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Apr 24

Chestnut Tea from Adagio Teas

Adagio Teas,Black Tea,Flavored Tea,Tea Review 5:12 am | 3 Comments

[Chestnut tea from Adagio]This is one of Adagio’s seasonal teas, which I received in one of their assortments such as the ones pictured below – little tins with 5 mesh pyramid-shaped sachets apiece.

The taste of this tea is rich, full-bodied, and warm. I absolutely love the nutty flavor. To be quite honest, if someone had me try this without telling me what flavor it was, I probably would have guessed pecan before I’d guess chestnut – but that’s OK, because pecan is one of my favorite flavors! (I make a pretty good pumpkin-pecan pie at Thanksgiving, and during the years I lived in Texas, I ate far too many of Lamme’s Pralines.) I would have guessed chestnut after that. Either way, the nut flavor is so rich and warm that this tea is almost a dessert in itself.

The tea is also available in loose leaf form; I have not tried it as such – but since mesh sachets allow for leaves as large as loose ones, and allow as much water flow as any infuser, I don’t think that this tea would taste much different in an infuser than it did in the sachets. Mesh works so much better than traditional paper tea bags!

The underlying tea is a plain black tea – one of those Sri Lanka blends that works so well as a base for flavors because in and of itself it doesn’t have any conflicting notes or overwhelming flavor that would make it difficult to add flavorings.

The tea is available as part of the “Stocking Stuffers” assortment, where it comes as part of 6 tins (see pictures, below) – one of the others is the Pumpkin Spice tea, another favorite of mine. While you can buy the chestnut tea by itself, it’s so much fun to get an assortment and try several things at once! For me, opening one of these packages is like opening 6 holiday presents at the same time.

Adagio describes this tea as:

Premium black tea from Sri Lanka flavored with roasted chestnuts. Perfect for enjoying in front of an open fire. With Jack Frost nipping at your nose, this is the ideal time to enjoy this Holiday favorite. Roasty, smooth and full bodied, with pleasant dryness. Help to make the season bright, give this limited-time tea a try.

The chestnut has been a staple food in southern Europe, Turkey and Asia for millennia, largely replacing cereals where they would not grow in mountainous areas. They are a beloved treat during the holidays here in America (thanks to a certain favorite modern Christmas song.) In France, the marron glace – a candied chestnut involving 16 different processes in a typically French cooking style – is served at Christmas and New Year’s time. They are also always served in celebration of the New Year in Japan. There, chestnuts are said to represent both success and hard times – mastery and strength.

Here are the assortments that have chestnut tea in them:

[Hearty Treat assortment from Adagio] <Hearty Treat assortment

Stocking Stuffers assortment>[Stocking Stuffers assortment from Adagio]

 



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Apr 23

Grand Pouchong from Tavalon

Oolong Tea,Tavalon Tea,Tea Review 3:32 am | 3 Comments

[Grand Pouchong from Tavalon]Is Pouchong an oolong tea, or isn’t it? Some people describe it as “Chinese green tea” but in fact, it’s lightly fermented, at about 10 to 20%, and to me, that puts it squarely into oolong territory. Tavalon classifies it as an oolong, though some other tea companies don’t. But the final test is, does it taste like an oolong?

Yes, yes it does. It has the smoothness one expects of an oolong, and it holds up for a second steeping, as oolong teas usually do (and green tea usually doesn’t).

The dry leaves of this tea are quite large – make sure you use a large infuser, so that you don’t break them or cram them together too tightly for water to flow through. The aroma of the dry leaves is, well, tea-like; I didn’t get any floral hints from the leaves.

The tea brews up into a golden-colored brew. There is still not a floral aroma, but there are hints of both green tea and of fruit in the aroma. The taste is smooth, medium-bodied, not too brisk, and also has hints of fruit to it.

Tavalon describes this tea as:

A lightly oxidized oolong tea with a subtle, sweet aroma and complex flavor.
Sommelier’s Steeping Suggestions: 8 oz water (180F) | 1 tsp loose tea | steep 3 minutes – great with seafood or a salad!
Ingredients: Oolong tea
Character: Sweet, Floral, Melon
Origin: Taiwan
Functions: Slimming

(Note that the claims that this tea, or any tea, has a slimming function are not medically or scientifically tested. Drink tea because you like it, not because you think it will substitute for exercise, good diet, and regular medical care in maintaining your health.)

On a second steeping – lower the water temperature by 10 degrees, brew about 2 minutes longer than the first steeping – the tea retains the golden color – it doesn’t look any “weaker” and the taste also is about the same. The hint of fruitiness is still there. Second steepings usually have almost no caffeine in them, so drinking the first cup of this in the early afternoon and the second cup in the late afternoon works well for avoiding too much caffeine later in the day. I will admit that sometimes I store my tea leaves, still in the infuser, in the refrigerator, to come back to on another day – and sometimes I don’t remember, three or four days later, what each tea is, and my afternoon cup is “mystery tea” – I find this fun. OK, I have an odd sense of humor. If somebody would decide to manufacture sticky notes in the shape of a tea cup, I might remember to label these teas – are you listening, sticky note manufacturers?

 



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Apr 19

Vanilla Black Tea from Mountain Rose Herbs

Black Tea,Flavored Tea,Mountain Rose Herbs,Tea Review 7:47 am | 2 Comments

[mountain rose herbs tea swatches]Vanilla Black Tea is the newest tea from Mountain Rose Herbs – so new that there’s not a picture for it on their web site! And alas, my phone camera doesn’t do justice to taking a picture of the beautiful tea (actually, my completely cluttered countertops, tables, and every other surface of my condo make it impossible to take pictures of anything) so I will just have to describe it to you.

The dried tea is beautiful – there are dried chrysanthemums in it, and that includes whole small flowers as well as petals. Absolutely gorgeous appearance. The chrysanthemum gives the dried leaves a complex aroma, too, a note darker than vanilla alone would provide.

When brewed, the taste is also more complex than vanilla alone. In fact, there’s a note that reminds me somehow of hot cocoa (after all, vanilla extract is a necessary ingredient in good hot cocoa!) and a spiciness from the flowers that gives an edge to it. Sometimes vanilla teas have too much of a sweet note for me, but this one is balanced out by the spiciness.

The body of the tea is quite full – again, something that reminds me of the richness of cocoa – and in fact, when I checked to see where the leaves were from, I discovered that they were Assam, which fully explains why my first impression of this was that it would make a wonderful breakfast tea. And to make you feel even better about being up in the morning, it’s an organic fair-trade Assam, and the vanilla beans, vanilla flavoring, and flowers are also all organic.

Mountain Rose Herbs describes this tea as:

This charming little box contains the world’s yummiest organic tea! All of our delicious teas are handcrafted by herb-loving artisans here in Eugene, Oregon. From writing recipes and blending herbs to assembly and packaging, our beautiful teas are created by their inspired hands.

All of the organic ingredients found in our line of teas are certified organic by Oregon Tilth. We will never use herbs that are conventionally grown with synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or ecologically harmful chemicals. Farming methods which utilize these methods have damaging consequences to our communities, wildlife, watersheds, and livelioods, and Mountain Rose Herbs will not take part in supporting such a system.

By sipping this tea, you are supporting organic agriculture one cup at a time.

Contains: An organic fair trade Assam tea perfectly blended with organic cut Vanilla beans, organic Chrysanthemum flowers, and organic Vanilla flavoring. Contains caffeine. Certified Kosher by Earth Kosher.

The little box is indeed charming, and can be opened from the top or by opening the box along perforated lines which displays the lovely tea better. The tea is inside a cellophane bag which has an adhesive tab for re-closing, and that should help it stay fresh.

Included in the package I received were the “tea swatches” pictured above – which describe teas that I’m definitely going to try! The “swatches” are on a grommet, and if one fans them out, then on the back of the overlapping pieces is Mountain Rose Herbs’ full logo and graphic. But I’m not going to leave them all on the grommet – when separated, these will make perfectly-sized bookmarks, which I am going to distribute to my bookish friends and spread the word about Mountain Rose Herbs.



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Apr 04

Christmas Bakery from Tea for All Reasons

Flavored Tea,Rooibos,Tea For All Reasons,Tea Review 3:37 am | 2 Comments

[Tea for All Reasons]This is a seasonal tea, one of many that Tea for All Reasons (TFAR) makes. And as with many of their teas that are made for holidays, the very first thing one has to do when one opens the package is just look at it. Because TFAR’s teas have several features that make them some of the most attractive teas to look at! In this case, the tea has one of TFAR’s signature features, “sprinkles.” These aren’t sprinkles like ice cream sprinkles; they are little candy bits, usually shaped and colored. The sprinkles in this one are little gingerbread men (and by little, I mean that they are about a quarter of an inch) in red and brown. They look so cute! The sprinkles dissolve a little bit when steeped in hot water, so they add the tiniest amount of sweetness to the tea, but really not much. Since I prefer my tea unsweetened, I am glad that candy sprinkles don’t make it too sweet, and that also means that you’ll be able to add the sweetener of your choice, if you like your tea sweeter, rather than treating it as pre-sweetened. Rooibos has a little bit of a sweet-ish taste itself, and that’s what the base of this tea is; rooibos also tastes just a bit spicy, and that complements some of the spices in the tea.

The gingerbread sprinkles give away one of the flavors in this tea – there are slivers of dried ginger root in there; another flavor is almonds, and one can see the almond slivers in the loose tea. One can also see the bits of cacao, tiny pieces of cinnamon, and the seeds of other spices in the tea as well. Over all, the taste is not quite as spicy as a chai tea, but it conveys the impression of spiced baked goods quite nicely – I always feel as though the addition of almonds to a tea makes it taste more like cookies!

Since this is a specialty tea for the Christmas holiday, it isn’t always available – as I write this review, a couple of months after Christmas, it is not on TFAR’s web site, nor are any of their other Christmas teas. The link that occurs on the picture above is to the “Specialty teas” page of TFAR’s web site, where you’ll find the current offerings – perhaps one with a sprinkle of candy shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day will be there, or one with little candy flowers for spring, or little candy yellow ribbons in the Returning Heroes blend. And then, after fall comes ’round again, there will be more Christmas teas there.

TFAR describes their specialty teas like this:

Tea For All Reasons offers a wide selection of the freshest premium teas for the most sophisticated tea lover, as well as custom blends for special occasions.

The specialty teas they offer include custom blends for weddings, and teas for birthdays, children’s tea parties, and other special occasions that aren’t exactly holidays.



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Mar 27

Persian Choice Royal Earl Grey from Alvin’s of San Francisco

Black Tea,earl grey,Tea Review 5:26 am | 2 Comments

  • Type Of leaves: Black Tea
  • Name Of Tea: Persian Choice Royal Earl Grey
  • Available From: Alvin's of San Francisco

[Persian Choice Royal Earl Grey from Alvin's]This is an Earl Grey with a lovely aroma that starts with the dry leaves. When I first opened the package, I was struck by how lemony the bergamot smelled. Many times, it’s hard to remember that bergamot is a citrus tree, but with this tea, one can easily imagine the whole citrus family. I think it’s because there’s less of a bitter note here than with some bergamot – this one is more like a sweet lemon, though there’s no actual sweetness. Anyway, I could have sniffed at the leaves all day. A better air freshener than anything they sell for your kitchen!

Upon brewing, the citrus aroma is joined by a slight bit of a floral aroma, surprisingly. Normally I don’t expect that in an Earl Grey, but I suppose that the blend of teas here – combining Assam and Darjeeling, like a good breakfast tea, plus some Ceylon tea – just happens to allow for new notes to develop as the tea steeps.

The taste is complex – the bergamot tastes more like bergamot, less like lemon, than it smells, but it still has that faint trace of a sweetness that isn’t added sugar, and a smoothness that goes with the floral part of the aroma. The black tea itself is quite strong, as one would expect from a blend with Assam in it, but it’s not at all harsh – it’s full-bodied, without being overpowering. Altogether, I think this is one of the best balances of tea flavor and bergamot flavor that I’ve ever tasted. It’s an Earl Grey I could drink breakfast through afternoon, and if I weren’t sensitive to caffeine at night, I’d drink it with dinner, too – the flavor of this tea would complement many dinner entrees as an added “sauce.” (I think that I am going to try cooking some rice with Indian spices and the sorts of seeds in a pilaf – fennel, in particular -  in water with this tea added – as I’m imagining the combination, it seems as though the flavors will combine wonderfully!)

The leaves of this tea are large and expand quite a bit on steeping – make sure you use a large enough infuser or paper tea sack.

Alvin’s of San Francisco describes this tea as:

In the ancient Persian court, legend says that the ideas of royalty, excellence and the good life evolved around the sacred tea ceremonies where only the very best tea blends were served. Centuries later tea is still a staple of Persian cuisine. We are proud to present Persian Choice Royal Earl Gray Tea, a secret blend prepared in accordance with these ancient sentiments. Made from the absolute highest quality tea leaves from Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling, this pungent Earl Grey blend has been transformed into pure royalty. We use the finest tea leaves available to ensure the least bitter taste possible. We blend these exquisite tea leaves with a secret variety of natural and organic extracts. With hints of bergamot and the aroma of a middle eastern spice market our Persian Choice Royal Earl Grey will transform any event into an elegant setting. CERTIFIED ORGANIC, FAIR TRADE, and KOSHER. We are proud to announce that our Persian Choice Royal Earl Grey Tea has won FIRST PLACE in the North American Tea Championship in the Earl Grey Category.

If one doesn’t steep the tea the first time for too long, this tea is also good for a second steeping – use water slightly under boiling, and let it steep for somewhat longer, the second time, five minutes rather than three. There’s still a floral note, and though the flavor is milder, it’s still a superior taste.

And have I mentioned how beautiful the label is? The large flowers in the illustration of a royal woman drinking tea in her garden are a wonderful hint of the flavors to come.

All together, I can see why this is an award-winning tea, and based on the quality of this, I am eagerly looking forward to the next tea I try from Alvin’s!



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Mar 26

Blackcurrant Bracer from London Fruit & Herb Company

Flavored Tea,Herbal Tisanes,London Fruit & Herb Co,Tea Review 4:13 am | 2 Comments

[Blackcurrant Bracer from London Fruit & Herb]This herbal tea has the blackcurrant-y-est blackcurrant flavor of any flavored tea I’ve tried!

I love blackcurrant, a flavor I first discovered on a visit to Canada back in the 70′s; it’s still more popular in the UK and other parts of the British Empire than it is in the US, though this is changing a bit since some of the big supermarket tea brands have introduced blackcurrant-flavored black teas. None of those has as fruity and full-bodied a blackcurrant taste as this one, though!

The tea is in bags, so there’s not as much aroma to the dry teabag as there would be to tea leaves. Once brewed, however, the blackcurrant aroma is unmistakeable, and the taste is even stronger than the aroma.

For people in the US who may not be familiar with the taste, imagine a cross between purple grapes and a blend of berries, especially blueberry and blackberry.

Since the blend is herbal, there is no caffeine, so this can be drunk late at night. Which is when I tend to drink it, sometimes several cups in one evening.

In the UK, this tea is available in stores or from an online store that London Fruit & Herb Company shares with Typhoo. In the US, one will occasionally find this tea in discount-remainder stores such as Home Goods or Ross, but more reliably one will find it on Amazon.com.

London Fruit & Herb describes this tea as:

The London Fruit and Herb Company have adopted a philosophy of creating great tasting blends that are good for you. So dedicated are we to achieving this that we have developed a unique process to provide you with a range of fruit flavours which really taste as good as they smell. Format: String, tag and envelope.

Ingredients: Hibiscus, Blackberry Leaves, Flavourings, Liquorice Root, Apple Pomace, Blackcurrant Juice (2%), Blackcurrants (2%), Blackcurrant Leaves (1%), Rosehips, Citric Acid, Strawberry Juice.

Not only is this a tasty warm tea, it reminds me of summer with its fruity taste, and therefore helps me look forward to summer (as I write this, it is a few days into the start of spring here in Maryland, and we are expecting snow this weekend.) Speaking of summer, this also makes an excellent iced tea. When made iced, add a bit of sugar to keep the fruit flavor to the forefront. A few frozen berries dropped into it make an excellent garnish, or a wedge of orange, or even kumquat, works well.

Before I stop talking about how much I love blackcurrant, I have to tell you what I often eat for breakfast: 2/3 cup plain yogurt, 2/3 cup Kashi Black Currant Walnut cereal (has freeze-dried blackcurrants in it) and 2 heaping tablespoons blackcurrant jam, all mixed together. The blackcurrant jam adds enough sweetness to make it better than already-flavored yogurt, and the cereal stays crunchier with yogurt instead of milk. Could I make this any more blackcurrant-y?

 



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Mar 15

English Breakfast from Hampstead Tea

Black Tea,Hampstead Tea,Tea Review,Unflavored Tea 2:34 am | 3 Comments

  • Type Of leaves: Black Tea
  • Name Of Tea: English Breakfast
  • Available From: Amazon,com

[Hampstead English Breakfast]Hampstead Tea’s Organic Fairtrade English Breakfast was one of the four teas I decided to try in a side-by-side comparison – see below. It was sent to me in a tea swap, from Europe, but it is available in the U.S. through Amazon.com among others. Of the four teas I was comparing, this was the only one that wasn’t commonly available in U.S. supermarkets, but since being available online provides almost as much accessibility as buying locally, these days, I decided that it was fair to compare it to Twinings and Bigelow teas, which are in just about every supermarket chain.

This tea brewed up a medium color – not as dark as the Irish Breakfast I tried or the other English Breakfast in the comparison – and the flavor was also just a bit milder than those two. Not that that’s a complaint; although breakfast teas are supposed to be bold, many people want a tea that’s not so assertive that it threatens to knock them out of their chairs. There was a little bit of a malty note, but I’m guessing that this was a blend of several teas, rather than being mostly Assam the way some traditional English Breakfasts are. That’s actually a good thing, though, because it led to an unexpected pleasure: when I tried it with sugar, it acquired a slight fruity note that was very pleasant both to smell and taste. I doubt that it would have this with artificial sweeteners, but sugar definitely did it. I don’t normally add sweetener to my tea, but the small amount I added here was a definite hit, and I’d drink this again with that bit of sugar. On the other hand, when I tried it with milk, the milk did nothing for it except mute the tea flavor, and since that was already milder than some other breakfast teas, I didn’t think that the milk was a good idea. However, if you are one of the people who adds milk specifically to mitigate what you perceive as a harsh note in black teas, then you would be pleased with this result.

I notice on Amazon.com that Hampstead also makes a loose leaf organic English Breakfast tea. I haven’t tried that, so I can’t speak to whether the properties are similar to the teabags I tried, but it’s nice to know that the option is available. Myself, first thing in the morning, I’m not awake enough yet to fuss with loose leaf tea, and I appreciate the convenience of tea bags until I’m more awake, the arthritis has vanished from my fingers, and my eyes are fully opened.

Hampstead describes this tea as:

Carefully blended black teas from North India create a punchy and full-bodied brew. Londoners like it best with a dash of milk. Great to start a busy day.

Ingredients: Fairtrade black tea.

By the way, Hampstead describes these as sachets, but they are ordinary paper teabags.

I rarely buy relatively “plain” teas myself, as I get served plain black tea in restaurants and in other people’s houses, and I receive lots of samples of black teas. This usually means, though, that I have only two or three cups’ worth of any particular tea, and often end up grabbing tea bags at random for my first cup of the morning, thus using up many of the loose tea bags people send me without even noticing what they are. This time I made a conscious effort, and collected several bags each of several kinds of related teas that people have sent me, mostly things that are commonly available, and did a side-by-side test of them. I brewed them all identically, and tried one cup plain, one with a small amount of sugar, and one with milk. The other English Breakfast tea that I tried was Twinings English Breakfast, reviewed here.

 



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