Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘jasmine tea’

I’ve written about tea in one fashion or another for well over three years, but when confronted with tea chocolate I draw a blank. This marks the first time I’ve tried a tea-infused sweet other than green tea ice cream or mochi cakes. Thankfully, though, eating sweets is well within my area of expertise. Perhaps [looking down at gut] too much.

Tea and All Its Splendour is the brainchild of Raelene Gannon, one of only fifteen certified tea sommeliers in Canada. Certified how and through what? I couldn’t tell you. Point is, she is one, and that’s what her site says. Back in ’08, on a trip to China, she had an epiphany while ordering a cup of coffee and couldn’t even bring the cup to her lips. Switching to a jasmine-scented green tea, she found her thirst-quenching beverage of choice. The experience led her to pursue tea as a viable career.

Mustering her acumen in the chocolate and confection industry, she also developed the ‘ChocolateT’ line of gourmet bars. The idea of pairing tea and chocolate isn’t a new one, but this was the first time I’d come across a Belgian chocolate/tea pairings. Of the choices presented before me, I went with the safest bet ­ White Belgian Chocolate with Matcha and Sencha.

Ingredients included sugar (obviously), cocoa butter, full cream powder, soy lecithin, natural vanilla, and natural tea flavor. When I read the last one, I did a mental about-face. Tea flavoring? Isn’t that cheating? From the looks of the gourmet bar itself, it appeared actual matcha powder was used rather than a flavoring agent; so, why not just say that?  I could believe that sencha flavoring was used, though, unless it was an extracted powder. But that would’ve been redundant given the matcha powder inclusion. So many questions.

The gourmet bar itself looked like white chocolate that’d been paired with matcha ­ light green ringed by white on the periphery. There was an ornate, circular, vine-like design on the body of it, and the pieces easily divided into four smaller pieces like a good candy bar should. Not sure if this was the proper thing to do to chocolate, but I went up and took a whiff. It certainly smelled like chocolate, too. (Leave it to me to point out the obvious.)

To the taste, well, there really isn’t much I have to say. It held the flavor of white chocolate – quality stuff at that. Did I taste any matcha or sencha? Unfortunately, no. Perhaps my taste buds aren’t advanced enough to pick up on the nuances of tea-infused chocolate. I never said I was a choco-sommelier. Heck, I’m not a sommelier of any sort. I’m an amateur appreciator of tea (at best), and from my uneducated perspective, this was a damn good chocolate bar. And that’s about it.

You can purchase the Tea Infused Chocolates directly from the Tea and All Its Splendour website.

To be a white tea fan, one must generally appreciate tea that whispers, not shouts. Most white tea is subtle and only hints at having a flavor. Thus, Coconut Vanilla Flavored white is a pleasant surprise to a drinker of louder, bolder flavored teas. It doesn’t exactly shout but it speaks audibly, firmly, and pleasantly!

The dry tea is beautiful–big, long-legged leaves, complemented by white coconut shavings and tiny rosebuds—and would be lovely in an apothecary jar. Its aroma is smooth and sweet, not greenish or grassish.

But don’t spend too much time with your nose in the dry mix–get on with making yourself a cup, because you’re in for a treat. The steeped tea is pale, but don’t let the color fool you. It’s velvety-thick and every bit as coconutty sweet as “advertised” in by dry aroma: very, very similar in character to white chocolate cocoa.

The quality pai mu dan leaves take a second steep well. A good thing: you’ll want seconds!

You can purchase the Jasmine Green Tea directly from the TeaFrog website.

Usually I shy away from packaged tea. However, the word “Organic” on the front of the Mighty Leaf package got my attention. I’m also a fan of Earl Grey. I was curious about the “artisan whole leaf pouch”. The contents were just that – artisanal silk tea bag with fancy unbleached cotton stitching continuing into a long chain-stitched string. You can see the intensely large black whole leaf tea through the mesh bag. It doesn’t look like a lot but will soon be saturated with hot water and the tea will expand to almost completely fill the bag, elongating it to the shape of a diamond, providing visual interest.

This company has specific large print instructions on the package to steep their product for 4 minutes, yet doesn’t say what quantity of water should be used. I would assume this would be a single serving size and that would be 8 oz. I used a mug with a lid. You will lose a lot of the aromatics from the bergamot essential oil without a lid to trap the vapours. Alternatively, you could use a teapot and steep the tea in 12 oz water without losing too much as long as you use a tea light or a tea cozy to keep the liquor warm during this longer steep.

The blend contains golden tips organic black tea (doesn’t say where sourced) with first-pressed bergamot oil with a drop of jasmine essence. The tea is organic, but not necessarily the flavouring. When I opened the package, I expected to have my sense flooded with bergamot. They weren’t. So I wondered if the characteristic of the tea would be lost.

After the dutiful 4 minute steep, I sampled the tea. I could smell the bergamot in the stem. The drink was an orange-red. The flavour of the bergamot was not strong, allowing a natural sweetness of a good quality tea to come through with a fullness in the mouth. The bergamot flavour sat at the mid to back of the tongue and at the roof of mouth where the aromatics can be enjoyed. There was relatively low tannin and minimal astringency making this perfect to drink without milk.

While the flavour of jasmine is not really the feature of the tea, its effects are unmistakeable in combination with the bergamot. Combined, they provide a relaxing experience. One can mellow out with this tea. It de-stresses the body and the emotions and like the long steep, you relax into the experience. The smoothness of this tea tempered with jasmine provides a long satisfying drink. Each sip renews the flavour profiles even after 10 – 12 ounces. This is a long, slow drink. I would take this in the late evening. Its quite different, less edgy than a Twinnings Earl Grey. I may have found a new favourite!

You can purchase the Mighty Leaf Organic Earl Grey directly from the Mighty Leaf Tea website.

Dry smell reminds me of the ginger white pear tea. Cute lil’ rose buds are in this tea. Flowery teas are not to my liking, so I will see how this tasting goes.

A 2 minute infusion yields a pale infusion, the first sip is good…I can taste the coconut and the vanilla and the ratio is just right for both ingredients. The vanilla is a natural taste, not fake like so many vanilla flavored teas.

Another home run for Tea Frog and another tea goes on my shopping list.

You can purchase the Jasmine Green Tea directly from the TeaFrog website.

Congrats to @AmazonV – she has won our great prize pack from @sleepytimebear and Celestial Seasonings! Stay tuned for more draws and contests in the future!

Back in January we ran a very successful Celestial Seasonings Contest for a case of Decaf Lemon Jasmine Green Tea, well, Sleepytime Bear is back, and this time with a prize pack that will blow you away!

You could win:

• Decaf Sleepytime Lemon Jasmine Green Tea
• Celestial Seasonings Tin Tea Caddy
• Celestial Seasonings Magnet
• Celestial Seasonings Lip Balm
• Honey Sticks

What do you have to do? It is pretty simple.

1. Follow @Sleepytimebear on twitter, or “Like” SleepyTime Bear on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/SleepytimeBearTea
2. Comment in this post with your twitter name, or the name you are following Sleepytime Bear with on Facebook so we can confirm your entry.
3. For an extra entry, re-tweet: I just entered to win an amazing prize from @allabouttheleaf and @sleepytimebear – you can 2! Enter here: http://is.gd/h6GFcp #iaatlcontest

One random winner will be chosen from the commenters on this post that have met the above requirements.

This contest runs from Monday March 7th, to Monday March 14th – so you have a full week to figure out this Facebook and Twitter thing!

So get on this now – and win this amazing prize pack from Celestial Seasonings!

The rules of the contest are as follows:

1. You must be following @allabouttheleaf, otherwise we cannot contact you via DM if you win!
2. You can re-tweet as many times as you like, but there is only one extra entry per person.
3. Duplicate accounts created by the same person for the purpose of entering will be disqualified.
4. You must re-tweet the message above EXACTLY to gain the extra entry, otherwise we cannot track your tweet.
5. This contest not open to employees of Celestial Seasonings.
6. Contest ends Monday March 14th – one random winner will be contacted via DM on Twitter for their shipping details.

Just in case you needed more convincing, take a look at some of the Tea Reviews for Celestial Seasonings Tea that our reviewers have posted over the past year or so.