Tag: Tea in Texas

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Tea in Texas’ Blue Ambrosia

Blue Ambrosia by Tea in Texas
Black Tea / Flavoured
$10.00USD for 3oz

First Impressions

Blue Ambrosia by Tea in Texas is the third of the Tea in Texas trio of teas that I received for my birthday last year, and when I smelled the dry leaf, I was beginning to think that I had saved the best for last. Blue Ambrosia has this amazingly fruity smell to it. It reminds me a bit of pineapples and mango, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise to read the label on the bag that suggests that it’d be great for an iced tea.

Blue Ambrosia is made up of: black tea, rose blossoms, cornflowers, safflowers, and tropical oils. I do wish that they had included what the tropical oils were, but alas, they did not.

Preparation

The steeping instructions for Blue Ambrosia are to steep in 212°F (100°C) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to steep for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Blue Ambrosia steeps to a dark orange, with a beautiful fruity aroma. When tasting the tea, I found it to be smooth with zero astringency. The flavour of this tea has a sweetness to it, which I attribute to the flowers mostly. The tea is quite tasty, and I enjoyed the fruity flavours. I wish I knew which tropical fruits were represented in this blend, but it does have a great fruit flavour to it with a slight floral flavour.

As an aside, Tea in Texas is accurate in this tea being a great iced tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Blue Ambrosia, and found that while that the floral flavours and sweetness were much stronger in the first resteep of these tea leaves. However, the tropical flavours were quite weak and mostly gone. I’d say that if you enjoy the fruity flavours, then Blue Ambrosia is good for one steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tea in Texas’ Blue Ambrosia. I really enjoyed the flavours of this black tea blend. I wish I knew what the fruity flavours lasted more than one steep, because that was one of my favourite aspects of this tea. The shift from fruity to floral still makes this tea tasty though, and I found that Blue Ambrosia had a very sudden shift in flavour and still didn’t need any sweetener added to it to make it a delicious cup of tea.

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Tea in Texas’ Texas Twist

Texas Twist by Tea in Texas
Black Tea / Flavoured
$10.00USD for 2.0oz

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First Impressions

Texas Twist was a birthday gift that I received last year as part of a trio of teas from Tea in Texas (the first was published in December of Prairie Green). Like the previous review I did of a Tea in Texas tea, the loose leaf tea came to me in a resealable black bag that has the information about the tea printed on the label.

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The tea itself consists of: black tea, orange peels, citrus oils, cinnamon sticks, and spices. The aroma from the dry leaf is quite strongly of orange and cinnamon, the citrus aroma is bright (perhaps due to the addition of the citrus oils?) and is quite inviting. The label on this tea describes it as a best-selling tea blend for the company, so I’m quite eager to try it.

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Preparation

Tea in Texas recommends steeping Texas Twist in 212°F (100°C) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted for my initial steep to be 3 minutes.

First Taste

Texas Twist steeps to a deep orange, the aroma that wafts up from the tea as I pour from my teapot to teacup is primarily that of orange. The citrus aroma is strong in this black tea blend, which I can appreciate. There’s the underlying aromas of spices and cinnamon, I still can’t quite pick out which spices there are in this blend, but it smells good.

When I sipped Texas Twist for the first thing, I was surprised at how sweet the tea is. Sugar isn’t listed on the ingredients list, so I’m chalking it up as part of just the combination of ingredients that are present in this black tea blend. I taste oranges, and cinnamon, and whatever spices are present in Texas Twist have an enjoyable warming quality to it. It reminds me a bit of the warming qualities that ginger has, but I don’t believe that I taste ginger in this tea. The black tea base lends a nice strength behind the tea, with a robustness and maltiness that reminds me of breakfast tea.

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I did allow a cup of Texas Twist to cool to room temperature to try it, but found that I enjoyed this tea hot better than cooled.

A Second Cup?

Texas Twist is a black tea blend, so of course I had to try resteeping it. I wound up resteeping Texas Twist a total of three times (four steeps total with the same leaves). I increased the length of steeping time by 30 seconds for each additional resteep. For the first resteep, I found that the tea tasted pretty much the same as the initial steep, with perhaps being a little lighter in orange flavour but the sweetness was still the same. The second resteep was a bit weaker, while the third resteep was the weakest (and the least tasty). I think that Texas Twist does well for two resteeps (three steeps total).

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Tea in Texas’ Texas Twist. I always like when a tea blend can be resteeped, and Texas Twist fits into that category quite nicely. The natural sweetness that I found in this citrus black tea blend was enjoyable with a great warming quality to it. It has a nice strong black tea base to it that handles resteeping well. I wish that the product label (or the product page) had listed the spices – so if you have any allergies, I would recommend contacting Tea in Texas for more information.

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

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Tea in Texas’ Prairie Green

Prairie Green by Tea in Texas
Green Tea / Flavoured
$10.00USD for 3oz

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First Impressions

I got a trio of teas blended from Tea in Texas as a birthday gift this year, and this review is of the first one that I tried – Prairie Green. What drew me most of this tea as I was smelling the aroma from the dry leaf is the bright freshness of the orange and lavender in the blend. The citrus is fresh smelling, and the lavender has a sweet floral aroma.

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Prairie Green is a blend of green tea, orange peel, and lavender. All of the three ingredients are visible in the green tea blend.

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Preparation

Tea in Texas recommends steeping Prairie Green in 180°F (82°C) water for 3-5 minutes. My initial steep of Prairie Green was for 4 minutes at 175°F (80°C).

First Taste

Prairie Green steeps to this beautiful yellow. The aroma that wafts up from the steeped tea as I poured from teapot to teacup was one of mostly citrus and lavender. The aroma is so inviting. The lavender is light and strong enough to be noticed over the orange peel. The citrus notes are fresh, bright. I can make out the green tea base – it has a vegetal undertone that is nice. When I sip this tea, I can taste the individual ingredients and yet they’re blended so well. I find that there’s a great floral taste, a sweetness to the citrus, and there’s the vegetal earthiness to the green tea base that’s so inviting. The tea lacks bitterness and astringency at the temperature and length of time I initially steeped it for.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Prairie Green twice, adding an extra 30 seconds per steep. I found the first resteep to be just as bright in citrus flavours, although the lavender wasn’t as strong. The green tea is beautiful to watch unfold, and the vegetal flavours are delicious. The second resteep is less vibrant in flavour, but still tasty.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Tea in Texas’ Prairie Green. There’s just something really inviting by this blend of green tea, orange peel, and lavender. I really enjoyed the citrus notes in the dry leaf and steeped tea, while the floral notes from the lavender carried over well to the tea. I thought the tea steeped well, and would definitely recommend a second steep of the same leaves. It would go great with savouries, but I also think it would be an excellent tea iced because of the citrus flavours.

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