Tag: Herbal/Fruit Infusion

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Adagio Teas’s Motherhood Teas (Collection)

Motherhood Teas by Adagio Teas
Black Tea, Green Tea, White Tea, Honeybush, Tisane / Flavoured
$24.00USD for 6 0.5oz tins

Adagio Teas has provided me with Motherhood Teas for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Motherhood Teas is a super sweet little set of six limited edition blends designed for moms and the mother figures in your lives. The adorably illustrated tins slide open and are jam-packed with the tea/tisane inside. The tins neatly fit into a dark pink box and it’s basically already packaged up for you to gift to your mom (and Mother’s Day is coming up, so you best go and order now if you haven’t already gotten your mom a present!).

Each tin is adorable – there’s Love, Admiration, Hug, Hero, Wisdom and Truth.

From left to right: Hug, Admiration, and Love.

Love has a slight rose aroma, I can also smell the black tea base and it has some vanilla notes. Love consists of: black tea, heart sprinkles, rose petals, rose flavor, and natural creme flavor.

Admiration is a honeybush blend, but it does have some rooibos qualities to it and I can definitely smell that medicinal quality behind it. There’s a nuttiness in the background though, which I find intriguing. Admiration consists of: honeybush, flower sprinkles, cocoa nibs, natural hazelnut flavor, and natural chocolate flavor

Hug has a lovely aroma – lemongrass, berries, roses and ginger are all mingling in there. Hug consists of: rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, rose petals, blue cornflowers, lemon grass, natural creme flavor, licorice root, blueberries, strawberries, raspberry leaves, natural strawberry flavor, natural blueberry flavor, raspberries, ginger root, natural blackberry flavor, peppermint leaves, safflower, and blue cornflowers.

From left to right: Trust, Wisdom, and Hero.

Hero has the cutest tin, by far! This green tea blend smells grassy, floral, and has some lovely vanilla notes to it. Hero consists of: green tea, hibiscus, confetti sprinkles, natural vanilla flavor, orange peels, natural bergamot flavor, and blue cornflowers.

Wisdom is a white tea blend – I can smell vanilla and chocolate, I don’t really smell the white tea base or the coconut that exists in here, but bonus because I can’t smell the rooibos either. Wisdom consists of: white tea, rooibos, apple pieces, white chocolate chips, hibiscus, blueberries, natural strawberry flavor, strawberries, blue cornflowers, coconuts, rose petals, and natural vanilla flavor.

Last, but certainly not least, is Trust. Trust smells like apricots, vanilla, and cream to me. This green tea blend consists of: green tea, butterfly sprinkles, lavender, vanilla pieces, apple pieces, natural apricot flavor, strawberry pieces, apricots, and marigold.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Love, Admiration and Hug in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes (Love) and 5-10 minutes (Admiration and Hug). I followed the steeping instructions and did 3, 5 and 5 minutes.

For Hero, Wisdom, and Trust, Adagio Teas recommends steeping in 82°C (180°F) for 2-3 minutes (Hero), 3-5 minutes (Wisdom), and 2-3 minutes (Trust). I used 80C (175F) water to steep these three and did the initial steeps for 3, 5 and 5 minutes.

First Taste

Left to right: Love, Admiration, and Hug.

Love steeps to a golden brown colour. I found the aroma to be very similar to the dry leaf – I get the rose, vanilla and black tea base. The flavour is pretty good, I found it to be sweet with some light floral notes without being over the top perfume. It’s pleasant and I think it’d be great with cream and sugar, or paired with an afternoon tea.

Admiration tastes like rooibos, which is never my favourite ingredient. I found it to have some light chocolate flavours with a honeyed sweetness. I do like the sweet part of this tisane, and I think fans of rooibos and honeybush would enjoy this one.

Hug has a really strong lemongrass and ginger aroma and flavour to it. It steeps to a lovely yellow-brown colour. There’s some nice warming qualities about it that I think are really enjoyable and would be nice for busy moms who want something to drink while unwinding after a long day of balancing working from home and home schooling.

Left to right: Hero, Wisdom, and Trust.

Hero has a great aroma to it – it steeps to a peachy yellow, which was surprisingly not pink despite the fact that hibiscus is in the blend. There’s some grassy and vanilla notes to Hero. I found the flavour to be grassy, with hints of vanilla and a nice creamy quality to it. It’s quite light enough that I think it’d be nice as an iced tea too – since if you’re a hero, you’re a hero throughout the year and that includes different seasons.

Wisdom steeps to a golden orange with some oils floating on top – I think it’s from either the chocolate or coconut (or both). I still can’t taste the coconut. It has some nice vanilla and chocolate notes to it. I found it to be smooth, with a lovely texture despite the oils floating on top (it doesn’t taste heavy at all). It’s sweet too, and reminds me of a dessert. I think this one means to be paired with some strawberry shortcake or a freshly baked scone with strawberry preserves.

Trust steeps to a light yellow – I love the colour. It smells like apricot and vanilla. There’s a very pleasant sweetness to this that I enjoy. I found it to be light and pleasant – the apricot flavour is the best. I think this one would be a great iced as well, as it’s just got that lightness to it that goes well with iced teas.

A Second Cup?

I found that Hero, Wisdom, and Trust resteeped the best (for one resteep). A lot of the added flavourings were missing in the second steep of the same leaves.

Left to right: Love, Admiration, and Hug.

For Love, I found a lot of the rose flavour to be missing. While for Admiration and Hug, the flavours were just a bit muddled and didn’t like the initial steep.

Left to right: Hero, Wisdom, and Trust.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Motherhood Teas collection. I think it comes well packaged, with adorable illustrations, and a nice collection of blends that allows moms to try something new and perhaps find a new favourite. Hug, Hero, and Trust were my top picks/favourites out the six – and if I had to pick an absolute favourite, it’d be Trust.

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Adagio Teas’s Berry Creme Compote

Berry Creme Compote by Adagio Teas
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 3oz

Adagio Teas has provided me with Berry Creme Compote for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Berry Creme Compote comes in a colourful sealed, resealable foiled pouch. I do love the style of the packaging because it’s just nice to have all the information handy and it just comes printed directly onto the packaging, which is nice. The aroma of this fruity tisane is so strong, and it reminds me of the aroma of a field berry jam – just so heavy on the fruity goodness that it makes me want to a nice iced cup of this stuff (and to be out on a patio somewhere with shades on).

Berry Creme Compote consists of: rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, blue cornflowers, natural creme flavour, blueberries, strawberries, raspberry leaves, natural strawberry flavour, natural blueberry flavour, raspberries, and natural blackberry flavour. And just look at how pretty it is, especially with the blue cornflower petals!

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Berry Creme Compote with 100C (212F) water for 5 to 10 minutes. I opted to do a 7 minute steep, mostly because I walked away from it and went back to it eventually.

First Taste

Berry Creme Compote steeps to a beautiful dark pink colour that is undoubtedly due to the presence of hibiscus in the mix. The aroma is very much of berries – which is so delicious smelling. The flavour is berries, there’s a slight tartness that may be due to the hibiscus, or due to the raspberries, that gives a bit of a pucker to my mouth. There’s such a strong berry flavour to it, it’s so tasty! It reminds me a bit of a fruit juice or punch, there’s such a nice level of sweetness to it, that I would drink it plain.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Berry Creme Compote and surprise! I found that it did decently well for one resteep. The colour wasn’t nearly as dark as the initial steep, but it still had a good flavour to it. So definitely go for a resteep with this one.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Berry Creme Compote. I think this tisane has such great flavours – both for the nose and for the mouth. There’s a great blend of fruity ingredients that makes for such a tasty cup. I would recommend having it iced or cold steeped, and consider going half-and-half with some lemonade or a splash of lemonade – or perhaps even a lemon wedge on the size. It’d be quite tasty indeed! And I think that the berries would balance really well against the lemon.

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

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Wize Monkey’s Sunset Chai

Sunset Chai by Wize Monkey
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

First Impressions

Another 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival purchase! I was super pleased to see the fellows behind Wize Monkey at the festival this year, it’s always lovely to see familiar faces. I picked up a tin of Sunset Chai because it smelled amazing – it basically smells like ginger ale and I thought that was pretty cool, so I picked up a tin of this blended coffee leaf tea.

Sunset Chai consists of coffee leaves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, black pepper, and natural ginger & cinnamon flavours. The ginger is honestly the strongest aroma in the blend, followed by the cardamom and cloves. It smells like ginger ale and I’m all for it.

Preparation

Wize Monkey recommends steeping Sunset Chai at 95°C (200°F) water for a minimum of 5 minutes. I did an initial steep of 6 minutes.

First Taste

Sunset Chai steps to a slightly cloudy orange. It smells like ginger, cardamom and cloves. I can also smell the coffee leaf base – it’s difficult for me to describe because I feel like it has an aroma all its own – it has some malty notes to it. The flavour reminds me of a gentle masala chai. There’s the lovely spice notes – ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon – but doesn’t have that punch of caffeine behind it like in a black tea. Coffee leaf does have caffeine, but not as much as tea or coffee does. It’s quite pleasant – the coffee leaf base adds a little bit of roasted notes and a malty flavour. There is no astringency or bitterness, which makes it even more pleasant.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Sunset Chai. I found that the ginger and cardamom wasn’t as strong as I would have picked, and those were the flavours that I enjoyed the most in the initial steep. I’d recommend a longer initial steep to get all the flavour out and leave it at that.

My Overall Impression

I liked Wize Monkey’s Sunset Chai. I found the flavours of this coffee leaf tisane to be quite pleasant – I definitely appreciated the bright ginger aroma in the dry leaf, and the pleasantness of the spice flavours in the steeped tea. It makes for a nice alternative to the traditional masala chai, because it’s lower in caffeine and just has that more gentle way about it – it’d make for a nice option to get those warming spices in your cup when you’re closer to bedtime or not wanting to drink as much caffeine.

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