For my cup of iced tea I used two heaping teaspoons with a three-minute steep in water brought to a boil and allowed to cool for a minute or so.  I then poured the tea over a cup of ice.  The liquor was a nice golden brown and still possessed the scent of bergamot, but little else.

Taste-wise, it reminded me of tea mixed with lemonade.  It had a delicious and prominent citrus element, along with the brightness of the bergamot.  The oolong was also noticeable and possessed a light roasted flavor.  I also found this particular cup to be sweet without any additions.  Although to be fair, my definition of sweet would likely not match the average persons interpretation of the word.  I rarely add sweeteners to anything, including tea.  I can’t say that I was able to identify the green tea or green rooibos, but I didn’t really miss them either as I was perfectly content with the flavors presented in this cup.  It makes a wonderful iced tea and was just what I was looking for.

I reused the leaves to try a hot version.  Once again, I used water brought to a boil and allowed to cool, with a three-minute steep.  The flavors in the second cup were just as strong and tasty as the first, although the bergamot was more prominent and the different elements didn’t seem to blend together quite as well.  Although this tea makes a fine hot cuppa, I preferred the iced version.  For me, this is a nice change of pace and I would recommend it to anyone interested who enjoys citrus.

Wow, I got off topic.

The dry mix was beyond colorful. The herbs I could make out easiest were lemongrass and pepper. Chunks of cloves were present on closer inspection, but the white tea was a little difficult to discern. What leaves I did find didn’t look like any white I’ve ever seen. That said, it smelled delicious, almost like Hot Tamales candy from a movie theater concession stand.

According to the tea profile prep, 1.5 tsp of tea was to be used per 8oz of water. Water temp was not to exceed 175F and needed to be steeped for two minutes. I went with their instructions precisely.

The infusion was exactly as Hot Tamale-ish to the nose as it was in dry herb form, and that was even before putting my nose to the cup. The peppers were unbelievably strong. I wondered if they really needed to go with two kinds of pepper. One would’ve sufficed plenty. Along with that, cinnamon came up second providing a sweet-spice aspect to the aroma. The rest…well, what rest? Those two alone took over. The liquid itself was a standard pale green-yellow, pretty par for a white tea.

What surprised me was the taste. It was remarkably gentle for a masala chai, as one would expect a white tea to be. Along with the hot-sweet-spice three-way punch, citrus raised a hand in “hello”; the lemongrass contribution. Definitely worth drinking, but if I had one grip – and it’s kind of a big one – a little ginger couldn’t hurt. Probably sacrificing the black pepper to make room for the root would work. It just doesn’t seem like a true masala chai without ginger. Or cardamom…but I wouldn’t want my tongue to explode. I’d probably need leeching then.

The smell of the freshly-brewed, bright red liquor was dominantly spearmint. The rooibos could be smelled a bit in the undertones. Nevertheless, the spearmint was not overwhelmingly strong, which was pleasing. It was just a mild, delicious aroma.

Even after steeping for five minutes, the taste of my first sip did not strike me as being very strong, yet it was quite full. Whereas the spearmint dominated the smell, chamomile dominated the flavour, spreading throughout the mouth quite excellently. The aftertaste was a mixture of primarily spearmint with hints of rooibos lurking in the background.

Overall, this was an enjoyable tea, but not something I would be quick to buy again were I shopping for tea.

After becoming hooked on Rishi’s Vanilla Mint Puerh, I recently placed an order for more of Rishi’s flavored puerh. Allow me to digress for a moment and say that NO ONE does flavored puerh like Rishi. In my opinion, they set the standard. I digress. I also threw a 1 oz package of this into my cart when placing my order. I love lime, I love ginger, and I love green rooibos and especially in the summer as it is usually excellent iced. Me liking this blend is likely a no-brainer.

Rishi lists the ingredients of this blend as Organic Fair Trade Certified™ green rooibos, Organic ginger, Organic lemongrass, Organic lemon myrtle, Organic licorice root and natural essential oils of lime and tangerine. One nice thing about green rooibos is that like it’s red cousin, it is nearly impossible to screw up. I scooped this generously, infused it in boiling water and came back about 5 min later—Wha-la! Perfecto! The liquid brewed up to an orangey golden color. The flavor is very zesty! This cup provides a nice amount of heat from the ginger! Since I happen to love that ginger’s spicy bite, I am quite the smitten kitten. However, I would warn others who are not a fan of blends that possess this kind of heat to avoid this one as the ginger is fairly strong in this cuppa. While I think that the citrus flavor overall errs in favor of lime, I found that at some temps it tasted a bit lemony. I think that this one would be a good candidate to cook with and I can imagine that it could be infused into a delicious salad dressing. I am also looking forward to enjoying a cup of it with some tilapia tomorrow. I also tried this one iced and it is excellent. Further, the ginger stood up to a splash of dairy nicely. Overall, this blend is zesty, refreshing and quite versatile. I do think that this blend is one of those love it or hate it kind of things, but I happen to love it!

The lemongrass swells in the hot water and smells decadently lemony – and sweet, too. I’m really pleased with the initial smells as I’m not getting the artificial, creepy Lemon Pledge scent that somehow makes its way into so many lemon flavored/scented tisanes.

A nice strong brewing of this tea is eminently enjoyable. The treatment I gave the infusion yields a not too pale and very lovely lemony liquor with a sweet, natural flavor and superb lemon taste. The taste is really fresh and enjoyable. While the infusion takes well to sweetener, it needs none. With a touch of liquid stevia (substitute your preferred sweetener) this infusion is exquisite. It’s light and lemony but with a lingering, creamy quality. Overall, it’s full, fragrant and delicious and gratifyingly lemony. There are no artificial tastes at all, and no furniture polish like qualities.

This is far and away the best lemon infusion I’ve ever had. Kudos to Teatulia for allowing a simple, delicious ingredient to stand on its own merit and impress with fabulous flavor. In keeping with their single sourcing of tea leaves from one tea garden in Bangladesh, their choice of a single, delicious, organic ingredient to highlight in infusion form not only makes sense, but is refreshing, clean, delicious and makes for a just plain sink right in and enjoy it experience.

As a note, while our weather in the PNW has been cool and rainy, I couldn’t resist trying this chilled in anticipation of summer arriving. Wow! Absolutely delicious again.

Highly recommended!!

I set up my teamaker using two tablespoons of the blend, a temp setting for white tea and a steep time of 2 minutes. It brewed up to a pale gold in color and smells delightful with the cloves and pepper coming to the fore.

In taste, this chai has a lighter spice load and I am not able to pick up any of the coconut which rather surprised me considering how much was in the blend. It is hefty enough to support cream and sugar but light enough to drink without. I tend to prefer my chai spicier but there is something about the mix of flavors in this blend that just draws me in.

I don’t tend to shop a lot from Teavana but there are some blends from them that have become regulars in my tea cabinet. I think that this chai has joined that list. If you like chai and want some that is just a tad different, be sure to check out this blend.

My sample consists of rooibos, lemongrass, lemon preserves and vanilla bean bits. Going by its aroma, the name Lemon Meringue Pie is a perfect fit. I do have to admit to being slightly confused though as to why they would pick the mood ‘Afternoon Delight’ for a rooibos blend. I tend to drink them more in the evening than any other time.

Going by their website, I used three heaping tablespoons for my tea-maker. I was surprised at the amount suggested of one to two heaping tablespoons per cup but I always try to follow the instructions at least the first time around. I used a temperature setting of 210 degrees and a steep time of 5 minutes. Once brewed that wonderful aroma is still present in force though also present is a nuttiness that is the trademark of the rooibos. It really is a draw as to which scent is stronger.

I was curious as too just how tart the lemon would be in this brew. I am pleased to say that the tartness is there but it doesn’t overpower the creamy goodness of this blend. With just a dab of rock sugar, you would swear that you were drinking a lemon meringue pie. I sure am glad that I did follow the brewing instructions to a tee. Otherwise if I used my usual amounts, I am sure that flavors wouldn’t be as pleasing.

All in all, this is a delightful blend to drink in the evening especially if one is having a sweet tooth attack. However I am not too sure if this is a blend that I would keep around because it is rather spendy for a rooibos and it takes a lot more of the blend than normal to get the desirable results. I might just toss some in my cart when I am in the mood to splurge.

I happen to love, love, love a good Yunnan black tea. I love it when I find a good one that has the right combination of malt, smoothness, cocoa notes and a nice peppery finish. Samovar is a company that has a great reputation amongst my tea peeps and I have wanted to try a number of their blends for some time now. If you happen to follow along on Teaviews, then you have probably heard my rants about great flavor profiles getting ruined by low quality tea bases over and over. However, I always find myself at odds with myself when I come across blends like this—-ones that have a quality tea base and are flavored. Of course, the argument is that if the tea base is genuinely good, then it needs no flavoring, which is also true. You see my dilemma, no?

Samovar sells samples of most of their blends and when they say they are enough for one cup, they aren’t kidding. Don’t order them thinking that it is enough for 3-4 servings. The aroma coming from the dry sample is very, very lemony. Samovar lists the ingredients in this blend as organic, fair trade Yunnan black tea blended with organic lemongrass. I prepared my sample using water brought to a full boil and allowed to cool just a bit and infused the blend for close to 4 min. The aroma coming from the prepared cup also alludes to the lemongrass taking centerstage. It does dominate the cup and largely masks much of the flavor of the Yunnan black. The Yunnan characteristics that did present themselves in the cup were a bit of zip (maltiness), a relatively smooth tea base, and a spicy finish. The cup goes down with the lemongrass dominating, but offers a mild, peppery finish that combines in a way that reminds me a bit of the the marinade on lemon pepper dishes. I enjoyed the hot portion of my sample best, but also iced the final bit of cup and found it enjoyable prepared that way too. I suspect that this could take a splash of dairy nicely.

Overall, while I did enjoy the quality of the tea base and the freshness of the the lemongrass, I found that the lemongrass dominated the finished cup and overpowered the black tea a bit too much. I found myself missing those earthy, cocoa notes. If they were to tweak this blend to suit my personal taste preferences, then this one would have a little less lemongrass in the mix so as to unleash a bit more of the flavor of the Yunnan black. However, I would definitely take another cup of this if you offered it to me.