O’Malley’s Escape from Treehouse Teas

OMalley'sEscapeTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Herbal

Where to Buy:  Treehouse Teas

Tea Description:

If you like Pina Coladas and gettin’ caught in the rain this tea is for you! It’s a favorite herb and fruit tea that bursts ingredients of pineapple, apple, rosehip, coconut pieces and hibiscus petals. If you are allergic to coconut stay clear. Small Batch Blended and from Sing Buri, Thailand. It has a low antioxidant level and its a caffeine free herb and fruit tea. Steep: 5-10 minutes at a temperature: 100C, 212F. This can be re-steeped for additional cups! Also, makes great popsicles and pink tea for tea parties!

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

With a description like the one above, my expectations for this tea were pretty high.  I mean who doesn’t love a sweet tea that carries you away!

The tea mix itself is beautiful.  I adore the colors and love how pretty it looks as the tea steeps.  The dry mixture smells fabulous.  Sweet and tropical.  My excitement level was rising to taste this sweet tropical treat!

I brewed this up per their recommendations and was enjoying how the water was turning into a beautiful pink color.

I took my first sip and sadly- this tea didn’t hit the target for me.  I wanted to love this tea so much.  At first taste, you can pick up an almost strawberry flavor that reminds me of a strawberry Popsicle.  The flavor isn’t very strong and is more on the weaker side.  The coconut is subtle and gentle.  I think with a tea that is being considered a pina colada, I wanted the coconut flavor to be strong.  I didn’t pick up any pineapple or even any of the hibiscus tartness.  This tea was more of a lightly flavored strawberry flavor.  I can see this being a great tea for a little girl’s tea party but not for me.  I would like my flavors a bit stronger.

My last thoughts on this tea is that maybe this tea is one that needs to be cold brewed or even steeped longer than the 10 minutes to really bring out the flavor.  I did share the remainder of this tea with a tea drinking co-worker and her thoughts were in line with what I was thinking.  Regardless, I’ve enjoyed the teas that I’ve tried from Treehouse Teas for the most part.  Just a few I haven’t cared for.  This tea blend would have been one that would have totally caught my eye so I am glad that I was able to try it, just not sure this would be one I would need to try again.

Sipdown #37!

Peaceful Pineapple from Treehouse Teas

PeacefulPineappleTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy: Treehouse Teas

Tea Description:

Peaceful Pineapple Organic Green Loose Leaf Tea

Relax, unwind and find your inner peace. Organic Blue Mallow Flowers, Organic Chinese Green Tea, Natural Mango Flavor, Organic Marigold Petals, Natural Papaya Flavor, and Natural Pineapple Flavor.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Peaceful Pineapple. That name kind of struck me as a bit odd only because when I think of pineapple, I think of parities and fruit trays.  Not relaxing and unwinding.  But hey, I’m nothing but one to take in all experiences.  So if this tea will help me unwind, I’m good with it!

This green flavored tea was quite lovely to look at.  I enjoyed the pop of purple amongst the green tea leaves.  I steeped this up with the green tea setting on my Breville and was excited to try a pineapple flavored tea.  In the past these have been hit or miss with me. A lot more times than not, the pineapple flavor either doesn’t come across as being true pineapple-more of a tropical papaya flavor.

First sip and I’m a bit confused by the tea.  All I am really getting is a green tea flavor and a confusing one at that.  I’m not really getting the mango, papaya, or pineapple flavors.  More of just this more or less bland green tea. No real flavor is singing to me or even one flavor I can discern from another.  I’m wondering if there is too much going on or if I need to try cold brewing this pineapple tea to make the flavors pop.  As it sits, the flavors just aren’t there for me so I’m going to dump this cuppa out and try experimenting with this tea a bit more down the road.  I was hoping I would have a nice tropical flavor to drink this afternoon.  Looks like I need to keep looking or need to keep experimenting!

Hydrate from Yellowstone Tea Company

HydrateTeaTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green/White

Where to Buy:  Yellowstone Tea Company

Tea Description:

Hydrate is a blend is a rich blend of green tea and white, making this blend high in minerals that fortify the skin and help sustain health and hydration.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I have been in a green tea drinking mood lately. Some of have been good.  Some not so much.  This particular blend was a hit with me.

Hydrate is a blend of green and white tea from Yellowstone Tea Company, a tea shop I found on Etsy.  They have a wide variety of teas and when I saw this blend online, I just had to try it.  The picture on the website looks very nice but looks like a blend I’ve seen on other sites.  When this tea arrived, I had to do a double take.  This tea blend is vibrant and gorgeous! The goji berries popped with a red color and the cornflower had such a deep blue.  I couldn’t get over how fantastic and fresh looking this tea appeared.  The chunks of fruit were just as impressive.  Huge chunks of papaya and orange peel.  I was taken with this tea at first sight.

I brewed this blend up like a green tea.  As I look more at the ingredients, there is also oolong tea in this.  I wasn’t sure which way to go with it so I decided to just go the green tea route.  Let it steep for about 3 minutes in my tea pot while I worked away on a project.  The smell was so inviting.  Fruity goodness was cruising thru the air.  One of my co-workers even asked me what I was eating or drinking. They couldn’t get over the fresh tropical like smell that this tea was creating.

I took a sip and BLAM-O! I was hit with all of these fresh fruity tastes and such a clean green tea finish.  I really only picked up the green tea which gave a slight earthy grassy taste.  The two flavors really worked well. I couldn’t identify every flavor separately but together they created a delicious treat for this afternoon.  The tea blend has a tropical like feel to it with the papaya.  The ingredients for this blend also listed pomegranate- which was very subtle.  I only picked up a slight tart taste.

My only issue with this blend is that there is stevia in it.  I couldn’t taste the stevia until the cup had cooled off a bit, but after it did cool, the stevia was a bit overwhelming.  I’m not sure how this tea would be cold brewed-but I would love to find out.  My only advice with this tea is drink it while the brew is still hot.  Letting it cool brings out a stevia flavor that many may not enjoy.  Beyond that, I am really happy with this one and plan to pick up more.  I love finding new tea companies and this one met all my expectations and then some.  Looks like I have a new tea for the summer!

Jasmine Coconut Green Tea from Whispering Pines Tea Company

Tea Type:
Rooibos/Green Tea Blend

Where To Buy:
Whispering Pines Tea Company

Product Description:

Jasmine Coconut Green Tea combines the warm fragrant smell of jasmine scented green tea and red rooibos with freshly toasted organic coconut flakes for a smooth tropical tea. Deliciously perfect for any time of the day! Best enjoyed hot.

Tasters Review:

Whispering Pines told me the green tea used in this blend is a Light Fujian Pouchong.

The ‘green’ tea leaves look different from leaf to leaf.  The coconut shavings are smaller than you might see in a bulk section or in a Bob’s Red Mill’s type bag, for example.  I can also see the rooibos.  At first glance –  it ALMOST looks like there COULD BE both green and regular rooibos in this mix!  It’s a bit hard to tell this last assumption about the Rooibos because there is so little of it in there…so…it could just be regular rooibos, I guess.

The green tea is a nice ‘even-steven’ type taste inbetween a slight grassy-green, slight sweet-green, slight vegetal-green. The Jasmine is subtle – thankfully! Just the right amount for my palate. The coconut is pretty amazing. It’s not like a stereotypical-tropical type coconut but a soothing, creamy-type instead. I do like this difference!

With the description and ingredients list I thought I would like this one fine-and-dandy but I actually like it even more than I thought I would! This is incredibly smooth. This is a nice sipping tea OR a nice gulping tea!

Whispering Pines…an Artisan of blended teas!  Nice!