Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Leaf Co.
Tea Description:
A wonderfully bold and smooth organic tea blend of dark oolong and maple, a perfect pairing. While the oolong is bold, full-bodied, and lightly smoked, the maple is light, aromatic, and sweet. The combination of the two flavors results in a well-balanced, featured favorite maple tea blend.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This Brown Sugar Organic Oolong Tea from Tea Leaf Co. is the first from this new-to-me tea company that I’ve tried, and it’s a good one!
The maple flavor is strong but I like that it’s not overpowering the Oolong tea. Tea Leaf Co. has managed to strike a really delightful balance between the sweetness and rich flavor of the maple and the Oolong tea with its fruit notes and hints of smoke.
The base tea possesses notes of stone fruit (peach) and I taste wisps of smoke. I like this delicate smoky note and how it plays to the notes of the sweet maple. Nutty flavors develop as I continue to sip and I like how these interact with the maple notes as well. This is a full-flavored Oolong, it’s rugged and has notes of wood and earth. It’s a strong flavor that doesn’t wimp out behind the sweetness of the maple. The contrasts in flavor from the woodsy, earthy, nutty and smoky flavors help keep the maple in check and keep it from becoming too cloying a drink.
The maple notes are sweet and pleasant. They don’t taste chemical or artificial. It tastes like someone drizzled a drop or two of real maple syrup in my teacup! Quite delectable!
A real treat – this “Brown Sugar.”
Product Review: Caramel Chai Tea Latte from International Delight
Product Information:
Where to Find: Where International Delight products are sold.
Tea Description:
Exotic flavors of cinnamon, clove & ginger blended with notes of sweet caramel & fragrant black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Rarely do I go into the grocery store and think that I’ll find something tea-like in the dairy section. I find milk (of course) and half and half and I do use these products in my teas to make a latte on a rare occasion. Occasionally, I’ll see a ready-to-drink iced tea in the dairy section, but it’s my experience that most of these drinks taste more of sugar than they do of tea. So, I generally cast a disproving look toward those products and move along without giving them a second glance.
But this product earned a second glance from me because while I’ve seen many iced coffee latte drinks in the dairy section, I’ve not found a lot of chai latte drinks in the dairy section (except for in the high end grocery stores like Whole Foods).
My husband has become a fan of chai lattes lately so after checking the label to make sure that it was made with real milk and also to make sure it didn’t have any artificial sweetener (I’m allergic to aspartame), I decided to put it in the cart and give it a try. If nothing else, it would offer an affordable offering to my husband who wants to stop at Starbucks frequently to pick up a chai latte now.
Yes, I can make a chai latte, but, he doesn’t seem to like mine as much as he likes those horrible, sugar laden ones from the coffee shops.
The labeling shows serving this one iced but also suggests trying it hot which is how I prepared it for myself. I simply shook the carton vigorously for about 15 seconds or so to make sure that all the spices and stuff that no doubt have settled to the bottom of the carton are well incorporated and then poured about six ounces of the creamy beige liquid into my teacup. Then I zapped it for about a minute.
This is tasty. Now, granted, this is a very sugary drink. It’s very similar to what I’d get from one of those aforementioned coffee shops but without the frothy top.
If you want that frothy cap, you could probably achieve it with a frother. Mine is no longer functional so I just had to imagine that I had a frothy top.
But the lack of frothy cap aside, this tastes a lot like what I’d get if I ordered a Caramel Chai latte at one of the coffee shops. But the price for a whole carton of this costs about half of what a large chai latte would cost from that coffee shop.
It’s warmly spiced but not what I’d call spicy. I find myself missing the cardamom so the spices do leave a little to be desired. But I can taste the luscious caramel notes which are very nice and I can also taste the black tea and that’s something that I often don’t taste in those coffee shop chai lattes – so this might actually have an advantage over one of those concoctions.
Note: not all coffee shop chai lattes are created equal. Some are better than others.
Sugary, yes. But it’s also creamy and rich and has a pleasant flavor. And if you happen to have a mate who prefers a coffee shop latte over a superior chai brewed from loose leaf tea and spices like I do, this could present you an agreeable substitution for those pricey drinks at the coffee shop.
Sugar Cookie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Organic caffeine-free honeybush with organic sweet, cakey, sugar cookie flavors. This is one of those teas that your family might end up squabbling over, so be sure to stock up on a few of these. Blends like these are a great alternative to sugary caffeinated sodas–we don’t let me daughter have much caffeine, but she LOVES these honeybush iced teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
After having tried Christmas Cookie Shou Mei from 52Teas, I thought that this iced tea might be a lot like that blend, but it really isn’t.
This doesn’t have the same warm spice profile that the Christmas Cookie tea has. This is more of a sugar cookie. (Just like the name implies!) I like that it’s not overly sweet. I don’t get a heavy “sugar” cookie sugary taste, but I get that freshly baked shortbread-type of flavor. It’s sweet but not too sweet. This isn’t like a heavily iced sugar cookie that you’ll find in your grocery store bakery.
You know the cookies I’m talking about, right? They’re really colorful and they have trigger kind of names like “cotton candy” or “caramel apple” that lure you in and you have to try it, but then when you bite into it, it doesn’t taste like cotton candy or caramel apple, it tastes like sugar and shortening. It’s so cloying that a bite is all you can handle.
This is more like the homemade cookies that are rolled in sugar, so you get a even, consistent, sugary-sweet flavor, but as long as the cookies are made right, it isn’t too cloying. The dough is not overly sweet, more like a shortbread so balance is achieved.
I enjoyed this. I liked that despite the name “sugar cookie” this isn’t a too-sweet kind of drink. It’s really tasty!
Please take a moment to check out Southern Boy Teas’ Indiegogo Campaign – they’re looking to take their teas to new heights and could really use your support!
Product Review: Tea Box Express Monthly Subscription, Part 2!
Product Information:
Where to Subscribe: Tea Box Express
About Tea Box Express:
Tea Box Express is more than a box of tea. It’s an experience. Each month brings a new box brimming with surprises that always include quality brand-name tea and three or four fun tea-things. We are dedicated to bringing you the best teas and the niftiest tea goodies. Our mission is to bring a tea party to your door every month.
Save 20% off your first month’s subscription! Just use the code SORORITEA20 in the coupon field at check-out to save!
Review:
So the last time that I wrote about this box, I shared with you a little bit about the experience of receiving this really awesome box but I didn’t actually review any of the products inside. Now, with this part 2 of the Product Review, I am going to do exactly that. I’m going to offer up my thoughts on the tea, the honey and the cookie, as well as the accessories!
So, let’s start with the tea. The tea in Tea Box Express’s flagship box – October’s Bee Happy box – is the signature black tea from Teatulia. I have previously reviewed this tea, but I’ve revisited teas in the past and I don’t have a problem revisiting this tea as it is one that I enjoyed before and I know I’ll enjoy it now.
It’s a pleasant, full-bodied black tea. It’s rich with malty notes and a pleasant sweetness. I find that this sweetness is more pronounced with the second steeping, so even if you’re one who doesn’t typically resteep black teas, this is one that is definitely worth your while to infuse again!
Which leads me to talk about one of the gadgets that was in this box: the teabag caddy. It’s shaped like a little teapot and it’s bright yellow. I like the cheerful color and it fits the Bee Happy theme appropriately. I have used teabag caddies like this one in the past but the ones that I’ve used have been metal and after a while, well, I live in the Pacific Northwest and if something is metal here, eventually it becomes rust. And that’s what happened to the other teabag caddies that I’ve used. I like that this is ceramic. It holds the teabag in between infusions. Yeah, it’s a simple job, but something has to do it, and this is cute and it’s bright, cheery yellow. So why not this?
To steep: I steeped one sachet in eight ounces of boiling water for 2 1/2 minutes. For the second infusion, I used another eight ounces of boiling water, but this time, I steeped the sachet for 3 minutes.
It’s a robust black tea that would serve you well as a breakfast tea, as it takes the additions of honey and milk nicely. And that’s just what I’m about to talk about now! Honey!
Bee-cause in this month’s Tea Box Express, I also received a 3 ounce jar of Tea Honey from Savannah Bee Co. Before drizzling the honey in my tea, I took a sip of the tea to see how it tastes, and it tastes quite fine without the addition, but I find that the honey does soften the astringency of the tea a little bit.
Having never used one of these fancy honey dipper/drizzler/server thingamajigs, I wasn’t quite sure how to use it so I just … rolled with my inexperience and used it the way I thought it should be used. I dipped the swirly end of the dipper into the jar of honey and let some of the honey drip off of the dipper back into the jar, and then I was satisfied with the amount of honey that was on the dipper, I put it right into my teacup and used it to stir the honey into the tea. Since I was the only person using the honey dipper, I felt like this was a perfectly acceptable way to use the tool.
And it is handy. The wire spiral holds the honey and it’s not as messy a task to take honey from jar and add it to teacup using this device. It’s not a necessary tool when it comes to tea time (especially since I rarely use honey in my tea), but it is kind of cool, even though I’m not a big tea tool kind of girl. I am all about less is more when it comes to gadgets and tools. Tea should be simple. But, I have to admit that this fancy thingamajig is nifty.
I tasted a little drop of the honey before I added it to the cup, and it’s a delicate tasting honey. It tastes sweet but it doesn’t have a strong honey-esque flavor to it. That is to say that I’m finding that it’s adding a light sweetness to my cup of tea without it tasting overly honeyed. And as I said before, it did help to curb the astringent bite to this tea just a little. It’s not an overly astringent tea, but what little I detected with my pre-honey sip was diminished significantly after the honey was added. I like that my cup is now not only less astringent and lightly sweet, but even better is that it’s not overly sweet nor does it taste too much like honey.
The cookie! The cookie! OK, first of all, it’s adorable. It’s a large cookie (I’d estimate it to be something between 3 and 4 inches, which is large for a cookie). The cookie is a blonde colored shortbread cookie. I had mentioned earlier that it’s a sugar cookie, but the cookie part is not quite as sweet as a sugar cookie, it’s got more of a shortbread taste and texture. And the cookie is decorated with a bright yellow icing that has been “drawn” with a bee design in black icing and white wings. The bee has a happy face. Bee Happy.
I like that this is more like a shortbread cookie than a sweet sugar cookie because the icing is quite sweet and if the cookie part were sweeter, this would become very cloying very fast. They are still quite sweet.
The cookie part has a nice shortbread type texture: it’s got that delicious buttery texture that melts in your mouth. It’s not a crunchy cookie. It’s dense like shortbread. One cookie makes for a very nice tea time treat.
I’m sure I probably said this in part 1 of this review, but this box is really awesome. It would make a great gift for the tea lover on your gift giving list. (Oh, please put me on your gift giving list!) I enjoyed everything in this box from the tea to the honey to the cookie … and even the neat little tools.
This is fun mail: it’s a tea party in a box!
Grapefruit Brown Sugar Shou Mei Blend from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
My wife and I just celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. I’m a little surprised she has put up with me for that long. Anyway, she specifically requested this blend and I think it was a great suggestion. It’s something I doubt I would eat, but I don’t really care for grapefruit,however as a flavored tea, this is awesome. It’s tart and sweet and light and refreshing. Very yummy.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really excited to try this Grapefruit Brown Sugar Shou Mei Blend from 52Teas because I love grapefruit teas, and I’m always looking for a really good one. I’ve found a couple of grapefruit teas that I really love, but, I’m always willing to try another to make sure I’m not missing out on one that’s better!
Since this is a white tea (a Shou Mei base) I used a lower temperature to steep it. I generally go with 165°F when I steep a white tea, but with Shou Mei, I feel comfortable going as high as 175°F. I’ve heard/read several different arguments of whether a higher temperature is better for a white tea, but, for me, I find that when I keep it low and steep it for 4 minutes, this provides a flavor that I enjoy. Everyone’s palate is different, though, so I always recommend playing around with it a little, and finding the setting that works best for you. My steeping parameters for this particular pot of tea were 175°F at 4 minutes. And I have a really lovely cup of tea in front of me.
The aroma is definitely grapefruit-y to me. I allow the tea to cool for about 2 minutes. I am not sure exactly why this is, but, I have found that when I allow a couple of minutes for a tea to “set” – especially a flavored tea like this – the flavors seem to really pop.
This is actually quite tasty. I taste the grapefruit and the brown sugar notes are not quite as distinct, it just tastes sweet. But, I think that these sugar-y sweet notes help to tone down the tartness of the grapefruit. I am still getting some tart notes as well as the bright, citrus-y note of grapefruit.
I like that even though this does have the brown sugar notes in it, it doesn’t taste “candied” or overly sweet. The sweetness just seems to soften the tart notes a little. The aftertaste is very grapefruit-ish, reminiscent of the aftertaste I’d experience if I were eating a half a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar.
The Shou Mei has a sweet, earthy taste and I like the way it melds seamlessly with the grapefruit and brown sugar notes. Everything is very harmonious in this teacup.
The second infusion of these leaves provided more of a straightforward grapefruit note with less brown sugar notes. I could also taste the Shou Mei more this time around. I enjoyed both infusions. This is a tea you should definitely resteep – both infusions taste so good!
A really pleasant grapefruit tea. I don’t know that it’s the next great grapefruit tea in my search for great grapefruit teas, but, it is definitely tasty and one I’m happy to have in my stash. I think I’ll brew some of this for iced tea soon, my daughter will love it!