Tag: Herbal/Fruit Infusion

Posted on

Tea by C’s Tea Tasting Triad

Tea Tasting Triad by Tea by C
$52.00 USD for 3 Teas (6oz) & Accessories

Tea By C has provided me with the Tea Tasting Triad for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Tea by C’s Tea Tasting Triad is ready for the holidays and I was quite pleased when Claire asked me if I would be interested to take a look at it. This box consists of three teas (more on that soon!), a tea tasting guide and flavour wheel (the rolled up poster at the top), and a tea infuser for any cup of teapot that you might be using. It all fits quite neatly into a sturdy mailing box and makes for a good presentation if you’re going to be having this mailed to someone as a gift – I would be happy to open this up!

Also included with the box are three tasting cards about each tea: Dragonwell Green (green tea), Blue People Oolong (oolong tea), and Rose Buds (herbal tisane). They’re quite nice quality – sturdy cardstock, lots of information about each one, and there’s a bonus card about tea in general – a nice touch for those who are receiving this kit as a gift who are new to tea or don’t know a lot about it yet.

The tins are lovely, and the lids are quite tight on, which is great for maintaining freshness of the tea and preventing the leaves from going stale. I actually had the opportunity to review all three of these teas last year, and wrote full reviews for each Dragonwell Green, Blue People Oolong and Rose Buds. I enjoyed all of them, and I had a nice cup of Blue People Oolong while working on this post.

I used the metal tea strainer that was included in the kit – it’s easy to use and similar to one that I used when I first started exploring tea. The thing about these strainers is to not overfill! Tea leaves need room to expand, so you don’t want to overfill half of the ball because the leaves won’t have room to move and open up their leaves. I would fill the half sphere about half full in order to give it space.

The loveliest part of this kit for a beginner to tea is the Flavour Wheel. A flavour wheel is incredibly useful for those new to trying to decipher how to describe tea. I didn’t want to share the whole wheel, but it’s quite lovely and a full 360° of descriptions for you to consider. For example, for vegetable flavours, it includes things like spinach, bean sprouts, peas, green beans – all with their own distinctive flavours, but also provides you with a reference because if you’re unsure of what your tea tastes like but know it reminds you of something vegetal, the wheel can help you pinpoint a word.

I loved Tea By C’s Tea Tasting Triad. It has a nice combination of teas to start off (green, oolong, tisane), the inclusion of a flavour wheel and an infuser really make this a great starter kit, beginners gift box. The tasting cards are a really nice touch to help someone really learn about each tea thoroughly. I think the flavour wheel and the tasting cards really make this box a wonderful idea, because it helps someone to immerse themselves into the teas, the language, and learn how to think about tea has having the ability to have a myriad of flavours. This would be a wonderful gift for a friend or a gift to yourself if you’re new to tea. All it needs is a cute seasonal or holiday themed mug or cup and saucer set and you’ll be good to go!

Posted on

DavidsTea’s 9 Berries

9 Berries by DavidsTea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

As the weather turns a bit cooler, I’m torn between a love for fruity infusions, and things with a bit more spice (chai spice blends, I’m looking at you!). 9 Berries comes in a familiar silver pouch that’s sealed and resealable, a bright yellow label on the front. There was no indication about enjoying this tisane as hot or iced, so I opted to try it hot because the weather outside was grey, rainy, and windy when I finally had the opportunity to sit down and try it.

9 Berries contains organic: elderberries, aronia berries, hibiscus, juniper berries, sweet blackberry leaves, chicory root, strawberries, black currants, sea buckthorn berries, natural berry flavouring, raspberries, goji berries, and blueberries. And if you’ve been counting, it really is nine berries in this blend (creative naming or just phoning it in?). The aroma of the blend is very fruity, as one might expect. It reminds me a lot of that ‘mixed field berry’ aroma from a jar of jam. Just very fruity, sweet, and inviting.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping 9 Berries in 95°C (200°F) water for 5+ minutes. I opted to follow the recommended water temperature and do a steep for 7 minutes.

First Taste

9 Berries steeps to an amazingly dark shade of reddish pink. From all the berries involved in the blend, it’s no wonder that the tisane is such a deep colour. The aroma is purely berries – just a rich, fruity aroma with plenty of sweetness to go around. It definitely has the aroma of a berry fruit punch, and it even tastes like one! However, it is not as sweet as one might expect. While there is some natural sweetness that comes out of the steeped fruit, it lacks the amount of sugar that one might find in jam or honey, although it certainly wouldn’t hurt to add your own (sweetener, that is). There is a considerable about of mouth pucker that happens when drinking 9 Berries. A lot of it definitely has to do with the hibiscus – there’s a nice amount of tartness in the tisane. It goes nicely with the fruity flavours from all the berries though – it reminds me of biting into a not quite fully ripen berry.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped 9 Berries once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the subsequent steep. I found that the berries didn’t quite resteep nearly as well as I would have liked. It lacks that punch of flavour that was so present in the initial steep. I would recommend 9 Berries for just the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s 9 Berries. I found that the flavour to be really enjoyable with a great amount of fruity flavour and just enough sweetness to really make it tasty. I would recommend adding sweetener if you like having sweet fruity tisanes. Also blending it with some lemonade – just a splash to accentuate the tartness from the hibiscus would be just stellar. Having it iced might be a good idea too, although I quite enjoyed having it hot – just made for a nice cup of tisane on a cold day.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Rainbow Lemonade

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

First Impressions

Another purchase with the intention of making as an iced tisane. From the online DavidsTea store since the majority of the retail locations have been closed (including any of the ones that I frequented – there’s one left in British Columbia). Rainbow Lemonade comes in a sealed, resealable pouch with a bright yellow label on the front. I was mostly drawn to this one because of the name – I like citrus things so the idea of a lemonade tisane was intriguing.

The dry leaf essentially features a rainbow of ingredients – so brightly coloured and has a great citrus aroma. Rainbow Lemonade consists of: apple, pineapple, orange peel and pieces, natural raspberry flavouring, hibiscus, lemon peel, sweet blackberry leaves, natural orange flavouring, cornflower petals, raspberries, and natural flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Rainbow Lemonade in 95°C (200°F) water for 5+ minutes. I did an initial steep with the recommended water temperature for 7 minutes.

First Taste

Rainbow Lemonade steeps to a pretty peachy-pink colour. It has some great pink lemonade vibes to it. The aroma of the steeped tisane is very citrus, sweet, and fruity. I can taste the lemon, as well as getting a lot of sweetness from the fruit ingredients while there are some great fruity notes that are just a smorgasbord of flavours. The lemon and orange notes definitely pop the most, but I think the other ingredients play an important role in elevating it above a lemon tisane.

A Second Cup?

While I did attempt to resteep Rainbow Lemonade by adding an additional minute to the steep time, I didn’t find that the second steep was particularly good. It was just lack compared to the initial steep, so I would say that Rainbow Lemonade is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Rainbow Lemonade. This is definitely a strong contender for being made into a pitcher of iced tea because it has some great flavours and such a nice brightness to it. I enjoyed it better iced than hot, I didn’t particularly enjoy it hot – so I would recommend it on ice, even consider adding a splash of lemonade to it to really amplify the lemonade flavours and stretch it further.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.