Tea - Loose Leaf Tea - Ramblings

Archive for August, 2008

This is my second sample from Steenberg’s Organic Teas and so far I have to say I have found them to be surprisingly good. This green tea is one of only 2 tea bag varieties that they have available currently. Their other teas are loose leaf varieties. These tea bags are individually packaged and contain a fairly typical looking leaf for a bag. According to their website, it is organic, Fairtrade green tea from Sri Lanka and the company spends 10% of the profits on social and environmental projects in the developing world. Based on my good experiences with Steenberg’s tea bags, I am actually quite anxious to try their loose leaf varieties.

The color and aroma of this green were pretty standard, but this tea was actually quite tasty. The flavor leaned more towards the basic vegetal green, but was much more impressive and fresh tasting than that found in most standard green tea bags. All in all, this is a good basic green tea packaged in convenient individually wrapped bags.

The name of this herbal blend turns out to be incredibly descriptive. My sample contained fairly large pieces of peach and pineapple, but the aroma was all peach. It also contains lemon myrtle, chamomile, sunflower petals and rosehips. This doesn’t appear to be an herbal that is at all delicate in regards to brew time. I allowed mine to brew for 7-8 minutes and that seemed near perfect. The first sip was just as I had expected, sweet and peachy. I noticed a little bit of a pineapple essence in the aftertaste. No additional sweetener is required with this one as the peach is candied and provides a pleasant but not overwhelming sweetness on it’s own.

My local Teavana was my first real experience with loose leaf teas and they consistently come up with tasty new blends. One of my first herbals from them was a combination of their Egyptian Chamomile and Honeybush Vanilla, which has long been a favorite standby of mine for a relaxing cup before bed. I will be purchasing more of this to have on hand as a tranquility inducing alternate.

The World Tea Expo is the tea industry tradeshow, an exposition hall filled with hundreds of industry related booths. Most of the vendors are tea growers, manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers presenting their products to retail business owners and buyers. When you first enter the fragrance of tea is intoxicating. There are more than 1000 teas on display and being brewed to sample. You get used to the smell of the tea within a few minutes. The air is so thick with tea that your olfactory sense adjusts. And after two full days of tasting, your taste buds can become a bit tired. So, when I say that I discovered a new tea near the end of the third day, it must have some exceptional qualities.

I was rushing back to my own booth with no plan to taste more teas – not during the last hour of the third day of Expo. The staff in the Stash Tea Booth was serving Decaf Pumpkin Spice. The aroma caught me as I passed. I certainly would not have sought out a bagged, decaf, flavored tea in the midst of world’s most prized artisan leaves. But the aroma stopped me cold. They had prepared the sample with milk – also a challenge to my intolerance of lactose. All of my judgmental criteria aside, I walked away with a handful of sample bags and have kept them in stock ever since.

Stash’s Decaf Pumpkin Spice keeps me from that piece of pie for dessert. It is also the flavor that most please the ladies in my critique group who could care less about my Ti Kwan Yin. It’s the favorite of my 4-year-old nephew and my 80-year-old mother. It’s the most popular flavor at the concession table I host for our high school choir concerts and when I serve tea at bookstore signings.

Stash produces a quality tea that I can proudly recommend and know that it is easily found on grocery store shelves and online. It’s great both hot and cold. With milk and sweetener or without. I’ve also experimented with the leaves as a baking ingredient. It infuses more color and flavor in my Kitchen Sink Cookies and is my mystery ingredient in Zucchini Bread.

It’s not my morning brew but it is always in stock in my tea cupboard. My friends remember and ask for it.

I found a thread in the Teaviews forum by Lea. She mentioned that she created some blends for Adagio Teas. I glanced by it until I saw that she mentioned pineapple upside-down cake tea. So I decided to check out her blends on the Adagio website, fully intending to try the pineapple upside-down cake. Then I saw it: A peaches-n-cream rooibos blend she created. I fully admit I am obsessed with drinking flavored rooibos in the evenings. It’s caffeine-free and goes well with any flavor. I mean any flavor. But peach and vanilla? I was instantly intrigued. I ordered it immediately. My only worry was that it may have a hibiscus element to it. It doesn’t. Near as I can tell, it’s straight up peach, vanilla, and rooibos with nothing else to muck it up.

The fragrance of this tea is like gummy peach candy. It smells so sweet and delicious with a slight woodsy undertone thanks to the rooibos. I don’t smell much vanilla, but then again I’m focused on the peach. The dry blend looks like a typical rooibos with small red shreds and no large particles. It brews up into an extra red colored “red tea”.

The taste is somewhat surprising. I expected a candy like peach taste based on the smell. It is more complex than I imagined. The rooibos dominates the palate followed by the vanilla. The peach arrives in a pleasant punch of flavor at the end and lingers. It is very silky and refreshing.

My father, who calls most of my tea “weird” and will only drink Celestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla Red, really liked this tea as well. So that is a big thumbs up as far as I’m concerned. I drank a whole pot myself in one evening!

This tea is a 10/10 due to taste, smell, and creativity! Thanks Lea!

TeaGuys’ Caramel Green tea is an interesting blend that mixes sweet and savory flavors together. The name is a bit misleading, suggesting that one should expect green tea flavored with caramel. In truth, there is a lot more going on with this tea, as the ingredients listed include not only green tea and caramel, but also rooibos, cocoa beans, and marigold blossoms. Interestingly, the green tea base is described as actually being a blend of different Chinese green teas. However it also seems that there must have been some Japanese Gen Mai Cha mixed in, as there were definitely pieces of popped rice and popcorn mingling in my blend.

This tea instantly reminded me of SpecialTeas’ Vienna Winter Green tea, which is a big winner in my book. The green tea used as the base is extremely mild, so that one can barely taste even a hint of vegetal flavor. Given the sweet flavors added to this tea, a subtle base works best, as I imagine something that brewed up overly grassy or brothy would clash with the caramel and other flavors. While the tea was, overall, sweet and tasty, the caramel essence was just a bit off, in a way that is hard to describe. The caramel flavor fell short of what I expected. Instead of a rich and creamy caramel flavor, the flavor here was a bit bitter and almost fruity. A stronger and higher-quality caramel flavor would have really made this tea shine. I must admit that I much prefer SpecialTeas’ Vienna Winter Green over this blend. Additionally, one needs to be sure to brew an ample amount of leaves per cup of water, or else the tea comes out very weak. Overall, this tea was satisfactory, but I would not say it was superb.

Coconut tea has always been among my all-time favorite tea selections. I have had coconut teas from at least four other vendors, and while I have enjoyed them all, my general conclusion had been along the lines of “you taste one coconut tea, you taste them all”. Enter Zhi Tea coconut assam to show me the errors of my thinking. This tea smells stronger and fresher than any coconut tea I have tasted. There are small pieces of coconut mixed in with the tea leaves. Zhi’s website also mentions that the coconut, like the tea itself, is organically grown. An instant nutty sweetness struck my nose and had me near salivating (but luckily I was able to control myself). The brewed tea is, in a word, divine. The coconut flavor is authentic (not a hint of artificial flavor here), and is just right in terms of its strength. What made this coconut tea so unique from other coconut tea offerings is that Zhi tea manages to perfectly capture the essence of toasted coconut, and it is that little special toasted flavor that really makes the difference. The tea is hearty, sweet, and delicious. The tea is perfectly sweet and enjoyable on its own, but the addition of milk and sugar made it a downright satisfying beverage that was hearty enough to satisfy my all-too-common cravings for something sweet. Zhi Tea knows how to make naturally-flavored teas that really quell a sweet-tooth such as mine (and trust me, that is no easy feat). The rich and malty assam base is perfect to bring out the sweet and nutty coconut flavor. I could continue with my ravings, but it should suffice to say that this tea rocks. Hands down, Zhi’s take on coconut tea is the best coconut tea I have had yet. I’ve only had two cups of this tea, and I am already addicted. Zhi, what have you done to me?

I feel as though a very prominent tea company has been neglected here. I love trying new and fancy teas from online vendors, but there are some addictive teas sold right in your grocery store. True, less than half of them are worth it, but there are a few standouts. The company I’m referring to is the most recognizable in the tea aisle: Celestial Seasonings.

I have tried many of their products. It’s also true that quite a few of them are of less quality than I’m used to drinking. But there are three flavors that I always have on hand. Candy Cane Lane and Madagascar Vanilla Red are two that are must haves for me, an occasional evening brew.
The last of the three is my secret addiction, not so secret anymore. It is the delicious herbal tea Almond Sunset.

The aroma of the tea is unique. When I brew it, I always smell a deep and roasted element. Intermingled is a slightly sweet and not surprisingly almond teaser. It is a complex fragrance that I had never encountered before. You know you are in for an unusual tea experience.

The flavor of almond sunset is unparalleled when it comes to a roasty-sweet-cinnamon herbal. It is deep and smooth. The roasted flavor contains none of the smokiness or bitterness that other Celestial Seasonings herbals do (i.e. Roastaroma). Perhaps the cinnamon and almond flavors add the right amount of balance. The ingredients are quite numerous and some surprising: roasted carob, roasted barley, roasted chicory, cinnamon, orange peel, natural almond flavor, blackberry leaves, anise seed. They are a winning combination, apparently!

I am an almond and amaretto addict. I’m always on the lookout for another tea or cookie or ice cream or anything that captures those flavors, and this is my favorite of all. It has a definite almond quality with complexity and satisfaction.

The best way to drink this tea is with a generous dollop of cream or milk. I prefer a French vanilla creamer (or a limited edition Italian Sweet Cream that is out in stores right now – yum!) in this tea. Then it is a truly wonderful tea latte-like experience and caffeine-free, too! This is quite a departure from my normal tea drinking habits; straight up and strong as can be. The flavors of this brew lend themselves to be smoothed out with cream.

If you usually turn your nose up at Celestial Seasonings, I think you should reconsider if you see a box of Almond Sunset on the shelf. You won’t be disappointed.

My second experience with Zhena’s tea leaves something to be desired. The first tea I sampled from this company was underwhelming and somewhat flavorless. I was hoping this tea would change my opinion on Zhena’s teas. Unfortunately, this blend is just as bland as the first. It is most definitely a “bland blend”.

Normally, one may think of mint as flavorful and refreshing. The same properties apply to green tea. Therefore, a mint green tea should live up to these standards and be strong, refreshing, and explode with flavor. This tea just doesn’t do that; it is reminiscent of hot water with virtually no taste.

The aroma does little to create an impression of mint, either. A mint tea of any kind has a signature aroma that prepares the drinker for a cool menthol treat but Zhena’s lacks that quality. I’m sorry to say this is one tea that I can easily bypass when looking for mint green tea.

Coco La Ven certainly wins the prize for the most eclectic and unlikely tea ingredients. The blend of black tea, coconut, chamomile, lavender and vanilla is,as described on the Necessiteas website, intriguing. With such a motley array of ingredients, this tea promised to be an amazing delight for the taste buds or a culinary experiment gone horribly wrong. Luckily for me, this tea proved to be a really tasty cup. The most prominent flavor here is the coconut, and that is no surprise given the generous amount of rather large coconut shavings in the blend. The coconut shaving easily made up at least a third of the blend in my sample. The lavender and chamomile provided a subtle floral finish, and worked surprisingly well with the sweet and nutty coconut flavor. The amount of chamomile was just about perfect, as I think any more than what was in the mix could have resulted in an overpowering chamomile flavor. The lavender was definitely more noticeable in the aroma (especially of the brewed leaves) than in the flavor, although to me, that is a good thing since I am not a huge fan of lavender. All together, the ingredients produce a sweet and refreshing blend comparable to no other tea I’ve had. The coconut and chamomile sweetened the tea naturally, so I did not need to add any sweetener. I mixed in a splash of milk in my second cup of this tea (as recommended by Necessiteas) for a creamy tea, which was very tasty. I really enjoyed this tea, and I think most others will too, as its creative blend of ingredients will not likely be encountered in many (or any) other tea blends out there.

This is another good jasmine tea, this time from Mighty Leaf. The pearls are fun to watch unfold in the teapot, and the taste is a good combination of the Chinese green tea combined with the sweet floral taste of jasmine flowers. When brewed at 180 degrees for a little over two minutes, the flavor is smooth and fresh tasting. If you like jasmine tea, this is a good one!