The Tea Can Company is a company that is fairly new-to-me and I have to say I am VERY pleased with all of their teas that I have been able to sample so far. Today I would like to share with you Mint Twist Tea from The Tea Can Company which is part of their Candy Shop Collection.
Mint Twist Tea from The Tea Can Company is a delightful mix of Green Tea and tasty Peppermint that can be enjoyed year-round and is perfect for any mint lover. Ingredients include Green Tea with Peppermint Leaves and Peppermint Flavor. I’m not sure how The Tea Can Company pulled this off but Mint Twist Tea tasted minty but almost creamy, too! If you LOVE mint like I do – or even HALF A MUCH as I do – I think you will totally DIG this tea!
The green tea is a medium strength sweeter green paired with minty-goodness. It is refreshing, clean, minty, a bit creamy, and a pure delight!
I’m wondering if they would be able to come out with a black tea version. I would love to see that. However I am really LOVING the green tea offering, too! This was also VERY NICE iced! YUM!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: The Tea Can Company
Description
A delightful mix of Green Tea and tasty Peppermint that can be enjoyed year-round. Perfect for any mint lover.
Ingredients: Green Tea with Peppermint Leaves and Peppermint Flavor, Contains Caffeine
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Wellness Tea-Bone Repair from The Virginia Tea Company. . . .
It is the beginning of a new year and I’m sure if you are like me, you are seeing a ton of detox and healthy wellness teas in your social media feeds. I’ve never been a big fan of good for you herbals but I’ve always enjoyed herbals that are full of dried fruit. Recently I’ve noticed my taste buds are starting to change. I’m no longer craving the floral teas like I used to but am finding myself really craving herbs and spices like ginger, spearmint, peppermint, chamomile, and so on.
So today I thought would be a great day to try Bone Repair from The Virginia Tea Company. I am a huge advocate for natural herbal remedies to cure what ails you. Not that I don’t grab OTC drugs when I’m in need, but I do prefer to try out a more natural approach for certain body issues I have.
Bone Repair is a mix of nettle, St. John’s Wort, chamomile, dandelion, ginger root, and peppermint. All are organic. This tea’s description on the site goes something like this:
High in vitamins and helpful bone minerals, these herbs make this tea a wonderful enabler for strengthening your body’s skeleton.
Regardless of the health benefits, I have to say this tea is amazing. Herbal teas to me always have that herbaceous feel to them and this tea doesn’t really have it or maybe I should say that feel isn’t overwhelming.
There is a light sweetness mingled with a hint of spice surrounded by a refreshing cooling mint aftertaste. I can’t say that I’ve ever had such a smooth herbal tea like this before. I have literally had four cups of this tea today alone (resteeping the same bag even!).
I haven’t had some of these spices and herbs before so I can’t say if what I’m tasting is from this or that. All I can say is even if I am not in need of bone repair specifically-this tea delivers a refreshing, soothing, and calming flavor that could be enjoyed any time of the day.
Really happy with this one and I have a feeling that this will be a re-order for me. Plus, there is a cool option to get tea accessories added in for just a bit more. You have to love that option!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: The Virginia Tea Company
Description
High in vitamins and helpful bone minerals, these herbs make this tea a wonderful enabler for strengthening your body’s skeleton.
Ingredients: Organic Nettle, Organic St. John’s Wort, Organic Chamomile, Organic Dandelion, Organic Ginger Root, Organic Peppermint
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ganymede Matcha Tea Blend by MoongleamTeaShoppe
I wasn’t sure how to prepare this tea at first. It’s matcha, so you should be able to just put it in the hot water and shake/whisk it up, right? Well, no, because there are lumps in it as well. The green lumps (I thought they might just be matcha powder caked together that would come apart in the cup) turned out to be bits of citrus peel coated in matcha, which made me realize that there was less matcha in my cup than I at first thought, so I just went ahead and dumped the rest of the sample in too.
When dry, this tea was green, but once steeped it turned a super-muddy brown. By that I mean that it was not just brown but also opaque even before I added milk. I’m going to assume this was from the chocolate. I could taste a hint of chocolate in the tea, although it was hidden way down under the mint still.
There is some bitterness to this tea, but I think that’s from the mint (because it tasted to me like mint tea that has been steeped a bit too long) rather than from the matcha. So next time I’d be more careful not to steep it quite so long. I was trying to give the citrus peel a chance to wake up, but I don’t think it stood a chance against the mint anyway.
Once I added some sugar and lots of milk, it tasted primarily of mint-chocolate, but still very heavy on the mint. I could hardly taste the matcha itself at all because of the mint, which could be a good thing if you don’t especially like matcha flavor but still want the energy that comes from it. With the addition of milk, the citrus became almost nonexistent– although not totally gone– kind of like a ghost. Sometimes I thought I caught a hint of it but I’m not totally sure and it wasn’t a very substantial hint anyway.
Looking at the ingredients list, I notice that there was black tea in this as well. I didn’t really notice it (as I said, before steeping everything was coated in matcha and afterward everything tasted strongly of mint). Maybe there wasn’t very much of it, because it certainly didn’t have a very strong presence in this tea blend.
So in conclusion, I’d say that if you like strongly minty mint chocolate matcha, this could be great for you. It would also be great as a functional breakfast tea because it has all the refreshing qualities of mint plus the caffeine from the matcha. I’m not sure I’d buy this particular blend but I sure had fun with the sample!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe
Description
The rich, earthy flavor of matcha meets the sweetness of cocoa, mint, and orange peel.
The flavors combine wonderfully to create a wonderful interplay.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Aria blend from The Jasmine Pearl Tea Co.
Immediately evident in the dry leaves are whole cloves and some seed pods that I thought at first were anise but, after looking at the ingredients, I decided must be fennel. The attractive-looking combination also includes bits of licorice and marshmallow root as well as orange peel and peppermint plus cinnamon and ginger.
I’d say this tea would probably great for reducing throat irritation/scratchiness/etc, whether you have a cold or allergies or have just overused or abused your voice recently. (Which I haven’t. But I’ll be sure to use this tea next time my throat is feeling under the weather!) It probably can’t work miracles, like if you have laryngitis and are hoping to still go on stage or something, but it does have a markedly soothing effect. Also, this tea can be re-steeped! So you can use it over and over again, although I personally didn’t test to see how many cups of tea it will make so I can’t give a figure. I’d recommend this tea for not only singers but anyone who might sometimes overuse their voice or who might have to use their voice while sick, like teachers (can’t stop teaching just cause you have a cold!).
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: The Jasmine Pearl Tea Company
Description
A singer’s best friend! This herbal blend was originally designed for Portland’s very own Hampton Opera Center. Licorice, marshmallow root, cinnamon and mint are some of the ingredients used in this blend to provide relief and aid to the throat. Aria satisfies, soothes and warms.
Caffeine-Free.
Licorice Root*, Fennel*, Clove*, Cinnamon*, Orange Peel*, Ginger*, Peppermint*, and Marshmallow Root.
*Organically Grown.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Catnap from Aka Tea
I misread the name of this tea at first, and thought it said “Catnip.” Turns out I wasn’t far wrong, because this blend does actually contain catnip. It’s even more fitting when you consider that the company logo, and indeed the majority of their blends, are cat themed.
Catnap is purportedly a relaxing blend, containing chamomile, mint, lemon verbena, lemon balm…and catnip. In my head, catnip isn’t something I typically associate with relaxation – it conjures images of bright-eyed, mischief-making kittens. Maybe in humans the effects are different.
Noticeable amongst the dry leaf are small whole chamomile flowers, pieces of lemongrass, cinnamon chips, bright blue cornflowers, and finely shredded mint (and, assumedly, catnip) leaves. I gave 1 tsp of leaf 4 minutes in boiling water, no additions. The resulting liquor is a bright yellow-orange, the scent generically herbal with an edge of sweet mint.
To taste, it’s a little danker than I was expecting, more a dark, sludgy herbal than a bright, clean, refreshing one. Mint is the main flavour – there’s the characteristic cooling peppermint, the sweeter edge of spearmint, and then a borderline vegetal flavour that I’m assuming is the catnip. I’m putting it with the mints because that’s how it comes across to me – minty, but with a definite swampiness about it. Underneath all of those runs the cinnamon, adding a warming spiciness. I’m not sure that it pairs 100% successfully with mint, though. It’s not a flavour combination I’ve come across many times before, and I’m pretty sure there’s a reason for that…
The lemon emerges in the mid-sip, and lifts what could have been a fairly uninspiring cup into brighter territory. The lemongrass adds another layer of sweetness, combining hay-like notes with a light citrus, and the lemon verbena and lemon balm also help to heighten this impression. The chamomile makes itself known at the end of the sip, with its typical thick honey notes. It pairs well with the lemongrass, and moves this blend more firmly into “relaxing tea” territory.
To me, this is a tea of two halves. The initial sip is very heavy on the mint and cinnamon, but that fades pretty quickly and is replaced by the citrus-honey flavours that seem to develop further as it cools. It’s certainly a unique blend, but I’m not sure it’s one I’d seek out especially frequently, primarily because I find the flavour combinations a little too jarring.
Having said that, this is an interesting caffeine-free option, and it’s different from most other “relaxing” blends I’ve tried. If you’re looking for something a little unusual to brighten up your evening tea drinking, this could well be the blend for you. Cat lovers may well award extra points also!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Description:
CatNap, anyone? Sometimes that’s just what the doc ordered. Catnip is not just for cats. It has been known to help humans relax, relieve headaches, and calm the nerves. Curl up with a cup and “cat”ch some z’s.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
