Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Our premium organic caffeine-free honeybush blended with organic strawberry, cinnamon, brown sugar and pastry flavors. A delicious caffeine-free treat. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
From the moment that I tore open the pouch of this Strawberry Pie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas, I knew I was in for a treat! I could smell the strawberry right away! And the berry with the cinnamon produced an aroma that was absolutely irresistible! YUM!
And this really is yummy. The nutty, honey-sweet honeybush with the notes of buttery pastry, earthy cinnamon and sweet brown sugar notes create a really delightful ‘pie-like’ flavor. The strawberry tastes sweet with hints of tart, just like the real thing. It tastes like the glazed strawberries in a strawberry pie (or a strawberry shortcake!)
It makes a really refreshing iced tea. It tastes a lot like I remember the “My Sweet Honeybush” version of this flavor tasting: sweet and delicious. I think that ‘hot tea’ version of this tea also had more of a vanilla-y taste to it. I do taste some vanilla-ish flavor to this, like a creamy sweetness, but it’s not as strong as my taste buds want to remember based on reading my past review.
However, I don’t feel like I’m missing that vanilla note in this tea because I rather like that this is about the strawberry and the pie. Very refreshing, pleasantly sweet and dessert-like. Nice!
Coconut Cream Pie Honeybush from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Sweet, caffeine-free African honeybush combined with our signature honking-big coconut flakes and organic flavors. Our Coconut Cream Pie black tea is one of our all-time bestsellers. I can’t fathom why we haven’t made a honeybush version of it yet, but I’m here to fix that now.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
As mentioned in the above description, the Coconut Cream Pie black tea from 52Teas is one of their best sellers. There’s a reason for that! That tea is seriously, awesomely good. Their iced tea version from Southern Boy Teas is also quite yummy. So I was very interested to see how these flavors went with a honeybush base.
The answer: it’s really tasty!
Now, I have to admit that I prefer the black tea version, but then again, I’m more of a camellia sinensis type of girl than I am a Cyclopia (aka honeybush) kind of girl. However, I must say that I like the nutty, honeyed sweetness that the honeybush brings to the coconut cream pie flavors! The coconut and the honeybush meld together nicely, and the honeybush also accents the buttery pie crust notes deliciously.
I taste strong notes of coconut mingling with sweet notes of creamy vanilla and touches of buttery pastry. The nutty, sweet notes of the honeybush marry together with these flavors in a very pleasing way. It’s sweet, creamy and yummy!
It’s dessert in a teacup! It is sweet without coming across as cloying. This is the kind of dessert that you can “indulge” in without feeling guilty afterward.
And even though I do prefer the black tea version of this tea, I like that this is naturally caffeine-free, making it a nice choice for later in the evening. You know those late night sweet tooth cravings? This tea is just what you need to help you satisfy those cravings without eating something that you’ll regret in the morning.
Apple Cinnamon Black Tea from Zest Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zest Tea
Tea Description:
We looked to American icons when creating this blend and what’s more American than Apple Pie? Unfortunately, football and the Grand Canyon didn’t make for great teas. This blend of premium Orange Pekoe black tea smothered in real bits of apple and cinnamon is a nod to your grandmother’s 4th of July specialty. Even modern teas can have a traditional twist.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Zest High-Octane Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
From the moment I cut into the pouch of this Apple Cinnamon Black Tea from Zest Tea, I could smell the apple! It took me a little by surprise because I figured I’d probably smell the cinnamon – and I do! – because cinnamon is a very fragrant spice but apple can sometimes be a subtle aroma in flavored teas like this. But the apple here is abundant and very aromatic, right along with the cinnamon. It’s lovely!
And the flavor is lovely too. It is sweet with apple and cinnamon notes, but, I like that I’m also tasting black tea. There is a really pleasing presentation of all three components. The black tea is a smooth, rich backdrop of flavor, while the apple and cinnamon play in the foreground.
The apple and cinnamon flavors are blended in a really nice way. I like the amount of flavor I taste. There is just enough of each ingredient to please the palate without it being too much of either one. More specifically, there isn’t too much cinnamon which can sometimes be an aggressive spice. I don’t taste an overpowering cinnamon-y flavor with hints of apple. I taste apple and I taste cinnamon and these don’t compete with each other; they bring out the very best in each other.
Zest Tea offers “extra caffeine” in each of their blends, and I have to tell you that the more I’m trying the “extra caffeine” teas like this, the more I’m liking them. They get me alert faster in the morning but without the jolt that I’d get from coffee – that same jolt is what gives me the sickly feeling about three hours after I consume coffee. I don’t get that with these Zest Teas! I just get a steady stream of strong caffeine to get my day started!
And I like that I don’t “taste” the caffeine. I don’t taste an extra “weird” taste in my tea. It tastes like a smooth, rich, deliciously flavored black tea. This one is a sweet tea, but not too sweet. This tea makes it OK to have a little bit of “apple pie” at breakfast time!
If you’re looking for that extra charge in the morning, these teas from Zest Tea may be just what you’re looking for!
Pumpkin Pie Crepe with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce Flavored Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
So, I’m thinking that this tea, this Pumpkin Pie Crepe with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce Flavored Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas has the longest name ever for a tea, right? If you know of a longer name … let me know!
I hot brewed this tea because I wanted to be sure to get all the flavor out of it that I could. I find that when I cold brew, the flavor is a little more subtle. Usually its still good, but for the strongest flavor, hot brew is the way to go. At least that’s what I’ve found with the Southern Boy Teas line of iced teas.
I don’t know if what I’m tasting is a pumpkin pie crepe that has been topped with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Then again, I haven’t ever had a pumpkin pie crepe that has been topped with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. I would definitely order said crepe if I ever saw it on a menu though.
What I am tasting, though, is an interesting medley of flavors that is a little bit of pumpkin, a little bit of vanilla, subtle notes of spice, hints of chocolate and notes of black tea in the background. It’s TASTY. I like all these flavors that I’m tasting in this glass of iced refreshment. It’s certainly an interesting combination of flavors, that’s for sure.
By the way, 52Teas/Southern Boy Teas has another Kickstarter campaign going on, this time to bring iced green tea (as well as white and honeybush iced teas) to the SBT line, as well as enable the company to become organically certified (they’ve been using organic products, but, its costly to become certified organic!) plus help to get Southern Boy Teas out to more customers. Check it out, and please consider contributing to helping this small business.
Auntie’s Pumpkin Pie Black Tea Blend from Doehi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Doehi
Tea Description:
China black tea with cinnamon bits, pumpkin sprinkles and flavoring. A classic flavor for any time of the year.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh my goodness! I love the aroma of the dry leaf of Auntie’s Pumpkin Pie Black Tea Blend from Doehi! From the moment I cut off the airtight seal on the zipper pouch of the package, I could smell the warm cinnamon notes. Then when I opened the zipper locked seal, my olfactory nerves delighted in the smell of sweet pumpkin and cinnamon. Mmm!
And the tea is visually delightful too. Little pieces of cinnamon and tiny pumpkin shaped candy sprinkles decorate the black tea leaves. While I have made note previously that I’m not particularly fond of the practice of these novelty candy sprinkles added to tea, I can’t help but smile when I see the little pumpkins. They’re cute, darn it! But I am happy to also see that they weren’t added with a heavy hand. There’s a light sprinkling of these sprinkles, just enough to add some charm, whimsy and color to the blend.
The cinnamon is warm but it doesn’t overpower this blend. When you eat a slice of pumpkin pie, you don’t expect to be bombarded with cinnamon flavor, do you? This tea doesn’t bombard your taste buds with cinnamon, there is just enough cinnamon to give the squash the right amount of spice.
The pumpkin notes are sweet and tasty. There have been a few “pumpkin pie” type teas that I’ve tasted that have tasted more of spice than of pumpkin, and even some that have had no discernible pumpkin flavor at all. This isn’t one of those teas! I can taste the pumpkin! It’s sweet and slightly savory and has a smooth, rich flavor that compliments the black tea notes.
And speaking of the black tea … it isn’t overpowered in this blend! It is a milder tasting tea – I suspect a Ceylon – but it isn’t so mellow that it’s hiding behind the flavors of pumpkin and cinnamon. It’s a even-toned taste with a medium-body. Flavorful and I’m finding that the black tea flavors are actually accentuated by the presence of the pumpkin. These two work together very well.
Pumpkin is a decidedly “autumnal” sort of dessert, but, I for one happen to like pumpkin pie any time of year. And this tea from Doehi allows me to enjoy the delicious flavor of pumpkin in the figure friendly form of tea … all year ’round! This is tasty served straight up with no additions. To amplify the “pumpkin-y” notes, add a pinch of sugar (or brown sugar!) This is also AWESOME served as a latte, I think that the dairy sort of “finishes” the pumpkin pie taste. Think of the latte as the whipped cream on top of the pie!