After tasting and loving Shanti Tea’s Cherry Sencha, I was excited to try their silver needle, but I was rather disappointed. Well, I guess whether or not you will like it, depends on your expectations. To me their silver needle is just too far off from the characteristic mildly sweet, light signature tastes of the silver needle. If I were being nice, I could say Shanti Tea’s silver needle has a unique taste, or realistically I could say they are way off track.

Inspection of the dry leaf shows dark green backing to white down, buds are quite small. The aroma of the dry leaf has a sort of spice or hints of fragrance of like a flavoured tea.

I steeped 5 grams of leaves in 600ml of water for 2 minutes at 80 degrees Celsius. The resultant infusion was light yellow in colour and smelled like cooked spinach with ginger.

Silver needle is a very high quality, expensive tea; with picking of only the young, top buds of the tea bush. The taste is typically light, sweet and delicate. Tasting this was as if I had Tropicana 100% pure orange juice and compared it to orange Kool Aid. I liken this silver needle to the Kool Aid. It is like artificial white tea flavouring; it did not taste natural at all. It tasted like something was added, some flavouring, hints of ginger??? If I had to compare it to a like tea I would say it is similar to Indonesian white tea. Both have that sort of “artificial” taste that does not seem to come from the buds. It is still drinkable, but don’t expect exceptional silver needle quality here. I’m going to have to pass on this one.

You can purchase the Silver Needle directly from the Shanti Tea website.

Upon opening the package, you are hit with the most incredible, rich, fresh scent of blood orange that smells it has been freshly squeezed. The dry leaves are thin and wiry with the beautiful red-orange leaves safflower leaves mixed in. I measured out 2 tsp of tea and steeped it in boiling water for 3 minutes as directed on the package.

As the tea is steeping, the scent of the blood orange intensifies but still does not smell artificial. The tea pours to be medium-brown in color with just a hint of orange thrown in. When you take a sip of the tea, you’ll first notice the smooth and flavorful black tea base followed by rich, juicy orange. The orange flavoring is so natural that you will begin to wonder if someone put a small splash of blood orange juice in your black tea while you weren’t looking.

This tea does not need any additives. This is big for me. As a general rule, I add milk and possibly sweetener to just about every black tea but this tea doesn’t need any of that. There is a natural sweetness that makes the tea very enjoyable to drink plain. For my personal enjoyment, this tea receives high marks. It is nice to have a black tea without having to worry about fixing it up before it tastes right.

You can purchase the Blood Orange Black directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

My general aversion to bananas goes back to one greasy teenage summer schlepping banana splits at the Dairy Queen; I’d come home with fiber under my nails and reeking of overripe peels. (To this day, I won’t eat one raw—playing the “it’s a texture thing” card.) Thus, you’ll understand why I approached this tea with a bit of caution.

The first thing that struck me was how pretty this tea is. Heavy on the chamomile flowers, it would be pretty in a potpourri jar. (If you’re a fan of Adagio’s Foxtrot, it’s similar in character, minus the peppermint.) A test sniff didn’t turn me off; didn’t seem too heavy on the banana, so I gave it a go–about a teaspoon per cup, an approximate boil, an approximate five minutes, and …

…wow! The chamomile, banana, and coconut work really nicely together–you can’t really taste where one ends and the other begins. It’s difficult to pick out the other goodies individually, but they blend to make a really pretty red cup of herbal sweetness.

I downed half of my first test batch to prime myself for mowing the lawn; then iced down the rest to reward myself for doing so. Of course, the tea lost a little bit of strength on ice, but that can be remedied next time by upping the steeping strength. I can see Banana Dulce as a base for some add-ins–maybe orange juice or pineapple juice–for some nice, cool summer sipping.

You can purchase the Banana Dulce directly from the Art of Tea website.

This rooibos blend from Tea Frog Tea is well named – I LOVE this tea!! According to Tea Frog: “Our most popular Rooibos blend, the Love blend is an aromatic delight that you will not be able to resist! This tea is so good, we sample it at every show, and sell out at every show! The scent and flavor are simply to die for!”. The ingredients are listed as Rooibos, Safflower, Sunflower, Calendula Flower, Roses, Cornflower and Orange Peel.

The loose tea is a striking combination of colors; red rooibos leaf and rose petals, pieces of orange peel and sunny yellow calendula flowers, contrasting with vivid cornflower blue. Even before brewing the aroma is heavenly – the familiar sweetness of rooibos with strong orange notes, and although it isn’t listed as an ingredient there is a hint of vanilla.

Following Tea Frog’s guidelines of 1 teaspoon per cup and steeping for 5 minutes resulted in a rich rooibos red (how’s that for alliteration?) cup of tea losing none of its delicious aroma in the process. The taste didn’t disappoint and the combination of flavors is just right – sweet but not sugary sweet with a refreshing taste of citrus. I was able to get a second brewing with a milder but still pleasant flavor.

I haven’t tried yet, but I’m sure that this blend would lend itself to an excellent iced tea – mixed 50/50 with either lemonade or orange juice and float some fresh flower petals on the surface for presentation – yummy!! With the weather getting cooler I’m more inclined to drink my tea hot but as soon as winter is over and the summer returns I will definitely give it a try.

You can purchase TeaFrog Love Flavoured Rooibos directly from their website.