Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Teaspoon’

Honeybush teas are not in the same league with Rooibos teas. Honeybush is sweeter and milder and IMO Better than Rooibos teas. With honeybush you do not get that woodsy after taste that is so dominant with Rooibos teas. I know what you are thinking: Why is she going about the difference between Rooibos and Honeybush teas? Because not everyone has experienced the wonderfulness of Honeybush. And because most people lump the two together as close cousins. I am here to tell you that they are distant cousins who rarely talk! This tea is my all time favorite caffeine free tea. The Honeybush is mild and pleasant to your taste buds and then you  taste the strawberries! Oh my, it is like eating strawberries ripened on the vine with a hint of an aftertaste of crust. Now, you can have your pie and drink it too!

If you like strawberries, you owe it to yourself to pay 52 Teas a visit. 52 Teas in case you don’t know is a tea tasters sensation. Frank blends up a new blend each week. These newbie teas are in liminted quantities. Some of his more popular teas make it into his permanent collection. Strawberry Honeybush Tea is one tea that is on the permanent list and for good reason…it is so darn good that you have to reorder frequently! Luckily shipping to the USA is free. 

You can purchase the Strawberry Pie Honeybush directly from the 52teas website.

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.

Ah, this tea smells tasty. The aroma of the dried leaf is very fruity, if also a bit floral. There are some spicy tones as well. It would appear the mixture is composed of rooibos, rose petals, and perhaps some dried citrus, among other things.

For my first infusions, I steeped a teaspoon and a half of this for five minutes in a cup of just-boiled water. The Shanti Tea website does not give many details regarding this tea, but judging by the fact that it has rooibos, I decided on the tea measurement and steep times. The steeped cup smells of sweet fruit, with big hints of apricot and citrus of some sort. The impression of the first sip is…subdued. Quite a bit of lemon and orange flavours, but not a lot else that stands out. More sips bring out the rooibos and mixed fruit flavours. They blend quite well, and the tea makes for a pleasant evening cuppa.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea a 68/100.

You can purchase the African Carnival directly from the Shanti Tea website.

Hu Kwa is purported to be the top-notch Lapsang Souchong from Taiwan. Steeping one cup at a time, I use one teaspoon of leaves per cup, and I steep the tea for five and a half minutes in just-boiled water, as per Mark T. Wendell Tea Company’s website. The dry leaves have a very strong smokiness to them, as is normal with Lapsang Souchong. However, with this one, there is a slight undertone of sweetness that can be noticed in the dry leaves. The aroma of the steeped tea is also quite smooth. Past experience with Lapsang Souchong has exposed me to some that were so rough as to suggest that perhaps one should be sitting outside on the ground around a campfire while drinking them, not sipping this noble drink in a more civilised setting.

The five and a half minutes is up, so I decant the tea to remove the leaves and allow the tea a minute or so to cool slightly (scalded taste buds do not make for accurate tea tasting). Heavily smoked is a good descriptor of the taste, but not overly smoked. That strange line of sweetness that went through the scent of the dry leaves is still present in the tea itself. The smoothness of this tea made it quite enjoyable to drink. Smooth and not thick. This tea deserves an 87/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

Mmm, rooibos, orange peels, almonds, cardamom, and coriander…this sounds like a delicious tea in the making! When I first opened the package, it was definitely the almond scents that struck my nose first. Then came sweet, slightly juicy undertones. In preparing this tea, I utilised a two-cup teapot, 1 tablespoon of TeaFrog Gingerbread Orange Rooibos (two times the recommended 1.5 teaspoon per cup), and freshly boiled water.

Pouring the water over the mixture, the dominant smell wafting up in the steam was actually orange. I felt this was a good sign, since the name of the tea is Gingerbread _Orange_. The recommended five minutes past, I removed the infuser, taking a moment to eyeball the tea. I could easily pick out the cardamom, coriander, and orange bits in amongst the rooibos. I was not too sure about where the almond was, but I knew I had smelled it earlier…oh, there are a couple of pieces. Whew. My nose has not deceived me.

I take my first sip. Hmmm, I can definitely taste the cardamom. It is coming through quite dominantly. I take another sip, and another, and finish off the first cup. My thoughts so far run somewhere along the line of it tastes spicy, as gingerbread does, but yet…this tea has not so far reminded me of gingerbread. The spiciness of the flavour is quickly followed by tasty orange, and then some almond-esque undertones. Not having fully felt that I understand this tea and all that it has to offer, I pour myself a second cup.

The deep orange-red, nearly rust, colour of this tea is quite pretty. As I sip this second cup, it seems that it follows much like the first. However, I am now beginning to follow the connection of the flavour of this tea to the flavour of gingerbread. This connection is especially prominent in the aftertaste, which is quite pleasant. I finish off the pot with a new outlook on this tea.

I think this tea would be a great treat any time of the day. I drank it in the morning and really enjoyed the experience, but I can see it being a lovely evening tea as well. If you are interested in this tea, I would definitely recommend trying some. I would rate it an 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Gingerbread Orange directly from the TeaFrog website.