Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Flavors’

The NecessiTeas’ selection of rooibos teas reads like a decadent bakery menu. Chiffons and cocoas and various sweet temptations are elements of every item. My first sniff of the Orange Marzipan dry mix sent my taste buds crazy, craving sugar cookies with almond flavoring–because the almond is what hits you first, strong and sweet.

The heavy almond scent dissipates a little once you steep the tea. But rooibos is complemented well by sweetish flavors and the blend is still cookie-pleasant. Orange flavor is present, but stays modestly in the background.

As tea ingredients, oranges and almonds have the potential to turn on you if you don’t steep carefully–oranges go sour, almonds go bitter. But in the case of this culinary concoction, it’s all good; well balanced.

You can purchase the Orange Marzipan directly from the The Necessiteas website.

When I was growing up, my father loved cheesecake-flavored ice cream. Specifically blueberry cheesecake ice cream. So this aroma makes me nostalgic.  And drool.  Because oh my goodness! This tea smells amazing!  Creamy, cheesy, and fruity. I almost want to nibble on the tea leaves it smells so amazing. And there are GIANT blueberries included in the leaf.   It’s beautiful!

Brewing it, it turns into a very light yellow brew, with a light, beautiful aroma. It’s the same blueberry-cheesecake-y goodness as the leaf, albeit a lot more delicate and light.  Unsweetened, I got a lot of the bright, berry flavor. Sweetened, it was lovely. To me, the green tea flavor is, not particular strong or stand-out, but the blueberry, and a cakey/cheesy flavor are there, and they’re lovely. It was a lot lighter and more delicate taste than one might anticipate from the aroma of the leaf. But it’s very very yummy. And I got a second brew out of it, which is surprising for a flavored tea.

Lovely tea. I think I’ll be seeking this out again.

You can purchase the Blueberry Cheesecake directly from the The Necessiteas website.

We are on Week Umpteen of a Midwest heat wave with daytime temperatures no less than sizzling. Nighttime lows are at a refreshing slow roast. Thus, I selected Pineapple Paradise as the optimum tea for this particular season–the name evokes visions of hammocks, gently swaying palms, a stack of really good books at my side, and somebody subservient to bring me copious amounts of this tea, iced.

I’m a big sun tea fan in the summer, so I deduced that, following the double-up instructions on the packet, I could put a batch in my trusty Mason jar on the front porch of our miner’s shack (temporary residence–long story) and brew up a batch of tropical goodness. The dry mix smells great–minus the rose petals, the scent is a lot like a Caribbean dried fruit mix.

Unfortunately, the fine-grade green tea in this particular blend needs a little more care than I gave it. (Whatever you use for sun tea has to be pretty forgiving.) The fruit and floral flavors were present in the first batch, but due to my neglect, the green tea was bitter and ruined the “ahhhhh” experience I was hoping for. The second try, I did it properly: just a teaspoon, not-quite-boiled the water, a steep on the shortish side, and the results were much better. My taste buds are still playing “spot the pineapple” a little–the lemon and floral elements are pretty pronounced. But if you’re aiming for tropical instead of a single fruit flavor, this’ll hit the spot.

If this is a flavor combo that intrigues you, my recommendation is to steep it as directed for hot tea, chill it in the fridge, then chill with it on a lazy day.

You can purchase the Pineapple Paradise directly from the Boston Tea Company website.

One of the things I’ve been noticing over the years, as I’ve ordered tea from various merchants, is that common parameters aren’t always common.

Almost every tea will have directions on the back of the packet, telling you how to brew a cup of tea. Too bad they can’t agree on the definition of the word ‘cup’. A standard English definition of the word cup could lead you to believe that it would be a measurement somewhere around 8 oz. But apparently this doesn’t count in the tea world. The general rule of thumb is 2-3 grams of tea per cup. But if you don’t have the same definition of cup, that could result in some very strange brewing parameters.

Lupicia has one of the smallest definitions of a cup I’ve ever seen. They define a cup as 5 oz., and still call for 3 grams of tea per these 5 oz. I’d be afraid of oversteeping with something like this but this cup? This was an amazing cup of tea.

The product description says “Sweet nostalgic aroma of caramel and almonds. Delicious straight or with milk.” This tea leaf smells sweet. And brewed up, it’s a beautiful medium brown and smells lovely, although much less sweet. Drinking the tea straight up, it has hints of caramel and almond flavors; a nice light cup. However, I like to add splenda or honey to my black teas. And if you sweeten this? Wow, it’s amazing. Mellow, smooth caramel flavors. Rich, creamy, and sweet with an almond finish. I also tried this tea with milk, and while nice, I didn’t find that it added as much as the sweetener did.

I strongly recommend that those who like a little sweetness with their tea give this a try. It’s a lovely yummy cup of goodness.

You can purchase the Caramele directly from the Lupicia Tea website.

As I peered into the sample bag, I was struck at the beauty of this blend. It needs to be stored in a glass container just to admire the tapestry of colors. Think miniature potpourri.

The smell of the dry leaves reminds me of spearmint gum.

7 minute brew with boiling water

Burgundy colored brew

The first sip is sweet and minty. I really enjoyed this cup of tea. Sweet, but not too sweet. The mint is nicely balanced with the other flavors.

You can purchase the PITTA BALANCE directly from the Shanti Tea website.