Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Tea Companies’

Product Description: Real chocolate draws your eye. The scent of exotic spices pulls you closer. By the time you taste this rich and complex black tea, you’ve already fallen in love.

The first time I tried a tea from Talbott Teas was last year and it was their Chocolate Almond Allure and I instantly fell in LOVE.  Not too long ago I was corresponding with Dr. Steven Nakisher from Talbott Teas on Facebook and he ended up sending me a few samples to try and possibly review.  I was so excited!  This was the customer service all other companies should take notes on!  They are so nice to customers and potential customers!  AND they have some really awesome ways to promote their products!  Their website is wonderful and their labels and tins are clean, crisp, and tastefully done!  Overall, Talbott Teas, is probably one of my favorite tea companies!  They seem to have the complete package!

One of the teas that I have tried from them recently is their Cocoa Cardamom Seduction.  I must say I was ‘taken’ by the name… does that mean “Mission Accomplished?” Perhaps.

The first cup I had of this I could clearly see ALL described ingredients! I couldn’t stop sniffing it!!! It was an AWESOME Chocolate Peanut Butter type smell.

The first sip I really did notice the cardamom but I think that was the idea of the whole thing, right!?  I continued to sip and certainly picked up on both the Almond and the Cocoa.  The cinnamon and cardamom pair together as they should and the pairing jumps up in front of the line but the Chocolate/Almond taste isn’t fair behind. The color of the tea liquid is a light-medium brown.

Now… the 2nd time I tried this tea… I purposely chose the loose leaf with less cardamom in it to see if there was a difference and there absolutely was! LOVELY! I enjoy it both ways, but now I LOVE the fact I can taste the difference with ease based on how much cardamom I choose to add or not add for my liking or tastes based on my mood!

So far… my favorite Talbott Tea is the Chocolate Almond Allure but this Cocoa Cardamom Seduction is a near second.

You can purchase the Cocoa Cardamom Seduction directly from the Talbott Teas website.

Kalahari describes this tea on their website as “The blend of naturally caffeine-free herb with deep flavor or roasted cacao, and fresh essence of lush, juicy ripe raspberries.”. (side note: Copy editing is available for a nominal fee – grammer/spelling mistakes on an e-commerce website are a no-no!)

I always approach samples with trepidation when I receive teabags for review. I am happy to review anything, but I WANT to like the tea. Tea companies send their teas for reviews, because they believe that they have a good product, and we receive many of these, however, I seem to have developed a bias against tea bag teas. That being said, Rooibos is naturally a small, in fact tiny leaf, so we are not dealing with fannings or dust necessarily as we would with, say, a green tea tea bag.

The smell of this tea in the bag is a pleasant mix of Chocolate and Raspberry, which are individually among my list of favorite ingredients, so we have a promising start! While the bag is brewing in the cup, I get that nose of Raspberry with subtler Chocolate undertone.

I brewed the tea with boiled water, for 5 minutes, my standard Rooibos brewing method. The color is a dark red, as are almost every single Rooibos cup I have ever had. The taste is a bit more subtle than I had expected however. I was wanting a burst of Raspberry and Chocolate, but got only a hint of each. Despite the scent, the Chocolate is the more predominant flavour, with the Raspberry just barely there. It is not overpoweringly Chocolate, which is good, but I personally would prefer a bit more tartness from the Raspberry. Since the ingredients list only Raspberry flavour, not actual Raspberry, it is to be expected that there is no actual tartness, which this blend could have benefitted from in my opinion.

Overall it is not a bad tea, but at $0.31 per bag, I am not sure that you have value for money, when you can get other loose leaf Rooibos blends for closer to $0.10 or $0.15 per cup.

You can purchase Kalahari Tea Raspberry Truffle directly from their website.

Click here to enter the Steepster Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest

We are taking a brief break from reviews to help Steepster in getting the word out about this amazing contest! Why? Because in our opinion the tea community has never been hit with a contest of this magnitude before.

Steepster announced on Monday the Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest – and I have to say, I have NEVER seen such a prize package for tea lovers as this!

Headlined with the much lauded Sorapot by Joey Roth, this prize package contains over $825 worth of tea and tea accessories from companies such as: Adagio, TeaFrog, Maeda-en, Golden Moon Tea, Art of Tea, Pearl Fine Teas, 52 Teas, Teas Etc, Earth Bound Tea, Tavalon, and Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea.

It is simple to enter, just visit the Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest page, and follow the simple directions. No long winded essays to write, no video testimonials, just a simple tweet or discussion reply, and you are in.

Steepster is a site that “helps you keep an online log of the teas you drink”. You can keep track of your teas, rate them, make tasting notes, and share them with your friends and followers. It is a great place to discover new teas, and share your passion of tea.

I personally had a chance to speak with Jason Roos, one of the founders of Steepster, and they are excited to be offering not only this amazing contest, but specials and features of tea companies of all size and shape through their Steepster Select program – a daily showcase of deals and favorites, a new one posted every day.

So head on over and enter the Steepster Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest.

Mighty Leaf is one of few popular Canadian tea companies. As a Canadian, I celebrate that fact, and always look forward to sampling a new Mighty Leaf tea. However, in this case, I am left with a bit of a *meh* feeling.

I picked out the Green Tea Tropical from the samples that Mighty Leaf sent us, anticipating visions and flavours of tropical vacations to Mexico and Costa Rica, and the initial scent of the un-brewed leaves gave me just that. It is of course, packaged in the signature Mighty Leaf stitched pillow teabag, and the leaf appeared to be fairly large and full, and as such, of seemingly high quality.

The first brewing was as suggested, 180 degrees for 3 minutes. As the teabag went in, the scent started to become more muted. After 3 minutes, I was left with a dark amber liquor, and mildly tropical scented water.

As I sipped, I noted that the tea was not in the least bit astringent (aka “bitter” for some), leading me to again, believe that the green tea was of good quality. However, the flavouring of the tea was strangely blended together, not really allowing me to sort out different tropical flavours, tho the scent was “Guava” like. I found overall, the tea not “incredible” – but a decent cup of tea, but yet, unremarkable, leaving me with that *meh* that I mentioned before – a take it or leave it kind of feeling.

As I make notes on this tea, the taste does slightly linger, while leaving my teeth feeling a bit fuzzy, and my mouth a bit dry, again, green tea characteristics. The problem I think here, is that the actual green tea flavour gets lost in the tropical fruit flavouring, never really rising to the top to be complemented by the flavours. The second steeping (4 min @ 180 deg) was even more unremarkable, with a little flavour, but less so that the original, and again, the green tea not coming to the fore.

So my overall impression of this tea is that it would be a good starting tea for a convert, someone that is not used to green tea and could get turned off by the earthier aspects of a straight green. This tea has maybe a wider appeal, but I am not sure if it is good enough to be called a “premium” tea or to charge premium prices for.

All that being said, it is not a bad tea, and Mighty Leaf produces some top quality teas, which is maybe why this one leaves me wanting more.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf Green Tea Tropical directly from their website.

EDIT: I was informed by an astute commenter that Mighty Leaf is NOT a Canadian company, and much to my chagrin, they are correct. My apologies for the mistake in this review!

“Luscious, succulent raspberries highlight this ruby red hibiscus flower infusion. Pleasantly tart and extraordinarily sweet.”

Well, that about says it all! Tea Forte has become one of my favorite go-to tea companies for robust tasting teas. So far, they have not disappointed on any of the teas I have tried, and this one is no exception.

The second I put the unique (and quite neat!) pyramid shaped tea bag into the water, a bloom of red spread throughout the water, so deeply red I had to check myself for cuts! Then the scent hit me, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a raspberry tea I was about to indulge in.

Forget the ingredients list, this is purely raspberry, through and through. A tangy, mildly sweet taste of raspberries straight off the vine filled my mouth at the first sip, and lingered long after I licked every drop out of the cup! If you are not a raspberry fan, then this is not for you, as there is no doubt this is all raspberry, and nothing but the raspberry!

There is not much more to say, other than, again, Tea Forte delivers. I do have to say, that it is a little high in the price range for the bagged tea, so go loose if you are going to purchase it directly from Tea Forte. For my money, this is one I would actually consider stocking the cupboard with, as I can imagine that as an iced tea, it would be just as good as it is a hot tea, and a perfect refreshing drink for a hot summers day.

You can purchase Tea Forte Raspberry Nectar directly from their website.