Delicious sip: organic monks blend 

Description

Laced with enticing caramel and vanilla flavors, this black tea is sure to please the senses. Although flavorful and exotic, it still maintains a smooth and mellow finish, making for an incredible experience that is sure to delight.

Avail­able through: Deli­cious Sip | Face­book

Tasting Notes

The dry leaf has a creamy, sweet, and smooth scent. The wet leaves smell earthy, sweet, floral, strong with vanilla and marzipan.

The brewed liquid is very dark in appearance. The scent is more subdued but still creamy and sweet, reminding me of iced lemon pound cake.

The opening taste is smooth and creamy but not as sweet as the aroma was. The richness finishes with a slight astringency and the flavor of grapes and fresh plums.

Product provided for review.  All notes & opinions are my own.

Fashionista Tea: Creamy Earl Grey

Description

Organic, high grown estate black tea hand blended with cornflowers, fragrant oil of bergamot and a touch of French Vanilla.

Ingredients: Organic black tea, Organic Cornflowers, Organic Oil of Bergamot, Natural Flavor

Available through: Fashionista Tea | Facebook

Tasting Notes

The smell of the dry leaf is strong with bergamot and finishes with cream. The taste when brewed is creamy and floral with a slight hint of pepper. This is a great, smooth and flavorful tea.

Flavors: Bergamot, Cream, Pepper

About Fashionista Tea

Fashion & Tea meet to create the 1st company to blend the two worlds together with a collection of gourmet teas crafted to impart a unique taste and an aura of sophistication featuring its signature “Fashionista” Blend created specifically for the line.

Product provided for review.  All notes & opinions are my own.

ShiZen: Organic Houjicha 有機ほうじ茶

Description

Houjicha is a roasted green tea that has a smooth and mellow roasted nut flavor. Our houjicha is grown on the family farms in the foothills of Mount Fuji that is organically grown for over 25 years and roasted by a tea artisan that has the top quality roasting technique in Japan. Houjicha’s refreshing taste will be suitable when served with a meal, and of course great for after meals and simply for tea time too. Read About Our Farmer.

Available through: ShiZen | Facebook

Tasting Notes

The dry leaf for this tea might be a bit intimidating for some. Not as strong as some lapsang or genmaicha I’ve smelled, but it is a slightly funky, earthy, and straw-like scent.

The brewed tea is much more mild and smells almost like roasted corn. I was afraid this tea would be similar to barley tea (mugicha), which for some reason I don’t like the taste of, but I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of this tea when brewed. It stood up to a nice long brewing of 3 minutes since it is less fragile than a non-roasted green tea. There is absolutely no bitterness, astringency, or even the slight acidity that regular green teas can sometimes have. It does inherit the grassiness and smooth buttery finish of a high quality green tea.

The finish is sweet and smooth, reminding me of a non-salted version of those grocery snack corn nuts. The after taste has a bit of tannin that reminds me of oolong teas served in restaurants to help with digestion, but it is more of a nostalgic reminder and does not affect the overall taste of the tea at all.

Flavors: Butter, Hay, Roasted nuts, Straw, Toasted Rice

About

Shizen’s mission is to support sustainable organic farming for the better environment and safer health foods by becoming a bridge between organic farmers and consumers around the world. In Japan, there are farmers who have strong commitments to organic farming. Most of these farmers believe that organic farming is the sustainable way to keep their land healthy so that future generations can enjoy the same beautiful nature. However, Japanese consumers do not have as much appreciation in organic products as consumers in other countries do.

Product provided for review.  All notes & opinions are my own.