Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Yeah, it’s a mouthful. A mouthful of DELICIOUS.
Now having never had hindbaersnitter (and yes, I have to double-check my spelling EVERY time I type that), I had to sort of imagine what it would be like. I imagined the sweet hay-like shou mei blended with freeze-dried raspberries and pastry notes along with a touch of sweetness, and I think I’ve struck on something delicious, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this tea smells strongly of raspberry and there is a sweetness to it too. I can smell the sweet pastry notes of the hindbaersnitter.
I have never tried hindbaersnitter, at least, not to my knowledge. I have had pop tarts, though, and I’m told that they’re similar to, only much much better than pop tarts. Imagine a thin layer of thick raspberry jam sandwiched between two very thin shortbread cookies and a sweet glaze on top. It sounds like something I need to try. Mmm!
Well, I probably won’t be trying hindbaersnitter any time soon unless I happen to find a Danish sweet shop somewhere in Portland (and Portland’s weird enough to where it’s not completely implausible that I would not find one.) So in the meantime, I think I will have to be content with trying the tea version of this Danish treat.
And it won’t be hard to be content with this, because it’s yummy! The white tea is the perfect base for the flavors of the tart, because the delicate notes of the Shou Mei allow for the sweet notes of the buttery shortbread to come through nicely. I can taste that sweet, buttery pastry and it’s so yummy.
The raspberry is sweet-tart and a really bright note to this cup. I can even taste the sweetness of the glaze in this! The raspberry notes really POP in the aftertaste. My tongue feels that berry tingle.
And I like that even though the flavors are well-defined in this blend, that they don’t overpower the Shou Mei. I still taste those crisp, hay-like notes and the fresh, airy sort of taste to the white tea. This is a really refreshing beverage!
This reminds me a bit of the raspberry thumbprint cookies that my grandmother used to make: shortbread cookies that she’d drop onto the sheet pan in rounds, and then she’d dent the rounds with her thumb, and then bake them. Then when they came out of the oven, she’d fill the little thumbprints with a raspberry filling and then she’d drizzle them with a glaze. I guess I was eating a sort of hindbaersnitter without even realizing it?
I really liked this, and I’m thinking that I need to try this one iced. I think it’s going to be amazing!
Passion Fruit Banana Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Wow! I just have to say: passion fruit is some ugly fruit. I mean, it’s just not attractive at all. I was looking for a picture of it to incorporate into my label and all I can say is that it’s a good thing it tastes better than it looks.Bananas, on the other hand, are much more appeeling. So, I decided to marry the two in our new Tea of the Week with some nice shou mei white tea. This is a tea that will make your mouth happy. Like not just pleased, but happy.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum! I agree with the above statement: this Passion Fruit Banana Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas is really making my mouth happy! The flavors of banana and passion fruit taste AMAZING together.
The Shou Mei white tea base is ideal for these fruit flavors – it’s delicate enough to allow the flavors really shine, however the flavor is not so soft that it gets pummeled by the strong fruit notes. I taste the light, sweet notes of the white tea. It’s soft, a little bit earthy and I taste a hint of creaminess from the tea too.
The real stars of this blend, though, are the fruit flavors. These two tropical flavors are made for each other. The taste is sweet and fruity (well, obviously, right?) and with the smooth, fresh, creamy taste of the white tea, it’s almost “smoothie-like.”
It tastes great hot, but I think this one is best iced: it becomes a really refreshing treat! Yeah, I know that I’ve often sang praises to 52Teas blends, but trust me when I say that for this tea, the praises are well deserved. It’s really, really YUM!
Winter White Chai from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A soft, delicate version of traditional Indian chai, Winter White Chai features our fine Shou Mei white tea amongst the backdrop of customary chai spices, with one surprising addition: coconut. Delicious served in the traditional chai manner with milk and sugar or untouched for a more simplistic and delicate cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s NEW Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
I love the aroma of the dry leaf of this Winter White Chai from Simple Loose Leaf. It smells so delightfully spicy with notes of cinnamon, clove and pepper with a high note of coconut. My mouth began to water when I smelled it.
The brewed tea doesn’t have an overpoweringly spicy fragrance, instead, it smells warm and mildly spiced, like spice cake baking in the oven. And that’s the first thing I thought of when I took my first sip: spice cake! The spices come together in a very pleasing way in this chai – they’re warm and comforting.
Of the spices represented in this blend, the cinnamon and cloves are the most prominent. I taste a light kick of pepper from the ginger and the pink peppercorns, and there is a very gentle cardamom flavor to this too. I think that these spices were very thoughtfully blended: it’s a well-balanced masala chai blend that pairs well with the light Shou Mei base.
And I do taste the Shou Mei. When it comes to white teas, I think that Shou Mei is the least delicate tasting, and I think that it was the right choice for this particular blend because it needed something that could be tasted beneath the spices and other components of this blend. It has a subtle earthy tone, but the biggest contribution that I’m getting from the tea base is a refreshingly crisp note that enlivens the palate.
The coconut and vanilla notes work in unison to offer a soft, creamy note. I don’t taste a really obvious “coconut” flavor, but I taste more coconut in the aftertaste than in the actual sip. I find my thoughts debating among themselves as I’m trying to decide if I’d want more distinct coconut flavor to this tea. On the one hand, I do like the creaminess from the coconut and vanilla; it sort of gives a “latte-ish” taste to the cup without adding milk or cream to the tea (milk in white tea? No, that just seems wrong!) and I think that a stronger coconut presence might shift the focus off the lovely spices of this blend. I really like the blend as it is … then again, I really like coconut and there’s that part of me thinking “more coconut might be nice.”
The lemongrass adds a very light citrus-y note to the cup. It isn’t a strong presence, but it brings a little brightness to the overall flavor.
I really liked this Chai. It’s light and crisp, but still pleasantly spiced.
Cantaloupe Watermelon Flavored White Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Cantaloupe is one of my all-time favorite fruits and so is watermelon, so when I had the chance, I just couldn’t resist creating this blend of premium white teas, dried cantaloupe, and organic cantaloupe and watermelon flavors. This is a serious glass of refreshment as an iced tea and I’m sure it’s awesome as a hot tea too. I’m already getting a little anxious for spring. I’ve got this week’s tea and next week’s tea already blended up, and they are both on the fruity end of the spectrum. But that’s all I can tell you for now.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This Cantaloupe Watermelon Flavored White Tea from 52Teas is YUMMY! It tastes like summer in tea form!
The overall flavor is sweet and fruity. I love that the watermelon and cantaloupe come through loud and clear. There’s no mistaking these two flavors – this definitely taste just as I wanted a tea that promises cantaloupe and watermelon flavors with its name the way this tea does. It tastes like sweet, luscious cantaloupe and juicy, sweet watermelon.
The white tea is just the right base for these two flavors too, because these are typically two more delicate tasting fruits and I think a stronger tea flavor would have obscured the nuances of the cantaloupe and watermelon flavors (although I think it would be interesting to try these flavors with a buttery Chinese Sencha too). The white tea has a light, airy kind of taste, and the fruit notes that I often associate with a white tea tend to be melons, so I think that pairing a Shou Mei white tea with watermelon and cantaloupe is ideal.
It tastes great served hot, but it’s even better iced, mostly because these flavors just seem to beg to be served over ice, don’t they? Cantaloupe and Watermelon sound better cold than hot. A thin slice of lemon might be nice to serve with this – just a hint of acid to perk up the sweetness a bit!
As I write this review, I see that there are six pouches of this tea left. This is going to be a tea you WANT to have on hand when summer arrives – it’s so deliciously refreshing and fruity! So, hurry on over to 52Teas and get yourself a pouch!
A really delightful tea.
Cran-Grape Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I assure you, I am not dead.
I’ve been down with the flu early this week and then I got so busy with our Kickstarter rewards that I nearly forgot to post the tea of the week! Shame on me. And it’s a yummy one too. Soft, sweet shou mei blended with cranberries and grapes. Yummmmm.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
As soon as I opened the pouch of this Cran-Grape Shou Mei from 52Teas, I could smell the grape. Or perhaps, I should say, I could smell grape candy, because that’s what it smells like. It smells like the grape <insert favorite grape flavored candy here>. Yeah, that’s what this smells like. The grape scent was so strong that I couldn’t really detect any cranberry notes, or any white tea notes for that matter.
Once brewed, the fragrance mellows out a little bit. Now, I still smell grape, but it actually smells like grape … and not so much like grape candy. There are still hints of candy-like sweetness, but, the aroma becomes a little more complex after the tea is brewed. I even smell a wine-like note in there. And I can smell hints of white tea too. Much more promising than the dry leaf scent.
The grape flavor is the strongest note that I taste, and the sweetness of the candy-like grape taste is curbed with the tartness of the cranberry. This combination keeps the grape from tasting too cloying. But, I have to say that this isn’t my favorite fruit combination. I’ve never made any big secret of my dislike for grape flavored things. But the cranberry does improve the flavor considerably.
The white tea is a little obscured by the strength of the fruit flavors. I notice the white tea notes a little more when I slurp the sip, and then I taste the earthy qualities of the Shou Mei, and a slight “hay-ish” taste that offers a palate-pleasing contrast to the fruit notes.
This tastes alright. It’s not my favorite 52Teas blend. (I have much higher hopes for the next blend that I’ll be tasting: Rum Raisin! YUM!) I like this much better as an iced tea than when it’s served hot.