Tag: Herbal/Fruit Infusion

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Wize Monkey’s Mango Party

Mango Party by Wize Monkey
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$10.49 for 35g (15 sachets)

Wize Monkey has provided me with Mango Party for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Wize Monkey’s Mango Party came to me in sachet form, as did the rest of their collection. This is actually the last of the coffee leaf teas that Wize Monkey sent me to review – hopefully there will be more flavours being released soon! I was really excited about trying Mango Party because I love tropical fruit and enjoy eating fresh mango – yum.

Mango Party consists of arabica leaves and natural mango flavour. The dry leaf has a very strong mango aroma to it, I can’t smell the arabica coffee leaf base at all although I can certainly see it. I’m not sure where Wize Monkey sourced their natural flavouring from, but it smells amazing I’m really surprised to not find dried mango pieces in Mango Party.

Preparation

Wize Monkey recommends steeping Mango Party in 95°C (203°F) water for as long as you’d like. I did an initial steep of Mango Party for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Mango Party steeps to a deep orange colour. The aroma of Mango Party is still reminding me of mangoes, which is probably a good thing given the name of this coffee leaf tea. The flavour isn’t as mango-full as I would have expected, especially given the aroma. I can taste the coffee leaf base – there’s a nice earthiness to it, some sweetness from the mango, and a touch of mango flavour at the end of each sip. The tisane as a whole has a nice smoothness to it, no bitterness or astringency – something I’ve come to learn that won’t occur with Wize Monkey’s coffee leaf blends.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Mango Party for seven minutes and found that the resulting cup was primarily that of the coffee leaf base with little mango flavouring throughout. I would say that if you like the coffee leaf base, go ahead with your multiple resteeps.

My Overall Impression

I liked Wize Monkey’s Mango Party. First off, I just want to say that the aroma of the dry leaf is amazing. I just wish that the mango flavour stayed stronger through the steeping process, because a lot of it is present in the aroma but not in the flavour. What I did taste was delicious, and I just wish that there was more of it in the steeped coffee leaf tea. I think either more mango flavouring is needed, or the addition of mango pieces, to really infuse the mango flavouring throughout.

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DavidsTea’s Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberry Lemonade by DavidsTea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

I picked up a small bag of Strawberry Lemonade when I was at a local DavidsTea location. This fruit infusion smelled amazing in store when I smelled the dry leaf. Essentially, Strawberry Lemonade smells like its name. There’s strawberries and there’s a bright citrus aroma that makes me think of lemons. Now, there’s also a lot of other ingredients, and I find that just makes it smell fruity for the most part. It’s very bright and fresh smelling, and it makes me think of warmer weather.

Strawberry Lemonade consists of apple, hibiscus blossoms, blackberry leaves, candied papaya, lemongrass, beetroot, strawberries, marigold blossoms and natural flavouring. I’m not sure what natural flavouring was needed, considering the ingredients already listed. I imagine that it might be some strawberry flavouring to just give it a bit of a flavour boost.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Strawberry Lemonade in “near-boiling” water for 4 to 7 minutes. My initial steep of Strawberry Lemonade was in 93°C (200°F) water for 6 minutes.

First Taste

Strawberry Lemonade steeps to a very pretty pink – a millennial pink, if you will. It smells remarkably like strawberry and lemons, and the really nice thing is that Strawberry Lemonade also tastes like its name suggests as well. There’s a significant amount of tart and sour from the fruity tisane, but there’s also the added sweetness from the strawberry and sweeter fruits, such as the apple and candied papaya. It’s nice that they managed to match the flavour pretty well with the name that they opted to give it.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Strawberry Lemonade with little success. The colour just wasn’t there, I think the beetroot and hibiscus was just tapped out of colour. The flavour was rather watery compared to the initial steep, and I found the diluted flavour to just be lackluster compared to what the flavour was.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Strawberry Lemonade. I really enjoyed the initial steep of this fruit infusion and thought that the flavours (and the name!) was just spot-on. While I wish that this tisane could be resteeped, I was impressed by the flavour that I got from the first steep and found it so enjoyable that I’m overlooking it a little bit. I think if it could be resteeped, it’d be a much better purchase to make since the ingredients are heavy and you don’t get a lot of the tisane in a bag. But the flavours are really good and the colour is perfectly on trend with the summer so I can’t say too many bad things about it.

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Shanti Tea’s Rest and Digest

Rest and Digest by Shanti Tea
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$12.75 for 33g (15 sachets, 2.2g/sachet)

Mint and Honey has provided me with Shanti Tea’s Rest and Digest for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I received a sample package of Rest and Digest by Shanti Tea from Mint and Honey. The pyramid tea sachets came to me in a resealable kraft paper pouch. The aroma from the herbal infusion blend is primarily that of mint, although I can definitely see other ingredients in the blend – including the chamomile.

Rest and Digest does contain more than mint and chamomile though, this herbal blend consists of: chamomile, anise, fennel, lemon balm, ginger root, peppermint and safflower – all organic ingredients. Surprisingly, the ginger isn’t the most aromatic ingredient in this blend, I’m quite used to ginger being very much in the forefront of herbal blends when it’s in there, but this one is more subdued. I really have to concentrate in order to pick it out.

Preparation

Shanti Tea recommends steeping Rest and Digest in 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 10 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 7 minutes.

First Taste

Rest and Digest steeps to a bright, golden yellow colour. The aroma from this herbal infusion is mostly that of the mint. The flavour from the tisane is that of mint, with a slight heat from the ginger. There’s some light floral notes in it as well, with a nice sweetness to it, but I do find myself wishing that the chamomile was more present. There’s some cooling refreshness at the tail end of each sip from the mint with some warming sensation from the ginger.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rest and Digest once, I found that flavour was okay. It was bit diluted compared to the initial steep, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as the initial steep. The warming flavours from the ginger weren’t just as present.

My Overall Impression

I liked Shanti Tea’s Rest and Digest. I really enjoyed the blend of flavours – the mint, ginger, and chamomile play off nicely together. I found that the initial steep of Rest and Digest was quite tasty and found the contrasting warming and cooling sensations in the flavour profile to be really enjoyable. I do wish it had done a bit better with being resteeped, but it is an herbal tisane so I’m not too surprised that it didn’t do well.

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