Harbor Breeze by Capital Teas is a refreshing fruity tisane. It contains a good bit of hibiscus so it’s a win if you like hibiscus but not so great if you don’t. It also contains apples, rosehips and other dried fruit, along with lovely calendula petals. The calendula petals are a beautifully sunny contrast to the deep magenta hibiscus, but don’t do much for taste. The apple bits, however, add a softer fruity flavor that mellows the hibiscus giving it better balance than some I’ve tried. It’s tart but not too tart. I find this to be a really satisfying combination when I’m craving a fruity hibiscus tisane.
Harbor Breeze by Capital Teas: a mini review
03 Nov 2014 3 Comments
in Herbal, Tea Tags: Capital Teas, harbor breeze, hibiscus, tea, tisane
Mango Sunny Passion from Capital Teas, a Mini Tea Review
13 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in Green, White Tags: Capital Teas, green tea blend, Mango Sunny Passion, Teavana, White Tea
It’s getting to be a good time of year for hot beverages. Not that I don’t like them year round, but cozying up with a fragrant cup of yum as defense against the chill of autumn or winter is especially enjoyable.
I’m happy to have found Mango Sunny Passion tea from Capital Teas. The name may imply it’s nice for spring or summer, but I’m enjoying it here in October just fine.
This is a green and white tea blend with mango, pineapple, and yellow rosebuds. No added flavoring or artificial flavorings are listed as ingredients.
The crisp taste of green and white tea comes through nicely – a floral, fruity, light tea with brightness and light astringency. This isn’t a grassy or vegetal green. I can taste some mango and pineapple but these are not overpowering so I can still taste the tea. Some fruity teas might as well be fruit juice they’re so fruity, but this is well balanced.
Abundant sage greens and silvery hues are dotted with light yellow fruit bits and rosebuds to make this a visually lovely tea.
I brewed it as I would a white tea. The liquor is light as one might expect from a white and light green tea. So far, a second steeping is just as flavorful as the first. Hopefully it will hold up well for a third.
I’m excited to be trying teas from Capital Teas as they’ve opened a shop that’s easy for me to visit. I’d rate Mango Sunny Passion right up there with some of my favorite Teavana white tea blends from years past.
Upturned Noses and Glasses and Buns
09 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in Mead, Tea, The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: Hot Dogs, mead, Snobbery, tea, The Daily Post, The Daily Prompt, writing
The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is Upturned Noses which asks:
Even the most laid back and egalitarian among us can be insufferable snobs when it comes to coffee, music, cars, beer, or any other pet obsession where things have to be just so. What are you snobbish about?
I like to try a lot of different foods, so maybe I’m snobbish about that. I don’t quite understand people who refuse to try something new. “What do you mean you won’t try the eel scaloppine with fried mealworms in peanut butter sauce?”
I can probably be snobbish about tea and maybe mead and some kinds of food. Except that, really, I’ll still drink or enjoy just about any kind.
I adore good tea — perfect jasmine green infused with the scent of actual blossoms, not just added flavoring. That’s snobbery talk right there. A Greener oolong that has matured into a delicate floral or a darker robust oolong from Taiwan. Yum! New Darjeeling you think is great? I’ll try that too.
I like a good basic mead — Chaucer’s the kind we can get at our local Renaissance Festival and elsewhere is certainly enjoyable. Fox Hill Special Reserve which is made with a darker honey has a bit of bitterness and a lot of depth. Some Redstone Mountain Mead can be impressive too. It’s real mead made in small batches — some can be bitter and some wonderful. They even date the batches, so you’ll want to get more of the same date if you like a batch. That’s mead for a mead snob for sure.
Unless I’m allergic, it could poison me, or it’s a dish that exhibits unusual cruelty, I’ll usually try any kind of food. I read about a Japanese dish called Ikizukuri where live fish is sliced and served still moving. I think I’ll avoid that, thanks.
But I do love to taste a variety of new things! I love gourmet dishes that have the perfect balance of flavors, colors, and textures, but I also love hot dogs from gas stations that have been roasting on those metal rollers for hours thus reducing water content and enhancing flavors. You do not know a good hot dog if you turn your nose up at those things. So maybe that’s makes me a hot dog snob. Is it wrong to have a hot dog with my beautiful jasmine tea? Maybe. The darker oolong would probably be better with hot dogs.
Pu-erh Tuo Cha from Rishi Tea
21 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
I’m normally a fan of oolong, but find myself compelled to explore – especially Pu-erh. Oolongs can have such varied and complex flavors and from what I’ve tasted so far, so can Pu-erh.
I have several older cakes I’d purchased a couple of years ago. One tastes fishy and the other like mushrooms. I love the one that tastes like mushrooms! Is it dorky if it reminds me of sitting in a dewy forest under a mushroom umbrella! (Shhh …) In looking for more similar to that, I purchased some of this Pu-erh Tuo Cha by Rishi.
The Pu-erh Tuo Cha cakes are dark and fairly hard. If I score with a knife I can break one in half with my fingers. The brew is inky dark with a little red. The taste is smooth, deep and almost smokey with a few notes of mocha. Not bitter, but it gets strong quickly.
If I search with my taste buds I can find just a hint of that mushroom taste. Perhaps this batch has a lot more aging to do. I think this is fairly “fresh” as it was purchased in Rishi’s new boxes instead of their old tins. I rather miss the tins, but understand. The box is 3.21 oz (91g) and contained about 12 cakes.
I didn’t feel a need to rinse first, but I’ll try that next time. Good for multiple infusions. Steep times varied with second and third steeping. I want to explore more Pu-erh!
http://steepster.com/teas/rishi-tea/164-ancient-shu-pu-erh-tuo-cha?post=163329
Enough to Power
24 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Tea, Uncategorized
I think I had enough caffeine yesterday to power a small cow. I don’t normally do that because, in coffee, caffeine can do things to my body that I generally like to avoid. But sometimes I bend the rules. I was busy and tired and had to get stuff done! There was coffee, soda pop and tea! My body may rebel today. I’m treating it to a morning of half-herbal tea and V8 juice (not in the same cup). Hopefully, that will help.
Darjeeling de Triomphe by Teavana a mini-review
14 Apr 2012 Leave a comment
After purchasing during the 75% off sale, I’ve finally been trying Darjeeling de Triomphe again. Generally, I’ve not been a big fan of black teas, but Darjeeling de Triomphe is one of a couple of greener black teas that have me rethinking tea colors. The leaves look really green and the brew is sparklingly light not unlike the color of champagne. One of my issues with black tea is that it stains my teeth so much. I drink a lot of tea! So that’s an issue for me. Darjeeling de Triomphe doesn’t taste like a run-of-the-mill black tea either. The aroma is muscatel, fruity and slightly floral. The taste is similar, but with a tad of bitterness if you over steep. “Muscatel” is an interesting flavor as far as I’m concerned. There is a fine line between an almost spicy musk and musty like socks. Second infusion was just as flavorful as the first. I want to try it iced.
Acai Matetini from Teavana
04 Jan 2012 Leave a comment
Crisp, tart, sweet taste. Hot or iced, I really like this one. Even though the ingredient list is a mile long, the flavor isn’t at all muddy. Clean and refreshing, it reminds me of a hibiscus and rosehip herbal tisane I got from the local German Deli years ago. But this one is even nicer as it’s well balanced with a veritable fruit salad of berries, citrus, apples, and pineapple along with a hint of minty cool finish. Think minty-garnish-on-a-fruit-salad not full-on minty flavor like a Mojito. While Acai Matetini is a listed as a mate, I don’t really taste any mate and I’m hard pressed to find even pieces of mate in with the beautiful, large chunks of fruit. They ARE there, though. I *think* I felt a little pick-me-up from the mate, but it could have just been the tart flavor inspiring my taste buds to provide that little burst of energy. I actually found a second steeping was not bad. It is different — not as tart and bright, but still pleasantly fruity. I blended it with a couple of oolongs so far and it held up nicely. Yummy!
http://steepster.com/teas/teavana/22558-acai-matetini-mate-tea?post=96507
Toasted Nut Brûlée Oolong Tea
19 Dec 2011 6 Comments
in Herbal, Oolong Tags: Teavana
I was checking out Teavana’s latest offerings when Toasted Nut Brûlée Oolong got my attention. It isn’t a new tea, but it is one I’d wanted to try but never did.
After the yummy sounding name, the aroma is what attracted me enough to make a purchase. It smells of an amazing lightly spiced nutty praline or beautifully caramelized brûlée with cinnamon.
The taste is a sweet comfort food in a cup. We’re talkin’ warm oatmeal cookie with raisins and a few chopped nuts. There are no raisins in it, but the ample amounts of dried apples, candied pineapple and papaya meld for a bounty of dried fruit flavor. I was kind of sad to find so much less nutty flavor in the brew than there is nutty smell. But the cinnamon & spice comes through nicely much as it would in an oatmeal cookie or a freshly baked rock cake. So, truly, if you love oatmeal cookies, but don’t care for the calories then pull up a chair and I’ll get you a plate er cup. With a little sugar or honey along with the tea’s own natural sweetness you can almost feel the chewy goodness of a few raisins getting stuck in your teeth and the light, sweet crunch of a nut or two. Not an everyday cup for me, but with a book on a chilly day — yum!
Of note, i love that it contains oolong, but oolong is only a small portion of the total mix and I notice virtually no oolong fragrance or flavor. Rooibos is in there too and if I close my eyes I think it adds a smooth cookie dough like sweetness. Hopefully a few health benefits from the mix.
Orange Blossom, organic green tea by Rishi
19 May 2011 1 Comment
A refreshing, fruity green tea. The orange, lime and tangerine oils are quite evident in fragrance, but the ingredient I most taste is lemongrass. That’s not a bad thing. The lemongrass is well complimented with citrus aromas, flavors, lemon myrtle and the green tea itself. The tiny golden osthmanthus flowers are visually lovely and complement the taste with a hint of light floral apricot. Yummy hot or iced. I’m looking forward to more of this one as the days get warmer!
Orange Blossom, organic green, fair trade tea by Rishi
http://steepster.com/alightningbug/posts/76537
aLightningbug 