Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A blended black tea with smooth cocoa beans gives a rich and malty cup of tea. Breakfast Americano makes an amazing start to your day and we recommend you try it with a touch of steamed milk.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Still on my Epic Sipdown Journey, I came across this fellow who I bought from other Steepster friend in a Stash Sale a while ago. I’ve had a few Simple Loose Leaf blends before so I was looking forwarded to this one.
I have to admit right off the bat, I think I steeped this guy wrong. The whole description of this tea doesn’t match what I’m drinking. The description is a malty rich cocoa like black tea. Exactly what the dry mixture smells like. When I brewed this up like a black tea with water at 212F and 3 min, I got a very smoky malty tea with no hints of cocoa beans and a very astringent finish. This is a new tea cup and tea pot that I hadn’t used before so I’m very curious on how this happened.
I think even if the smoky notes weren’t there, this wouldn’t be the tea for me. There is an overwhelming amount of malty notes and nothing but the astringency to offset them. I wish I could get those cocoa beans to pop.
My apologizes to Simple Loose Leaf. I think I royally screwed up this tea and won’t be able to give you the proper review. Maybe another time I’ll get this right and we can try this again!
Wu Yi Oolong from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
Wu Yi Oolong is from China’s Fujian province and is known for its light sweet cup with a fragrant orchid finish. When steeped, the mature semi-fermented leaves expand to a full lively cup with more body than a green tea but less body than a black tea
Learn more about their month subscription box here.
Taster’s Review:
I am a newbie when it comes to some oolongs. I’ve had a few here and there but I have mainly spent my time with either flavored oolongs or really any other tea. Straight oolongs I’ve had on occasion but I seem to not pick them up as often as I would a green or black tea. No real reason. I have been wanting to educate myself on oolongs for some time. So when my last box from Simple Loose Leaf arrived, I was happy to see this in the box. I was so excited I grabbed my new bottle from Simply Good Tea and promptly poured the contents of the package into the bottle. Put the bottle in the fridge and twenty minutes later I took my first sip.
Oh mama. That is the good stuff. I can’t believe that I haven’t dug more into oolongs. This tea was heaven to my taste buds. I literally have been drinking this tea for 24 hours and I think I have finally exhausted the leaves. I loved watching them dance around in the water while they produced a beautiful cold brewed oolong tea for me to enjoy.
This tea was bright and crisp. I could pick up different aspects that reminded me of black teas and green teas both. The first infusion, I really picked up more of a dark roasted black tea quality. Towards the end, I was greeted with a nice bright silky like almost green tea flavor. There was a sweetness and well rounded note throughout the entire time I spent with this beauty. The dry leaves themselves had a nice roasted like fragrance.
Love it. Love it. Love it. For more first experience with this type of oolong, I’m very pleased. This was fantastic. I’m excited now to dive into more oolongs and really take some time with them. Great job Simple Loose Leaf.
Prickly Pear Herbal from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A remarkable tea that shines with desert pride and spotlights one of our most unique herbal teas. Hibiscus and Rose Hips are blended to create the vibrant magenta base for our one-of-a-kind Prickly Pear Herbal Tea.
Hibiscus, Rose Hips, Chicory Root, Chamomile, Dried Prickly Pear Fruit, Natural and Artifical Pear Flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s monthly plan here.
Taster’s Review:
Recently I received a promotional email from Simple Loose Leaf announcing a sale. Their monthly box that is typically $15 a month. I couldn’t pass up the deal. I jumped on the sale and a couple weeks later my box arrived. There were 4 tea blends in the box. This one was the one that I couldn’t help but tear right into. Mountain Witch Tea Co has an amazing Desert Mojave Prickly Pear that I just adore. So much so that I picked up a 4 oz pkg of that tea without hesitation. Since that particular tea, any tea that I see has prickly pear in it, I’m sold.
What I love about these monthly subscription boxes is that you just get enough of a tea to “wet your whistle” but not add a ton of tea to an overflowing tea stash.
Brewed this up like a herbal-212F-5 min in my One Touch Breville. Let the brew cool for a few minutes and took my first sip. Wow, can you say tart? This blend not only has dried prickly pear but also has quite a bit of hibiscus. I love my hibiscus but this was even too much for me. I continued to try to drink this and hoped other flavors would become present. That never happened. To me this tasted like a straight hibiscus blend. For me, I think this blend would be phenomenal if there was more of the dried prickly pear fruit than the hibiscus.
I did try this tea cold and ended up with the same result. Just to tart of a tea for me. I really don’t like adding sweeteners to my tea and on the rare occasion will I add honey.
If you love really tart teas or hibiscus blends, this tea is for you. For me, it was just too tart.
Prickly Pear Black Tea from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Description:
Prickly Pear is a cactus fruit native to Mexico and the Southwest Desert of the United States. Its succulent flavor compliments our Indian black Nilgiri tea to create an astoundingly rich and delicious regional tea. This tea serves wonderfully hot and creates a beautiful iced tea to sip on those warm, Southwestern afternoons.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Co-Op Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
I received this Prickly Pear Black Tea from Simple Loose Leaf some time ago but I put off reviewing it in favor of the teas in their subscription program. As I was going through my stash of teas, I found the unopened, still sealed package of tea so I decided that NOW was the time! I apologize to Simple Loose Leaf for the length of time it took me to get to reviewing this tea!
And now that I’m tasting this tea, I’m really sorry that I put off trying it until now – this is fabulous!
There’s a really pleasing balance between tart, savory and sweet. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a prickly pear tastes like, it has a sweet-tart taste that reminds me of a raspberry. More accurately, it tastes like a combination of raspberry and melon, so it’s a little sweeter than a typical raspberry and a little more tart than a typical melon. And this tea has captured the flavor of prickly pear quite well!
The sip starts out sweet and fruity. As the sip progresses to mid-sip, I pick up on some of the robust flavors of the Nilgiri black tea base. It’s a sweet, malty tasting tea. It’s smooth with very little astringency, and what astringency I do experience at the tail plays really well with the tartier notes of the prickly pear flavor. It’s not bitter. It has an invigorating quality to it but it’s not overly aggressive.
As the sip approaches the finish, I taste more of the sweetness of the cactus fruit. At the finish, I get some of the tart notes. The aftertaste is tart and tingly, sort of like what I’d experience if I ate a raspberry: that tingly sensation on the tongue.
As the above description suggests, this tea tastes great served hot or cold. I had a glass of it over ice with dinner and found it very refreshing and thirst quenching. For a mid-day cup of tea, I enjoyed this hot and found that the flavor was much more defined served hot. So for a more pronounced flavor, serve it hot – for a sweet, delightful glass of refreshment, serve it iced!
This is a tea that Simple Loose Leaf isn’t carrying at the moment, I do hope they’ll bring it back because I’d love for my readers to get an opportunity to try it! It’s really tasty!
Lemon Grass Herbal Tisane from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
Lemon Grass is a native herb of Southeast Asia. It is said to help with digestion, calms the nerves, and helps with high blood pressure. Our Lemon Grass has a delicate Meyer lemon flavor with a hint of sweet ginger and an uplifting floral aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Co-Op Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a little while since I’ve had pure lemon grass. It’s not something I drink often but I do enjoy it when I drink it, so I wasn’t at all disappointed to find it in last month’s Co-Op box from Simple Loose leaf. It’s a lovely herbal tisane: soft, soothing, and uplifting.
I brewed this in my Breville, using three bamboo scoops (I usually use more leaf when I’m brewing an herbal than when I’m brewing a tea) to 500ml of water. I set the temperature to 195°F (my go-to temperature for herbals) and the timer was set for 10 minutes. Because this is a pure lemon grass, I didn’t have to worry about tannins making it bitter.
This is a fine quality lemon grass and it tastes very much like I’d expect a good quality lemon grass to taste. It’s smooth and buttery with a sweet, lemon-y note. The lemon taste of lemon grass isn’t a pucker-y tart, it’s more like a lemon curd. The description above suggests a Meyer lemon, which tends to be a little sweeter than a typical lemon, but I think that it’s even a little sweeter than a Meyer lemon.
The description above also suggests a sweet ginger note and I can pick up on a hint of spice. I don’t know if I’m tasting ginger but it is a subtle note of spice, reminiscent of white pepper.
It’s a really nice tisane to drink after I’ve had several cups of tea – it’s a nice change of pace to the caffeinated beverage. It’s naturally caffeine free and it’s quite soothing to sip. I like to keep lemon grass on hand for times when I’m starting to feel a sore throat come on because it’s very comforting to my throat. It’s also makes a refreshing cold beverage – my daughter loves it!