Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
White Guava tea brews a light infusion with a beautiful, rich scent and a delicate tropical flavor. It comprises an exotic blend of white peony loose-leaf tea leaves, strawberries, ginger, and natural flavors, and as with all of our white teas, White Guava tea prepares nicely both hot and iced.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
As I sip this White Guava Tea from The Persimmon Tree, I can’t help but think of summertime! Specifically, I’m thinking of summertime in Southern California, when the strawberries are in season and you can buy fresh, ripe strawberries right from the field from which they were grown.
Well, it’s been well over 10 years since I’ve been in Southern California, and for all I know, all the strawberry fields are gone now in favor of “city improvement,” which means more buildings and less strawberry fields. That doesn’t sound like improvement to me. But I didn’t come here to get all political on you, so I’ll stick to the tea.
This tea is bursting with guava and strawberry flavor and I love that the flavors taste true to the fruit. This doesn’t taste artificial. There is a hint of ginger to this, just enough to provide a little interest without it becoming too intrusive of a flavor. It is sweet, fruity and delicious.
And then I taste the White Peony tea flavor, which is sweet and delicate with subtle earth notes. Everything in this cup is really well-balanced: it’s not too fruity, it’s not too spicy. It has just the right amount of flavor to complement the tea without overpowering it. It isn’t bitter. There is a faint astringency to the cup but I only started noticing it when I started focusing to find it. The aftertaste is lightly sweet with just a barely-there hint of berry tartness to it.
This is wonderful served hot on a chilly winter’s evening, but, it’s even better served iced. Cool and refreshing!
Tropical Eyebrows Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
As for this blend, well, despite the silly name, it’s a refreshing blast of tropical fruits and sweet green tea. Chun Mee reportedly means “Precious Eyebrows” and is so named because of the shape of the leaves, hence our “Tropical Eyebrows” name.
I’m not sure if persimmon qualifies as a tropical fruit, but I felt the need to include it here, so I did along with mango, banana, kiwi, pineapple and coconut. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum! I find that I am usually “hesitant” to try new tropical fruit flavored teas – so I wasn’t really ~overjoyed~ when it was time for me to try this Tropical Eyebrows Green Tea from 52Teas. And it isn’t even that I dislike tropical fruit flavored teas … I actually quite enjoy them. I think it’s just that it seems like all the tea companies out there have some “tropical oasis” type of tea, and it just seems a little overdone.
Then again, that may sound a bit contradictory coming from me because I’ll try any Earl Grey you put in front of me and really, when it comes to flavored tea, there is no flavor that is more overdone than the tried and true, traditional bergamot, is there?
But, this tropical flavored green tea is different from the rest. Perhaps it’s the addition of the persimmon … or perhaps it’s that its made with Chun Mee green tea. There is something about this that is very unique – while at the same time familiar – and whatever it is, I’m liking it!
The Chun Mee has a lovely earthy quality to it that I think contrasts with the sweet, tangy tropical flavors quite nicely. The result is a nicely round, flavorful, fruity treat for the palate.
The tropical flavors present a seamless taste that is a little bit pineapple-y, with hints of kiwi and mango and persimmon. There is a creamy undertone from the coconut and banana. No fruit note is really standing out from the rest, except for perhaps the pineapple, which is the first flavor I really noticed when I took a sip. They all meld very nicely to create a tasty fruit-y flavor.
This one tastes good hot … but its a real winner when it’s iced!
Lotus Green Tea from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
A unique combination of hand-harvested fresh lotus blossoms blended with green loose leaf tea in an ancient scenting method comprises our Lotus Green tea. Prepared in small batches by Vietnamese traditional artisans, the unique essence of these spring-harvested flowers is released and absorbed directly into the tea. The Lotus green tea brews a pleasant, slightly sharp flavor similar to star anise, with a subtle vanilla finish. Be sure to steep multiple times to fully appreciate the flavor of these sweet, aromatic lotus blossoms infused in our Lotus Flower tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Lotus Green Tea from The Persimmon Tree really is a lovely cuppa!
Both the aroma and the taste is delightfully floral. I think that the above description describes the flavor perfectly – it is sharp, with notes that remind me of the licorice-y notes of star anise, and as the sip nears the tail, there is a hint of vanilla. It is sweet, exotic and creamy, and makes for a truly lovely tea time experience.
I like also that this tea offers multiple infusions! The first cup was sharper than the second infusion, which was a little softer, but still so sweet and creamy! I think that the second infusion was my favorite. The third infusion was also quite nice, the flavors became more unified with my third and final cup, making for a more refreshing, lighter taste, but still really flavorful.
This tea needs no additions … I think that sugar would overwhelm it. It is one of those teas that you want to spend a leisurely afternoon with … infusing and infusing again … experiencing the many layers of flavor that the tea has to offer.
The more I get to know the teas of The Persimmon Tree, the more I like this company. I have recently been checking out their blog and found some yummy recipes and lots of other fun things! And you can keep up with their happenings on Twitter or Facebook.
Vanilla Berry Truffle from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Product Description:
A rooibos base infused with succulent black currants, organic hibiscus and creamy white chocolate blossoms.
Taster’s Review:
The fragrance of the dry leaf is really nice, it isn’t TOO powerful, but, it has a delicious combination of berry and vanilla notes with a somewhat nutty background. It smells like dessert!
I was about to steep this the way I normally would rooibos – that is, in boiling water for ten minutes. Because the tannins are very low in rooibos, the flavor will intensify from the long steep time without becoming bitter. However, upon closer examination of this tisane, I noticed the hibiscus. And while rooibos blends can benefit from a long steep time, the longer hibiscus is steeped the more tart and syrupy it becomes. And… I don’t like that.
So… I set the timer for six minutes instead. And this resulted in a really lovely cuppa. It is tart, but it isn’t too tart. The tartness accents the berry flavor of the black currant well, while the white chocolate in the blend gives the cup a deliciously creamy, sweet note that helps to offset the hibiscus tartness so that it doesn’t become too overpowering. The rooibos base is nutty and sweet, but, I am not getting that aftertaste that sometimes accompanies rooibos (a good thing!)
This is a skillfully blended tisane: the flavors are well-balanced, and while it is sweet enough to serve as a dessert tea, it isn’t cloyingly so. A very fun cup of tea any time of the day.
Peach Apple Crisp from Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Product Description:
A clean, flavorful blend of black loose-leaf teas, combining fruity notes of white peach, gala apple and cinnamon with a crisp floral finish.
Ingredients: Biodynamic Black Loose-Leaf Tea, Organic Nilgiri Loose-Leaf Tea, Organic Assam Loose-Leaf Tea, Organic Orange Peel, Fair Trade Organic Rooibos, Roses, Organic Hibiscus, Safflower, Natural Flavors
Taster’s Review:
This is a surprising black tea blend. Most flavored black teas are comprised of just Ceylon tea, and it is refreshing when I find a blend that utilizes other black tea leaves in the blend.
Using Assam and Nilgiri in this blend gives the base a much more substance. This is a TEA first, and the flavors come second, and that is the way it should be! The black tea offers a strong flavor with a delicious malty character. Hints of wine-like flavor come up at the finish just before the astringency arrives. The finish is slightly dry with a sweet, fruity aftertaste.
The peach and apple flavors are distinct although they do not attempt to compete with this bold black base. The cinnamon gives a lovely hint of spice – just a hint – and I like the way it accentuates the fruit and gives the cup an overall sense of being a dessert-ish type of tea. The hibiscus here is barely noticeable. I can taste it – a little, and although the flavor of it develops slowly as I continue to sip, it never becomes a strong or protruding flavor.
I really like this full-bodied tea a lot, it has a very satisfying tea flavor that is sure to please the tea enthusiast while also maintaining a delicious, dessert-like taste. I like this served straight, but if you really want to highlight the “crisp” part of this tea, try adding a little brown sugar. It would also be nice with a splash of milk (Peach Apple Crisp a la mode!) Very nice hot or iced!