Spring and summer are my favorite time for drinking floral teas, complementing the flowers blooming outside of my teacup. So this seemed like the perfect time to try a cup of Rose City Rooibos from Beach House Teas.
This is the first tea I’ve tried from Beach House Teas so I took a look at their website. Family-run business in the Pacific Northwest with a focus on organic and wild ingredients, producing hand-blended teas. They also have an Etsy shop, if that’s more your style. They even offer herb-infused sugar for cooking, and herb infused salts and bath bombs for the bath.
Let’s get back to the tea at hand, Rose City Rooibos. Like many tea blends on Beach House Teas, this blend looks great in the dry leaf with beautiful curled rose blossoms in pink and cream, and the rich russet tones of the red rooibos.
Brewed, this tea is smooth and simple, with the nutty, caramel tones of the red rooibos with gentle floral overtones. The ingredients list says there is peppermint in this blend as well, but the mint gets lost under all the rooibos taste and rose scent. I wouldn’t mind more peppermint in the next batch to help add more dimension to the flavor set of this blend. I usually favor teas with a bit more punch to their flavors, so I might not brew this one again. Overall this was very simple and comforting.
This tea’s description calls this a “liquid spa” and I won’t deny that the floral notes are relaxing, and the rose petals are captivating to look at. A good tea for when you need some relaxing aromatherapy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Beach House Teas
Description:
Rose City Rooibos is 100% organic loose leaf tea blended with red rooibos tea, rose petals, peppermint, and pure extract. This floral elixir is all about beauty and what better way to surround yourself in beauty than rose petals and rooibos that’s like a liquid spa?
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Anything but Basic – Louisa May Alcott from Simpson and Vail
There is nothing better than sharing a hot cuppa with hot ladies. Wait, did that came out wrong? I mean strong, independent, educated ladies. Yeah, that’s who I’d have tea parties with! So, I invited two amazing students from my “Women’s Contributions to Science” class for a tea party. And, what better tea to drink than one inspired by the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott.
Simpson and Vail created fandom teas for several authors, and this green blend has a soft spice scent with the dried apple bits – is it nutmeg that it reminds us of? Pine? As we brew up this pumpkin pie colored treat, we bring up recent TED talks, STEM, swiping right… Hey, just because we love Autumn doesn’t make us totally basic! And neither is this literary tea – it’s good for multiple infusions and it builds flavor as you drink it. There is a midweight mouthfeel, and a certain sweetness from the Rose that lingers into the aftertaste.
It’s a heartwarming blend, and we have high spirits for the coming equinox, including brainstorming for Halloween costumes. If our Louisa May tea was alive today, we picture her costumed as T.Swift in a flannel, and this tea is the perfect embodiment of that. Now if you’ll pardon me, I’ve been inspired to go crochet a scarf for some eligible but aloof bachelor.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description:
Early in Little Women, while visiting a sick Laurie, Jo says that her sister Meg’s blancmange is made “very nicely.” Later, her own attempt turns out “lumpy” and accompanied by strawberries that were “not as ripe as they looked.” Our blend follows Meg’s example and is almost, as Laurie says, “too pretty to [drink].” Combining almond and strawberry flavors, this blend brews to a delicious tea that is fruity and aromatic. It manages to be both sweet and light thanks to the Chunmee green tea base and the gentle floral notes added by the rose petals.
Ingredients: Green tea, apple pieces, flavoring, strawberry pieces and rose petals.
Certified Kosher
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
An Early Taste of Spring with Mountain Oolong Spring. . . . .
Mountain Oolong Spring from Mountain Tea Co. is truly a springtime tea. In the spring, everything blooms and bursts into life, and you can evoke this feeling by brewing a cup of this tea in your kitchen at home. I’ve had quite a few teas that smell like jasmine or rose, but this tea lights up with the fragrance of less typical flowers, soft and feminine like baby’s breath or lily of the valley.
Putting your nose into a cup of this tea will envelop you with this relaxing, perfumey sensation.
Beyond the flavor of flowers, there are nutty and buttery tones to help fill out the brew and give the tea a smooth, rich mouthfeel. The more I steeped these leaves, the brighter and greener the undertones became.
The most unique and memorable part of this tea is its forward floral accents.
If you’re a lover of flowery oolongs, Mountain Oolong Spring will be a perfect fit for your tastes.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Mountain Tea Co.
Description:
The character of a pot of tea tells a story about the leaf it originated from. Good tea is a mixed blessing for tea farmers; in general, the harder the tea plant struggles to grow, the more flavorful and tempered the finished brew becomes. For this reason higher elevation with colder temperatures and thinner air produces outstanding leaf.
The 2016 spring harvest of Mountain Oolong withstands high temperature water longer without introducing dryness to the flavor, producing a forgiving and well-behaved pot of tea for the busy brewer. The steeped cup reflects a beautifully clear yet deep honey gold color; the nose is creamy sweet over a faint, nostalgic scent of rice flower bud. Notes for this crop are sharp and floral, paired with a robust body. Expect flavors of citrus blossom mostly, nasal and high in the mouth. Properly brewed we found that this tea has even greater re-steep potential than past flushes, up to six or seven.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Unlock your Inner Romantic with Rose Garden Pu Erh from Tocha Tea
Rose Garden Pu Erh from Tocha Tea looks the part right off the bat, with deep, pink rose petals and dark tea tied up neatly in a silk teabag. The dry tea smells strongly of roses, so strongly, the scent verges into being a bit like floral-scented soap.
With the heavy rose smell and the pu erh base, I kept the steep times and temperatures a little lower than the package recommended, brewing for 1 minute at about 195 degrees Fahrenheit, to keep the flavors from getting too saturated.
When brewed, the rose overtones are still the most forward flavor, but there is an added depth from the musky tones of the pu erh tea. This earthiness is a pleasing presence, fleshing out the “garden party” theme.
With the romantic and delicate nature of roses, it makes sense that this is blended with pu erh tea instead of black tea. Black teas have a more astringent bite, while pu erh is smoother and creamier, and this gentler mouthfeel is noticeable.
At first, I wasn’t sold on the rose and pu erh combination from the description alone, but this brew turned out to be lovely. Rose Garden Pu Erh would be perfect with a Beauty and the Beast theme, using the rose petals and earthy pu erh, as stand-ins for Belle and Beast. I say, keep track of your brew times and temperature, and this tea can unlock even your toughest enchantments.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu erh
Where to Buy: Tocha Tea
Description:
For centuries, pu-erh tea has been treasured for its elegant flavor and health benefits. The unique natural fermentation process gives it an earthy, woodsy essence that is never bitter, even after a long steep. Rose petals add a graceful note to this delicious and versatile blend, a wonderful tea for everyday wellness.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lavender Dream from Dave and Solomons Tea
Dave and Solomons are a mother and son tea blending company, currently selling their indie creations on their Etsy store. I hadn’t come across them before this sample arrived with me, but it’s always nice to discover a new tea company, if a little dangerous for the bank account!
Lavender Dream is a fruit and herbal blend, combining the sweet fruitiness of peach with the light floral of lavender. It sounds a little odd to begin with, but I was pleased to discover that they’re actually two flavours which work incredibly well together. The dry leaf itself is incredibly pretty, with dark pink rose petals, bright blue cornflowers, and purple lavender buds, plus large (1-2cm square) chunks of dried papaya.
I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 5 minutes in boiling water. The result is a medium orange-brown liquor, which smells wonderful and which filled the entire kitchen with the scent of fuzzy peach. To taste, it’s very much as you might expect. The peach isn’t particularly natural-tasting, hence “fuzzy” peach, but it’s strong and incredibly juicy, and I’m more than happy with that. The lavender is definitely playing second fiddle here, not really making itself known until very much the end of the sip. When it does, it’s a pleasant counterpoint to the sweetness of the peach, adding a delicate floral flavour, and just a hint of perfume.
I expected this one to be a lot heavier on the lavender, given that it’s called Lavender Dream. Having tasted it, I feel Peach Dream 
would be a much more appropriate name, because it is primarily a peach flavoured tea. I’m not the biggest fan of floral teas, particularly when they’re herbal blends, but in this case it shouldn’t put you off. The lavender really isn’t very prominent, but the contribution it makes is balancing one, and pleasant to boot.
As this is a caffeine free blend, it’ll likely be making a regular appearance in my evening rotation for a good long while to come. I love the juicy peach notes, and I’d actually like to try this one iced (although I might have to wait until summer, or a rare warm day, for that now.) I’ll definitely be trying more blends from Dave and Solomons Tea in the future on the strength of this experience. There’s certainly some skilled blending going on!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Dave and Solomons Tea
Description
Yummy peach cubes with organic lavender, rose petals, marigold & cornflower petals. MMMM Soooo good!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
