365 Days of Tea - Day 41: Good Earth's Sweetly Twisted.

This is posted late because: blogspot. Also I didn't do an infusion Friday this time around because I am feeling very under the weather and didn't want to risk consuming something disgusting. So I did some Good Earth tea, since I already drink it, but haven't review it yet.

Its a black tea mixed with rosehips and other things to give an interested twist on flavor.

Its actually really green colored, which I thought was a little strange. I found out it contains lemon peel and lemon oil, so that's good. Might have an interesting flavor.

Steaming hot! Just how I like it. (Actually it wasn't really all that hot, it was only steaming because its cold in this room. AC is blasting.)

Its.. very lemony but with a hint of berry. I think my problem with this is though, it smells very medicine-y. Like night time cold medicine. That doesn't mean its going to reflect in flavor, but its rather disappointing in aroma. It also smells mildly sweet, with a very tiny tingling of rosehip.

It's one of those teas that has a lot of potential to be extremely tart, but it also contains some sweeteners, so it actually balances that out. Its really tangy, I think the blueberry and lemon flavor blend really well to create this. Its also kind of sweet, which I sorta wish it wasn't. I tend to like non-sweetened teas.

I think its a pretty decent tea, I could find myself drinking it on a day off of work when I want something sweet. It isn't as complex as something normally is when it contains black tea, as the black tea itself is rather lost.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 36: Steeped Tea's Organic Strawberry Fields.

So I should be getting more tea in the mail next week - which is great! I'm going to compose a list of things I'm going to spend paypal donation money on. Though I haven't received any financial donations, I'm still going to create the list so others have a concept of what I'm spending it on. I'm not looking to make money off this blog - I only want to use money to improve this blog.

I am doing Steeped Tea's Organic Strawberry Fields, which I completely forgot to get a base photo of, but its right in that image - somewhere. 

As you can see, we have some green tea leaves, as well as some papaya pieces. Although I don't directly see any strawberry pieces, Its very leafy, but it doesn't appear to be whole leaves, it looks like leaf pieces. Which is actually why tea bags have such a bad rep, they often use pieces instead of whole leaf.  Whole leaf usually offers a fully bodies tea, but in some cases that isn't such a big deal. There is also good tea bag teas, too.

Yep - I totally put my loose leaf brewer into a smaller cup. I do what I want.  I brewed it for 2 minutes, as stated in the packaging.

Upon farther inspection of the tea leaves after they've opened, and been steeped. I discovered that they are more whole leafy then I originally suspected. So that is some pretty good news there. It's quite green, too. Now for the taste!

The scent of strawberry very lightly tickles your nose, with some papaya slowly following behind. While inhaling you can also smell an overall "leafyness" which is proven to be from the tea leaves. It isn't too perfumery or artificial. Its comes off as a very clean scent, I don't feel like I just sniffed carpet cleaner, so thats good.

To my surprise, the strawberry flavor is really in the back seat here. You can kind of tell that they leaves were out as full-bodied as they could have been, the green tea flavor itself isn't quite as strong as I would have liked. It does retain some earthiness, though. The strawberry flavor rather lingers in the background, but this is how I'd prefer it. As you sip the tea, at first you just taste the green tea leaves, then towards the back of your mouth you kind of get a hint of strawberry, and a hint of sugar. Might sound strange, but I can tell that the dried papaya had sugar on it. Its a very very faint taste, but its too artificial tasting to be from the actual fruit. You probably won't even notice it.

So far my experiences with Steeped Tea hasn't been fantastic, but I think its getting better. I sort of get the feeling that they care more about the amount of tea vs how good the tea is. I'm not saying Steeped Tea is a bad company, I'm just saying that so far they don't really stand out. That being said though, this was still a pretty decent tea and I'd drink it again.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 29: Steeped Tea's Peaches & Cream.

So I recently got some samples from something called Steeped Tea. Which works similarly to how an avon works. Sorta like you can't directly buy from the company but you can buy from direct sellers. (I'm assuming they make some sort of percentage.) My US contact is Beth Ann Wilson and my Canadian contact is Christina Jean Pierre. Christina is actually the one who reached out to me and got me in contact with Beth who then sent me the tea samples. There is some export/import laws that we didn't want to mess around with.

The package also came with a catalog but I didn't feel that it was important to get an image of it. She also wrote me a cute letter introducing me to herself, the company and a little bit about tea brewing. She recommends that I brew it in one of the "tea sacs" she also sent me. I can however, brew it without, but for these teas I will DO AS DIRECTED.

These are the four teas she sent me, which are as follows:

• Peaches & Cream (A white tea).
• Earl Grey de la Creme.
• Organic Strawberry Fields (A green tea).
• Nettle Green Mountain.

This is the Peaches & Cream.

According to the ingredients list it contains the following:

Pai mu tan white tea, mango pieces, papaya pieces, pineapple pieces, lily blossom, natural flavors.

You can see a lot of that in the image, a papaya pieces is very visible. What kind of bothers me though, is that it does not actual contain peaches. Pai Mu Tan white tea is a white tea from China, and made from shoots and young leaves. So the tea part should be rather good at the very least.

It smells very peachy. Actually it smells exactly like you think anything peaches and cream would smell. Like those little candy peach rings you used to get as a kid. Although, the scent is decent, it feels very artificial.

 It tastes like a pretty decent white tea. That being said I feel like a lot of the other flavors might be a bit lost here. Although the peach scent makes it almost seem like there is a peach flavor as well, but this isn't true. To me, its a bit strange, it contains a lot of generally strong fruits, but none of them really shine. Sure there are some fruity under tones, but they are rather muted.

Now I don't feel like this is in anyway a bad tea, I just feel like, with all that's going on, it should have a better flavor profile to offer. What DOES bother me though, is "natural flavor". Natural flavor, is somewhat tricky, because all it really means is that the flavor came from a plant or animal. (According to the FDA.) That being said, I have no idea what's really going into my body. I smell peaches, but there isn't any peaches listed, and that bothers me.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 26: Harney & Sons Organic Black Tea.

I'm still expecting a few more packages in the mail. I actually contacted Harney & Sons, they asked me a simple question, then ignored my answer. Apparently they don't care very much for customer service.

I found this in the clearance at Shaws. I figured I would give it a try, since they refused to communicate. It was $1.99 marked down to $1.00. Couldn't hurt to try it at that price. Usually though, I'm finding pre-made teas like this to be way too sweet for me. I prefer my tea nearly raw and if not a little bit of sugar. Only one company so far makes a perfect pre-bottled ice tea, but I'l review that at a later date.

Smell - It doesn't carry much of a smell. Its sorta lemony with a hint of black tea, and honey. I know that it isn't lemon flavored, but I'm probably smelling something from how it was processed. I wouldn't suspect to taste much else but sugar and tea flavor, assuming it follows similar trends as other tea.

Taste - The taste isn't very strong, its actually a lot lighter than I expected. Its not very sugary either, which is surprising. It does has some room for improvement, though; the tea favor itself is very weak. Although it IS an ice tea, I still like it to be much stronger. I like to taste the leaves, and history of the generations of people who've cultivated the tea. This is really lacking that depth.

Overall - Its not a bad tea, it is still rather refreshing. I just feel like it could be better. They could brew it longer, or with more leaves. I might be a bit bias because I prefer my teas strong, and without sugar. It isn't overly sweet, actually it doesn't taste like it contains any sugar, but the overall flavor has much to be desired.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 25: Stash's Lemon Ginger Green Tea and Unboxing.

So today was exciting, I got my box from Stash Tea!

It came in a huge box, so I was expecting a massive amount of tea.

The huge box tricked me, and a much smaller box was packaged inside. Hehe, oh well.

Neatly packed on top is a little information about some seasonal teas, etc.

Under that is a colorful teaplosion!

Quite a lot of loot in there, it was like a tea treasure box.

Here is the list:

• These neat little Nektar Honey Crystals. (x2).
• Maple Apple Cider (Herbal Tea).
• Salted Caramel Mate Herbal & Black Tea.
• White Chocolate Mocha Black Tea.
• Spice Dragon Red Chai (Herbal Tea).
• Mangosteen Green Tea.
• Christmas In Paris (Herbal Tea).
• Organic Very Berry Herbal Tea.
• Guayusa and Chai Tea.
• Pure Guayusa.
• Lemon Ginger Iced Green Tea Powder.

What an awesome amount of tea to try! I can't wait to go through them. Although a lot of them ARE in tea bags, and I know that in the tea community they are not considered nearly as good as loose leaf, but I still give everything a fair share. I want to experience as many types of teas in my life-time as possible.

Today I decided to review Lemon Ginger Iced Green Tea from Stash. Its interesting because its a powder you just put into a cup, and it magically turns into tea.

In the magical flavoring goes!

And after a quick shake, it was green. I think its made by Green Tea Wizards. Now for the big test.

Smell - It smells like a stronger wet-nap. I know that sounds a bit weird, but thats the best way I could describe it. Very strong lemony scent, no other smell comes through. I suspect it might even taste more like lemonade then tea.

Taste - Honestly I think the tea is very lost here, but I didn't expect very much from a produce like this. It tastes very processed, and it is. It taste like a wet-nap smells. Very weak lemon flavoring, with a strong lemon scent. The ginger and green tea are completely missing from the flavor profile.

Overall - I have had good experiences with Stash Tea in the past, so this isn't a first impression, AND I personally wouldn't accept an extremely processed product as a first impression either. This product is meant to be on-the-go, and I can see some people liking it as well. It's marketed as a tea, but its not very tea-like.

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