Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
Lemon Grass is a native herb of Southeast Asia. It is said to help with digestion, calms the nerves, and helps with high blood pressure. Our Lemon Grass has a delicate Meyer lemon flavor with a hint of sweet ginger and an uplifting floral aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Co-Op Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a little while since I’ve had pure lemon grass. It’s not something I drink often but I do enjoy it when I drink it, so I wasn’t at all disappointed to find it in last month’s Co-Op box from Simple Loose leaf. It’s a lovely herbal tisane: soft, soothing, and uplifting.
I brewed this in my Breville, using three bamboo scoops (I usually use more leaf when I’m brewing an herbal than when I’m brewing a tea) to 500ml of water. I set the temperature to 195°F (my go-to temperature for herbals) and the timer was set for 10 minutes. Because this is a pure lemon grass, I didn’t have to worry about tannins making it bitter.
This is a fine quality lemon grass and it tastes very much like I’d expect a good quality lemon grass to taste. It’s smooth and buttery with a sweet, lemon-y note. The lemon taste of lemon grass isn’t a pucker-y tart, it’s more like a lemon curd. The description above suggests a Meyer lemon, which tends to be a little sweeter than a typical lemon, but I think that it’s even a little sweeter than a Meyer lemon.
The description above also suggests a sweet ginger note and I can pick up on a hint of spice. I don’t know if I’m tasting ginger but it is a subtle note of spice, reminiscent of white pepper.
It’s a really nice tisane to drink after I’ve had several cups of tea – it’s a nice change of pace to the caffeinated beverage. It’s naturally caffeine free and it’s quite soothing to sip. I like to keep lemon grass on hand for times when I’m starting to feel a sore throat come on because it’s very comforting to my throat. It’s also makes a refreshing cold beverage – my daughter loves it!
Serene Herbal Tisane from The Honest Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Tea Description:
This tea does exactly what its name promises – brings serenity to your day. Ingredients like chamomile, jasmine and lavender really do have that affect. We taste the apple-like flavours of chamomile, a perfect lemon squeeze and smooth mint. There’s tart and sweet florals playing off one another and hints of relaxing lavender that come out mid-sip.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
After my first few sips of this Serene Herbal Tisane from The Honest Leaf, I found myself contemplating whether or not I actually liked it. I didn’t dislike it but I wasn’t too sure whether or not I was enjoying what I was tasting.
That is to say, it’s quite unlike other teas I’ve tried.
Now that I’m about halfway through the cup, I can say that yes, I do like this. It’s different, it’s tasty and I like it.
The flavor starts out quite subtle. I notice a soft lemon-y note from the lemon peel and flavoring. This flavor develops over the course of the sip – starting off with a delicate whisper of lemon. The finish is bright with lemon notes and the aftertaste is quite lemon-y, as if I had just taken a sip of lemonade. The aftertaste lingers a while.
After the subtle introduction of lemon, I pick up on flowery notes of jasmine, lavender and passion flower just before mid-sip. These floral notes are also quite subdued. They don’t develop the way the lemon does, but I do pick up on a few more floral notes mingling with the lemon notes in the aftertaste.
Just after mid-sip, I notice the crisp peppermint. I like that the peppermint follows the example set by the flowers and lemon and is understated. The cool peppermint is a nice contrast to the lemon-y flavor, but the mint doesn’t slap you in the mouth with it’s minty presence. It’s just a slight ‘peppy’ sort of flavor that perks up the flavors of the tea without tasting like someone spilled a little bit of mouthwash in my teacup.
I didn’t really notice the chamomile until I reached mid-cup. The chamomile is more of an undertone, offering a indistinct apple note and hint of honey. I can smell more chamomile in this than I can taste. After the mid-cup point, the chamomile notes develop somewhat, but they never become a strong, prominent profile to the cup.
Happily, I notice no hibiscus in this, unless the hibiscus acts as a ‘tart’ agent to help amplify the tartness of the lemon, because the aftertaste does have a tartness to it. Not too puckery, though, but as I said, I do get a lemonade-y sort of experience in the aftertaste.
Overall, I found this to be a relaxing, enjoyable cup. It’s certainly different than the typical ‘nighttime’ type of tisanes, and different is good!
Duchess Black Tea from White Two Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: White Two Tea
Tea Description:
Just the tip of the leaf is used in the production of the Duchess black tea, which is made in a traditional Jinmaofeng [gold tip] style. This tea is suitable for both heavy brewing and gongfu style, depending on personal preference. The fragrances range from sweet and floral to mint.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about White Two Tea’s Monthly Subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! This Duchess Black Tea from White Two Tea is oh-so-delish!
It’s a golden Yunnan tea and it brews up coppery. I brewed this tea in my Kati Tumbler. I measured out a bamboo scoop of tea – I had to estimate this because the leaves are very long and wiry and didn’t really fill the scoop very well – and heated the kettle to 205°F. I poured the water over the leaves and let the tea steep for three minutes.
The flavor is wonderful! Very much what you’d expect from a Golden Yunnan tea. The sip starts out sweet with a strong caramel-y note. The texture is smooth and thick. The caramel flavor develops, offering hints of molasses and hints of spice. By mid-sip, I’m picking up on notes of Leather and baked bread and malt. In the distance, I pick up on hints of cacao. The finish is smooth (very little to no astringency whatsoever) and sweet. In the aftertaste, I pick up on faint floral notes with whispers of spice.
An absolutely LOVELY cup of tea. I prefer this tea served hot but as it cools, it is still quite good. It would make a great mid-to-late morning tea when you want something rich and satisfying to keep you going.
Avonlea Honeybush Tisane from Lemon Lily
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
Organic ingredients: Honeybush, cinnamon, ginger, hibiscus, Canadian Maple Flakes.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I had high hopes for this Avonlea Honeybush Tisane from Lemon Lily. I mean, cinnamon, ginger and maple together with the honeyed, nutty flavor of honeybush actually sounds pretty tasty. Even with hibiscus in there. But as I taste it, I’m finding myself disappointed by this.
I don’t like the combination of honeybush and hibiscus. This just isn’t working for me. You might think that the sweetness of the honeybush would help even out the tartness of the hibiscus, but the honeybush sweetness isn’t enough to soften the tartness of the hibiscus and the result is just a weird, funky taste.
And it’s a weird taste that even the warm spice of the cinnamon and ginger can’t offset. Even the maple – which is a favorite flavor of mine – even the maple does very little to improve the flavor here. In fact, I’m tasting relatively little maple flavor here. Very disappointing.
As it cools, this does taste better. The honeybush and hibiscus don’t seem to be battling it out to create that weird taste anymore, but the hibiscus is still too tart for my liking. It’s drinkable now and I don’t think I would have described it as such while it was hot.
Served hot, it’s a very weird cup of tea. As it cools, it becomes drinkable but it’s still quite tart and I find myself wishing the hibiscus wasn’t there.
I have enjoyed many of the teas that I’ve tried from Lemon Lily (thanks to not just one but two boxes from Postal Teas that has featured them), but this one just isn’t bringing a smile to my face.
Keemun Black Tea from Swan Sisters
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Tea Description:
This is a rich, lightly smoky black tea that’s smooth & bold. There’s a subtle rose note that adds depth to this cup. It has an assertive edge that gets more pronounced with longer steep times. Try it more “edgy” – 1 tsp in 8oz for 3-5 minutes.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Keemun Black Tea from Swan Sisters is a lovely Keemun. It has a lot of the flavors that I expect from a top-notch Keemun tea.
To brew this, I used my Kati Tumbler. I measured a bamboo scoop of the tea into my basket and poured boiling water into the tumbler and let it steep for 3 minutes. This produced a robust cup of tea that would make a nice mid-morning cuppa!
It’s got a pleasant smoky flavor – not too smoky, not too overwhelming – but just enough to stimulate the senses. It evokes thoughts of autumn when the weather starts to become a little cooler and people start warming their homes with fires in the fireplace. The smoke billowing from their chimneys creates a smoky note in the air that I can almost taste. That’s what I experience when I drink this Keemun, that wisp of smoke in the air on a cool autumn evening.
I often think (in my own little twisted tea mind) that there are two different ‘types’ of Keemun: there is the smoky Keemun (like this one) and there is a wine-like Keemun. This one is more smoky than wine-like, although there are some fruity, wine-like notes to this as well. I like the way the hints of fruit play with the smoky flavors.
And to my surprise, I notice hints of rose as suggested in the description above. This is not something I always pick up on, so I’m not sure that I’m tasting it now, or my mind is just making me think I taste it because it was suggested to me. But, either way, it’s a pleasant experience.
Overall, a really enjoyable Keemun. Amoda Tea offers me another lovely tea, making me a happy tea sipper. Thank you!