Scarborough Fair from A Quarter To Tea. . . .

by VariaTEA

Every single time I am on the A Quarter to Tea website, the name “Scarborough Fair” catches my eye. Every. Single. Time. I have no idea why or what I am always expecting but the name always pulls me in. I keep thinking it is like a berry tea or something like that and I want it but then I click on the page and read the description which calls it “fruity” and “herbaceous”. Though fruity I like, herbaceous makes me hesitant and in the end my hesitation wins out and this tea gets left behind. However, I guess fate decided to intervene because a sample of this Scarborough Fair tea arrived in A Quarter to Tea’s monthly subscription box for August.

I steeped the entire sample in a 16 oz mug according to the recommended steeping parameters of 3 minutes in 190F water.

The description “fruity” and “herbaceous” hit the nail right on the head, to be honest. The fruity raspberry flavor hits your tongue first but the sage quickly comes up from underneath. Somehow the two components intertwine seamlessly while still being distinctive in their own rights. The rosemary also blends with the sage and the two flavors linger on your tongue after the sip is done, all the while the sweet raspberry note still floats on top. This tea is unique to say the least and certainly very interesting but I can’t decide if that is good or bad.

I am enjoying this cup well enough but if I am being honest, “herbaceous” is just not what I want from my teas. I’m more of the dessert tea kind of girl and though this has a nice sweetness, the herbs are throwing me off. Nevertheless, I am glad I got to try it and for those who like a more herbal element or even just anyone wanting to try something new, I wholeheartedly suggest giving this a taste.

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black Tea
Where to Buy:  A Quarter To Tea
Description

Raspberry, sage and rosemary come together to create a fruity and herbaceous cup worthy of Scarborough Fair itself.

Sikkim is located just north of Darjeeling in India. The only garden there, Temi, does its teas in a Darjeeling style. The base tea here is comparable to a second flush Darjeeling tea

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

VariaTEA

Hey there! My name is Rachel. I’m a twenty-something from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who loves dogs and has a bit of an obsession with tea. As a child I hated the stuff since all I ever knew was Red Rose (no offense to Red Rose). However, a few years ago that all changed. I was on a diet and desperate for new flavors without adding calories and that’s when I turned to tea. I started off by going to DAVIDsTEA and Teavana for all their dessert-inspired flavors, and since I didn’t know any better, I bought 100 grams each of about twenty-something different teas. This was okay for the teas I liked but for those I didn’t I needed to find some way of getting rid of them. Enter Steepster.com. This is where I met some incredible tea friends, discovered tea swaps, and learned of so many amazing tea companies. My desire to try all the teas grew and since joining three years ago I have tried over a thousand different teas. I have learned what ingredients I love and I have learned what flavors I don’t like. I determined my go-to brewing method is Western-style with no added milk or sweeteners, though I also enjoy cold brewing, iced teas, teapops, lattes, and smoothies. I have yet to brew gong-fu style but I hope to do so just as soon as I get the proper teaware to do it. About a year ago, I actually stopped drinking tea but as my stash of over 200 teas started aging I decided I needed to respark my interest. I chose to take a 365 days of tea challenge on Instagram in which I post a new tea picture every day. So far it has been rather successful as I find myself drinking (and buying) more and more tea each day. Plus it enabled CuppaGeek to find me and invite me here to SororiTea Sisters.

This post was posted in A Quarter To Tea, Black Tea

Lavender with Love from High Garden Tea. . . .

by Mary

I recently went to visit a friend of mine in Nashville– and of course, as with any trip, stops to local tea havens was #1 on my list. (Okay, maybe #2 after friend-reunion-bonding time. But second only to that.) High Garden is an incredible herbal apothecary tea shop, brimming with blends and jars full of single herbs, tinctures and tons of other goodies. You’ll find a ferments bar in the back (teas and treats to sample, and tons of fermented beverages– kombuchas, jin, kefir– and other refrigerated ferments filled the shop stock), and the walls are covered in vines and nature in order to evoke the perfect scene of Hufflepuff-common-room-meets-Mr.-Tumnus’-cottage. I was, understandably, in tea heaven.

In an effort to try as much as I could, I filled up a bag from their wall of samples, including this intriguing lavender-herb blend in the mix for a little bedtime relaxation cuppa. A unique blend of lavender, elderflower, chamomile, and jasmine, it’s truly delightful. It’s floral without being grandma’s-perfume-y, and herbal without being vegetal. It calls for quite a long steep, which only intensifies the harmony of the flavors. And this one made it far past a single steep for me, keeping the flavor strong even after the third, fourth infusion!

A delightful herbal, when all is said and done. Will I automatically restock this one? Maybe not, but that has more to do with the plethora of other single samples I have waiting in my half-unpacked luggage* now that I’m home!

*I mean, I pretty much had to leave all of my personal effects in Nashville in order to transport all my new teas home. That’s how travel is supposed to work, right?

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Herbal
Where to Buy:  High Garden
Description

Lavender flower, Chamomile, Jasmine, Elderflower, Rosemary
Not only an aromatic bliss of lavender and jasmine, but immune boosting components to give your body the love it deserves.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Mary

Hi there! I'm Mary, a 27-year-old mental health professional living with my fiancé and our quirky kitten in the Midwest! I've loved tea for as long as I can remember-- in fact, I have vivid memory of being four or five in a tea shop and being mesmerized by all the tea flavors and proclaiming that I "was going to be kind of adult who drank tea, not coffee." A stint living (and tea-drinking my way through) London and twenty-some years later, I'm still channeling that sassy four-year-old and loving my tea habit. When I'm not sipping a cuppa, you'll find me reading, doing yoga, traveling, exploring my own city, planning our wedding and experimenting with different healthful and healing foods in my kitchen.

This post was posted in Fruit/Herbal Tisane, High Garden