May 09
Cardamom Tea, Chamomile Tea, Fair Trade Tea, Fennel Tea, Herbal Tea, Hibiscus Tea, Lavender Tea, Lemon Grass Tea, Licorice Root Tea, Orange Peel Tea, Plum Tea, Zhi Tea
Cindy’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "This delightful chamomile blend smells and looks as good as it tastes... one of the best I've tasted of its kind." |
The ingredients for this herbal blend are Egyptian Chamomile, licorice root, hibiscus, fennel, lemon grass, cardamom, orange peel, lavender, stevia leaf, and plum essence. All of these ingredients are masterfully blended and nearly each can be detected individually in the flavor. Chamomile appears to be the base for the blend. I have had some chamomiles that strike me as slightly bitter, but this one does not at all. The chamomile is followed closely by the licorice root. Up until recently I have never considered myself a licorice fan, but I have discovered that it is usually a deliciously sweet addition to herbal teas. The natural sweetness of the licorice is enhanced by the stevia leaf, making this a sweet, caffeine free alternative when a craving hits. I am assuming the lavender may have been added more for its relaxing aromatic qualities.
Zhi Tea Resful Blend is as delightful visually as it is aromatically. It really does appear that it would make a wonderful potpourri…but with a flavor this good, I’ll be using every last bit in my cup!
— To purchase Zhi Tea Restful Blend, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 08
Trent’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A deliciously sweet bouquet of flavors, have fun picking out each individual note from this complex liquor." |
Vendor’s Description:
Chamomile Citrus is a refreshing infusion perfected to curl up with and savor by the sip. Made with Soothing Egyptian Chamomile flowers and subtle slices of citrus fruit, this vibrant blend will rejuvenate the spirit. From intoxicating aroma to sweet flavor, this Mighty Leaf signature blend with Chamomile, fruits and herbs reflects our vision of the artisan tea experience.
Brewing Parameters:
• Boiling Water
• 1 tsp / 8 oz
• 10 minute infusion
Dry Leaves
I was utterly amazed by the quality of the dry leaves. When mighty leaf lists their ingredients, they aren’t just referencing tiny chopped up bits of raw material. The blend was composed of huge chunks of orange peel, whole chamomile flowers, large chunks of lemon grass, and other less prominent ingredients.
Taste:
There are 2 distinct ways to approach this tea. You can either: 1. just drink it and enjoy the flavor as a whole OR 2. spend time trying to pick out each individual note. If you follow the 1st method, you will taste a rich and sweet, hearty flavor. If you follow the second method, your frame of mind will greatly effect what you taste. For example, try tasting the tea solely concentrating on tasting citrus. Sure enough, you will notice an intensified citrus flavor. Concentrate solely on chamomile, and you will taste solely chamomile. In this fashion, you can identify every flavor in the tea.
Aroma:
Strong citrus and floral top notes with a sweet body. You can identify individual scents just as you can with the flavors .
— To purchase Mighty Leaf Chamomile Citrus, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 08
Vanessa’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A strong, rich and thick mate blend, which definitely needs some milk to soften the sometimes harsh roasted flavors. One of the best mate blends I've had." |
Zhi Tea’s Carnival Mate is an interesting and colorful blend of mate, rooibos, cornflower, marigold petals and coffee essence. The addition of coffee essence is without a doubt detectable, although luckily not too strong. Carnival Mate tastes as though just a splash or two of strong, burnt coffee was added to the mate tea. If you are looking for a big hit of coffee flavor though (in which case, I would ask why you dont just drink a cup of coffee, but that is beside point) you may find this tea to miss the mark. This tea is naturally sweet on its own, and is actually quite comparable in smell and taste to Thai iced tea (which I realize is a strange comment seeing that these teas have virtually no ingredients in common). Although not listed in the ingredients, there is some sort of a vanilla flavor here that permeates the blend, offering a subtle sweetness to this intriguing blend. My main criticism of this tea was that I found the toasted aroma and flavor to be just a bit too harsh, almost to the point where I would describe it as burnt, not toasted. On my second cup of this tea, I added a splash of milk, which really helped to smooth out the potentially abrasive burnt flavor. The milk also complements the incredibly thick and rich qualities of the tea. Because of its rich and strong flavor, this tea seems most suitable for winter nights and rainy days, when a standard cup of tea just won’t do. Even though this tea contained mate and coffee essence, both of which contain caffeine, I didn’t notice any energy-boosting side effects that were different from drinking standard black tea. I have to say that this is by far the best mate blend I have sampled. I would definitely recommend this to others, because this is not your everyday run-of-the-mill tea blend.
— To purchase Zhi Tea Carnival Mate, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 07
Vanessa’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "Forget tempest in a teacup - this was barely even a light breeze. I simply couldn't coax much flavor out of these leaves. Disappointing." |
Serendipitea’s Bard’s Tempest tea is a mix of China and India black teas. The dry leaves offer a sweet and malty aroma, which made me quite eager to try this blend. My first cup of this tea was quite mellow, actually so mild that I would call it weak. The tea just had a diluted/watery sensation to it, and lacked any real depth. This type of wateriness can typically be attributed to the brewing amount and method, rather than the tea itself, but given that I accidentally used more tea leaves than I typically used (because I slipped while pouring the leaves into my infuser) and that I infused this tea for 2 minutes longer than is generally recommended for black teas (due to a minor distraction during the infusion process), I am truly puzzled at how the tea could still be so weak. With my slips during the brewing process, one would naturally expect a dark and bitter liquid to result. I drank half of the cup in the hopes that at some point my taste buds would catch on to the hidden flavors waiting to be experienced in the brew. No dice. So then I added some sugar and the result was sweet water with no detectable trace of tea flavor. I gave up on Bard’s Tempest for the day, and attempted this tea the very next day. I made precise measurements of tea leaves and water and stood buy during the infusion to make sure I brewed the tea exactly as directed. Still, there was barely a trace of flavor and I contemplated just pouring the tea down the drain, although I managed to drink the whole flavorless mug. Forget a tempest in a teacup, this tea blend barely passed for a light breeze. I must admit complete disappointment with this blend. My past experiences with Serendipitea’s line of teas have been mostly wonderful, although in retrospect most of their teas I have tried up to now have been flavored teas and tisanes, such as my current Serendipitea favorite, Black and Blue When it comes to Serendipitea teas, I think I will stick to the flavored varieties.
— To purchase SerendipiTea Bard’s Tempest, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 07
Vanessa’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "A good, basic black tea, obviously of high quality but with a taste that's not too far removed from Liptons or Tetley's. " |
Serendipitea’s Namaste is an Indian black tea blend whose name translates to “no problem”. I have to agree that I had no problem drinking this tea. However I didn’t have any tea-induced epiphanies or life-changing experiences as a result of drinking this tea either. This is your basic loose-leaf black tea, although it should be pointed out that the tea is also organic and fair-trade. Serendipitea doesn’t give much more information regarding the exact composition of the tea leaves in the blend other than to say they are of Indian origin. The tea is somewhat light in taste and offers a mix of a fruity and sweet aftertaste. Anyone who has read some of my past reviews can attest that I have a general dislike for sub-par teabags because of the low quality of the tea dust and powder they contain and the relative ease in which one can over-steep such small particles. Serendipitea’s Namaste does not have these qualities; in fact the tea leaves were quite large, and after steeping I sensed no indication of an over-steeped brew. However the reason I digressed about tea bags is that while the Namaste blend did offer a certain level of complexity and depth of flavor not present in your standard supermarket variety teabag, this tea did carry an element of flavor that was reminiscent of a Lipton or Tetley teabag brew. For this reason, I think this tea could be a great introduction to loose leaf teas for those that have been lifelong drinkers of standard teabags, but are interested in what higher-quality teas can offer. This tea’s flavor is not too much of a stretch from the supermarket variety black tea, but also shows that one can have a cup of black tea with just a little more depth, while omitting any potential bitterness from over-steeping. Furthermore, this tea lacks the harshness that tea from low-quality teabags can have, making the addition of milk and/or sugar an option rather than a necessity.
In all, while I wasn’t totally amazed by this tea and I can’t say that I plan to purchase some myself, I do think this is a good basic black tea, especially for those new to loose leaf tea. The tea seems a bit pricey, but is probably on par with other organic and fair-trade teas.
— To purchase SerendipiTea Namaste, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 06
Troy’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A deep, rich flavor that is definitely a cut above other Ti Kuan Yin's I've tried. " |
To save alot of typing this is what the retailer has to say:
“Semi-fermented and grown in the AnXi area in the Fujian province of China. Tie Guan Yin undergoes a longer fermentation period than ordinary Oolongs and is blended and roasted using our traditional Chaozhou family recipe. It delivers deep flavor, with an intense, floral and nutty aroma and a fruity finish. When steeped in boiling water the crinkly balls unfurl, revealing green-brown, lace-edged leaves.”
To save myself absolutely no typing at all here is what I have to say about this tea. Of the three Tie Guan/Kuan Yin Oolongs I’ve tried I’d have to say that this one rates somewhere in the middle. Its what one expects of a Tie Guan Yin in that its not at all “green”, has a nice roasted flavor, and looks like its been wickedly burned in a wok. I steeped this pretty much as per the directions in my Yixing clay pot, the pot I use for all Tie Guan Yin’s, and it definitely satisfied. Firing or roasting teas creates that great rich flavor you only get when you burn away the excess water and leave only the so called “essential oils” of the leaf. I’ve noticed that many of the cheeper Tie Guan Yin’s are under-oxidized and underfired, making them taste like somewhat strong green teas, so this is definitely a cut above.
— To purchase Just4Tea Tie Guan Yin, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 06
Nina’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A delicious, high-quality earl grey, followed by a smooth, creamy aftertaste... a wonderful blend, I loved it!" |
Earl Grey is one of my simple favorites. I usually enjoy a good cup of Earl Grey, and the idea of a creamy Earl Grey seemed to me like an excellent idea. Tea Zone’s Cream Earl Grey was excellent. I loved the blend of creaminess with the tang of the taste of earl gray.
The tea leaves had a wonderful aroma to them. Very creamy and announcing their strong flavor. While I brewed it I couldn’t help but continuously smell it and anticipate the taste. I was rewarded for my patience with a wonderful cup of Earl Grey cream tea! Unsweetened it was delicious. I could pick out the notes of regular Earl Grey tea, followed by a wonderful creamy aftertaste. When I sweetened it, the creamy taste really stood out. The Earl Grey taste wasn’t as strong as I would have liked it to be and may have been lost if I would have added milk.
I really enjoyed this tea. I liked it with sweetener the most, it made the creamy flavor really stand out. I would recommend this tea to anyone who likes creamy teas. Also, if you like Earl Grey, it might be worth giving this a try!
— To purchase Tea Zone Cream Earl Grey, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 05
Troy’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A simple, nothing-but-tea-and-clean-water black iced tea... I'd recommend this one over the other preservative-laden mass-market offerings any day." |
Most of the ready made Teas on the market are less Tea, and more a Tea based processed drink product. If you look at the ingredient list of your favorite off the shelf bottle of go-go juice it most likely has brewed tea as an ingredient, followed by Tea extract, natural Tea Flavors, Tea Colors, high fructose corn syrup, honey, citric acid, natural flavors, ginseng extract, etc,. If you ask why the need to add all of these things to tea they’d probably tell you its to make it taste like tea… The downside of the food flavoring / food processing industry is that we’ve all been subjected to a severe case of shifting taste-lines. I, like everyone else, drink Arizona Tea, Snapple Tea, and other semi-tea drinks with relish, but if thats all you’ve had something like Tejava is going to taste strange and alien.
Tejava is just Tea, only Tea, made from Javan black tea leaves steeped in Crystal Geyser water. This Tea has two things going for it, one it tastes like a medium quality black tea, two I didn’t have to make it. It comes in a one liter bottle, and shouldn’t be consumed while driving. Its not at all alcoholic but it has a surprising amount of similarity in shape and color to certain popular grain alcohol bottles. On my last cross-state trip I received funny looks from several squad cars, and a very questioning look from a family friend, who also happens to be a police officer, when I stopped at my parents house, and several empty bottles fell from my door. You’d think that the folks who bottle this would have foreseen the issue, but maybe they were consuming the aforementioned grain alcohols at the time.
— To purchase Crystal Geiser Water Company’s Tejava, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 05
Shelly’s Teaview Snapshot
| "The description of this tea makes it sound like dessert in a cup, but I wasn't as bowled over as I'd hoped to be." |
First of all, the name of this tea is what got my attention. It sounds like dessert in a cup. Sadly, it doesn’t live up to that expectation. When I first inhaled the aroma, which I always do, it reminded me of coconut or chocolate. The taste of it is sweet without sugar or honey, but artificial. The package lists burnt sugar and caramel as ingredients, and I guess a general sweet taste could be construed as those flavors. I have been on a quest for a delicious amaretto tea and this one is akin to a generic tea I drank during this search. Overall, I was disappointed despite it being drinkable – it just didn’t wow me. One thing that I can say is that there is virtually no bitterness and the tea base is very smooth. Being new to the world of oolong, I think that may be par for the course. Perhaps I’ll try a plain tea of theirs.
— To purchase Golden Moon Sugar Caramel Oolong, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
May 04
Black Pepper Tea, Black Tea, Cardamom Tea, Chocolate Tea, Cinnamon Tea, Clove Tea, Ginger Tea, Mint Tea, Rooibos Tea, SerendipiTea, Vanilla Tea
Shelly’s Teaview Snapshot
| "A peppery and minty chai that I very much enjoyed... though the chocolate and vanilla flavors were more or less impossible to detect." |
I have always been fond of chai. This one in particular was very satisfying because it was not too spicy, which suited my mood. It can be described as a mild and natural tasting tea. It soothed my sore throat after I gave an hour long beading demonstration. I tasted pepper, but it added to the overall flavor rather than dominating it like some chai teas I’ve had (namely, Celestial Seasonings). I thought I detected a slightly minty aftertaste which was confirmed by the Serendipitea website. This tea also claims to have chocolate and vanilla in it as well, but neither of these flavors stood out.
The tea itself before brewing was quite beautiful. Trying to infuse it proved a little difficult due to tiny particles that kept slipping through the infusers I used. In the end, I just drank them with the tea. I consider it a very relaxing tea that I’d definitely drink again. Just one thing: how do you pronounce it?
— To purchase SerendipiTea Xocatlatl Chai, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
9/10
