Tea tasting: David's Teas Spiced Pumpkin Herbal

When in Quebec City this weekend, I picked up a same of David's Pumpkin Spice herbal tea.  Yes, I know I'd said I was breaking up with David's Teas, but it was right there, calling to me.  And I double-checked the ingredient list four times to make sure it wasn't going to kill me.

It's a very gentle pumpkin spice flavor, lightly cinnamon with a slight fruity quality.  There's a tiny bit of maple in there, which surprised me because I generally don't like maple.  It's not really sweet at all, but I bet some honey would enhance it nicely.  This is a nice fall tea that I didn't expect to like.

Tea tasting: Mighty Leaf's Orange Dulce

I discovered Mighty Leaf tea in general, and Mighty Leaf's Orange Dulce black tea in particular, during a particular grueling year of traveling for work, when I spent more time in hotels than in my own home.   A number of the hotels on the West coast carried Mighty Leaf teas.  The brand has since become a favorite, particularly now that it has migrated into the more upscale grocery stores on the East coast.

Orange Dulce is a tea that is a tea you're either going to love or hate.  I happen to love it.  But, if you don't like Earl Grey or its lighter cousin Lady Grey, don't bother even trying Orange Dulce.

Orange Dulce is a blend of Ceylon and China black teas, flavored with bergamot, orange, vanilla and jasmine blossoms.   The aroma is wonderful.  It's soothing and refreshing, like a warm orange scone.

In both flavor and armoa, the orange is the strongest note, with bergamot playing close second.  The vanilla acts as a mellowing agent, soothing the flavor from sharp citrus into something more gentle.  The orange-vanilla notes linger longest as you taste it.  That all being said, this is not an orange herbal tea.  It still tastes like tea undernearth, although very subtly.

It is essential to watch the brewing time closely.  Brewed for too long, it becomes a hot, tea-flavored creamsicle, which is more off-putting than it sounds.   Orange Dulce should be brewed closer to the 3 or 4 minute mark than not.

This tea also doesn't ice well.  The flavor mix needs warmth to work.  Icing it turns it cloying.

NY Times Summarizes Current Studies on the Health Benefits of Tea

The full article can be found here:  http://nyti.ms/1Q0is3O

In brief:

Tea drinking is associated with a lower risk of multiple liver diseases, including a type of liver cancer.

Tea drinking is associated with a lower risk of depression.

Tea drinking is associated with reduction in risk of stroke, cardiac disease, and diabetes.

Drinking green tea, but not black tea, is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.

There have been other health claims for tea, but those are not supported by current studies.

Unfortunately, most of these studies have been done in Asia, where daily tea-drinking far outstrips anything in the U.S.  Many of these studies do not have a good study of the dose-response rate (i.e., how much tea do you have to drink before these health benefits occur?)   And, of course, even strong correlation (which is all these studies have tracked so far) does not prove causation.

But, I think we can safely conclude that drinking real tea certainly isn't bad for you.   I withhold judgment on Lipton.   :-)

Tea tasting: Tea Forte's Lemon Sorbetti Green Tea

What a nice, fun tea!  Tea Forte's Lemon Sorbetti green tea has a lovely light and sweet tone.  It's definitely lemony, without being the awful, sickly artificial lemon flavor of bottled iced tea.  The name is apt; this tea is very close to a lemon sherbet/sorbet in use of lemon flavor.  I let the tea steep a little longer than is recommended for green teas (entirely by accident), but it didn't go bitter.  The underlying green tea seems to be more on the floral end of greens than the grassy end, and it works well with other flavor elements.

 The website says the sweetness comes from honey, but I don't see any honey in the ingredient list.  I can't imagine wanting this tea to be sweeter than it is.  However, if you only like sweet tea, I definitely recommend using a wildflower or clover honey.

Tea tasting: Lavender Cranberry Herbal

On my last trip to Canada, I picked up two teas from the Seafoam Lavender Farm: one traditional lavender herbal, the other a lavender-cranberry tisane. (It's under the heading "Lavender Tea" on the website.  Teas are in the "Culinary" section.)

Since I am in a tea-tasting mood today, I brewed up some of the lavender-cranberry.  The aroma is primarily lavender, with the sharp tart bite of cranberry as an undertone.  The cranberry comes out much more strongly in the flavor.

I made iced tea with half of what I brewed and left the other half for drinking hot.  In iced tea form, it tastes primarily like a gentle cranberry brew, and then the lavender sneaks up on you in the after taste.  Some cranberry teas have the same bitterness as cranberry juice (which I happen to love), but this is a kinder and gentler cranberry.  It's almost mellow -- I think that's the influence of the lavender.  Some people might need sweetener for it nonetheless.  It's a refreshing, palate-cleaning iced tea.

In hot tea form, the cranberry element is noticeably tarter but still not bitter.  The lavender is even more subdued.  I think the hot brew would benefit from some light sweetener.  Overall, I like the iced tea qualities better.

The only down side from this tea is that I now *really* want some lavender shortbread.  :-)

Raspberry Sugar from The Spice and Tea Exchange

+Wendy Marques brought me some raspberry-flavored sugar (sugar and raspberry puree) from The Spice and Tea Exchange some time ago, but I had forgotten about it.   Today, I decided to try it in some Assam.

I don't usually like sweetened tea.  I like tea to taste like tea.  However, one-half teaspoon of the raspberry sugar in 12 oz. of strong Assam managed to invigorate the flavor without being overly sweet.  It didn't have the artificial teeth-smarting sweetness that makes sweet tea so unpleasant to me.  Yes, it was sweet, but almost daintily so.  It tasted more like I'd crushed a raspberry into the brew than like I'd added too much sugar.

The Spice and Tea Exchange website has a number of other flavored sugars for sale.  Next time I have some free cash to spend on tea-related things, I'm going to order some more for taste-testing.

Ooh, they also carry teas.  Definitely an excellent find.

Alys's Tea Party Swag

For those people who love both tea and books, I now have a Zazzle store featuring the quote at the header of this blog:

http://www.zazzle.com/alyss_tea_party_t_shirt-235293320666494500

http://www.zazzle.com/alyss_tea_party_cup_mug-168857033398440745