the other flavors, and becomes almost a seamless part of the wine-like tastes. I think that is what makes these blends by Vintage TeaWorks so inspired – the tea bases that they select to blend with the flavors work so harmoniously with the concept of the wines they’re attempting to “reinterpret” through tea. Here, the white tea becomes part of the wine flavor … just as it seemed to happen with the Chardonnay and the Merlot varieties… and the others!
As the tea cools slightly, I begin to really taste the wine-like connection with this tea. This is really a beautiful tea, as are the others in the Vintage TeaWorks collection. I have truly enjoyed tasting each of these teas … I recommend them highly!
Gooey Butter Cake from 52 Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Thanks to Azzrian for the idea for this blend. I actually think my wife is a little upset she didn’t think of it first. She makes an awesome gooey butter cake.
My wife is fond of telling people that she has no idea how I manage to make such amazing teas since my cooking skills are more or less limited to ramen noodles and microwave popcorn. Likewise, I have no idea what sort of magic she employs in creating a gooey butter cake. Yes, I could look at one of several recipes for gooey butter cake, but I prefer to believe it is magic, because a gooey butter cake (for those of you who have never had one), is one of those beautiful things that shouldn’t be discussed in such muggle terms as a recipe. It’s way better to have someone make one for you and assume they possess magical gifts.
So, this evening, I am here with a big tumbler full of iced gooey butter cake tea, and it is definitely, buttery, sweet, cakey, and just all around gooey-butter-cakey. It kind of reminds me of the Pancake Breakfast, it has the same depth of character, but of course it’s not pancakes, it’s gooey butter cake. Honestly, if I hadn’t just spent so long looking at images of gooey butter cake and writing about gooey butter cake, this might very well satisfy my craving for gooey butter cake, but the truth is, I’m seriously hoping my wife reads this and decides to make me a gooey butter cake. [I love you baby.]
Our Tea of the Week for the week of September 17, 2012
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So I am very proud to say that I inspired this tea and Frank was gracious enough to whip some up! I was so thrilled when I heard this was being offered I literally ordered it on the spot! After anticipating its arrival I have finally been able to sit and enjoy this tea over several cups, several ways, and It is really quite wonderful.
It does have lemon myrtle in it which lends a lemon zest like flavor to the tea. So its more of a lemon gooey butter cake than a regular gooey butter cake, but that is absolutely fine with me I enjoy the lemon zest flavor.
I LOVE gooey butter cake and snarf up as much of it as I can when we visit St. Louis where they have gooey butter cake places scattered around randomly. Of course you can get gooey butter cake in any flavor the mind can imagine and I try as many as I can so I am somewhat of a gooey butter cake aficionado, haha.
This tea is quite buttery, with a toasty flavor that almost leans to a creme brulee taste. I will say that this tea is much nicer if you add a little sweetener, my choice is german rock sugar. It makes the flavors of the tea pop. Before adding sweetener I took my first couple of sips and it was good but I was not getting that cakey or gooey flavor – added a little rock sugar – amazing! Of course you can use whatever sweetener you wish.
I don’t mind having to add a little sugar now and then to some teas – especially when they are dessert teas like this one. Now if I had to add sugar to a straight tea that would be wrong in my tea world, but this is meant to be decedent so its fine with me.
Also this tea is so lovely iced! I prefer my tea hot, my husband prefers it cold. Either way its wonderful. I did feel that when it was cold it did not require the same level of sugar that it did hot, which is interesting, I do not have cold tea often enough to know if this is standard or not and hubby only enjoys cold tea with me every now and then so he has no opinions. I tell ya though, I really kind of want to grab some more of this before it is gone. I am trying really hard to hold myself back but a blend this good, in a flavor this rare, well you just never know when you may see one like it again and even then if the flavors will even come close to Gooey Butter Cake!
I guess while I don’t mind the lemon zest flavor at all, its quite lovely, I would like to try a blend that was straight gooey butter cake, but that just comes down to my love for gooey butter cake all together, I mean if I had my way Frank would make an entire line of gooey butter cake teas in every flavor I could toss at him.
Hey we can dream can’t we?!?
Silk Dragon from The Tea Merchant
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Tea Merchant
Tea Description:
A unique blend that is exotic, balanced and complex it will engage you from the second you open the bag with its intoxicating creamy vanilla aroma to your first sip. Creates a smooth, rich flavor with hints of cream, vanilla and a stimulating citrus finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This is so good.
As you know, I do enjoy quite a few different flavored teas, but when it comes to Oolong, I find that the ones that I favor tend to be pure, unadulterated Oolong teas. Sure, I enjoy the flavored ones too, but, if given a choice between pure Oolong and flavored, I’ll choose the pure every time.
However, I am finding this flavored Oolong to be extraordinary … one of the best flavored Oolong teas I’ve encountered in a while. The vanilla flavor is in perfect step with the natural creaminess of the Oolong for a very luxurious, creamy experience. It’s so silky and creamy and delicious.
The lemon myrtle gives just the right touch of citrus. It is not a strong tangy note – nothing that interrupts the sweet, creamy goodness of the vanilla – but it offers just a hint of citrus-y taste toward the finish so that the vanilla cream does not overwhelm the palate.
And with all this talk of the amazing vanilla taste and hints of citrus, you may have thought that the flavor of the Oolong is lost somewhere. It isn’t. It adds a hint of earthiness and a touch of flower (orchid? Yes, there are distinct orchid notes), and just a hint of peach-like undertones.
If you like vanilla – you really should try this Silk Dragon from The Tea Merchant. It takes vanilla to a whole other level. I don’t think I’ve experienced vanilla in a tea quite like this before. It’s really amazing.