Alys's Tea Party Blend: Hala Kahiki

Thanks to my good friend +Michelle O'Malley, I have developed a true love for Hawaii.   I love its unique cultural blend, its food and its fascinating history.  I wanted to make a tea that spoke to me of plate lunch, shrimp trucks, plantation iced tea, scrambled eggs with mahi mahi and "two scoop rice," and the Hawaii that Joe and Michelle have let me experience.  I am glad to report that I pulled it off.

Hala kahiki is one of the Hawaiian words for "pineapple," one of the primary elements in this tea.  I've blended the flavors of coconut, pineapple and chai (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and lemongrass) to produce a cup that puts me right onto Sans Souci beach.  It's slightly sweet without needing any extra sweetener.

When the weather warms up a bit, I'm going to try this iced, but for now it is warm and cozy and welcoming.

Tea tasting: Christmas Teas, part 1

It's that time of year, so I picked up two Christmas-themed teas that I haven't tried before.   I'm not excited about either of them.  As a result, I will be stopping by Barnes and Noble tomorrow to get proper Christmas tea from Harney & Sons (one of my personal favorites).

Teavana's Joy 2016 was deeply disappointing.  To me, it has nothing to do with the smells or tastes of Christmas.  It is a blend of black tea plus oolong plus jasmine.  While it is a perfectly fine jasmine tea, jasmine is not a flavor or smell I associate with Christmas.  The jasmine is strong without being overwhelming.  So, if jasmine fits with your winter holiday celebrations, it's probably perfect for you.  For myself, I'll be saving this for after the holidays (probably for the depths of February).


Twinnings' Christmas Tea has the right cinnamon and clove flavors to make me think of gingerbread and pfeffernusse, but it's somewhat tame.  I think I've been spoiled by Harney & Sons' more vigorous blending of flavors.  If you aren't a fan of heavily flavored teas, I'd recommend Twinnings.   It's far from bad tea, because it's based on a good quality black, but it's not what my palate is really wanting right now.

Tomorrow or Thursday there will be more Christmas teas reviewed!

Tea tasting: Teavana's Poached Pear Cider

"Poached Pear Cider" is no longer Teavana's website for some reason.   From other sources, I can tell you that it's an herbal tisane composed of apple pieces, cardamom, cinnamon, citrus peel, cloves, ginger, hibiscus, lemongrass, and licorice root.

I wanted to love Poached Pear Cider.  I love pears and a tea flavored like pear cider sounded right up my alley.  Unfortunately, this tea just doesn't work for me at all.  It smells far better than it tastes.  The flavors are weak, even when I used 2 tsps for a cup and brew it for 6+ minutes.  It's not distinctly pear -flavored -- it's just a sort of undifferentiated fruit.   To be sure, the flavor isn't actively unpleasant, but it is terribly disappointing.

This tea might be ideal for combining with actual hard pear cider, though.  Would someone like to experiment and tell me the results?

Alys' Tea Party Blend: Mackyntoich Apple Crisp

I set out to make Mackyntoich Apple Crisp taste like dessert, and I largely succeeded, although it took some experimentation to get it right.  To get the proper taste from this tea, you need to use between 1.5 and 2 teaspoons per cup brewed.   Using more than the usual amount of tea gets the right flavor blend of apple and caramel, with the slightest hint of vanilla.

The apple and caramel notes make this tea more than sweet enough for my taste.  Adding a teaspoon of honey makes it sort of cloying.  But I think someone who loves sweet tea would find it just right.

I have only tried it hot, not iced, because it is the perfect warm drink for a winter night.  It's almost as good as actual apple crisp.  Almost.  :-)

Tea tasting: Harney & Sons' Kenya Milima

Word is that Kenya is  producing some good quality teas.  Of course, it is a moral imperative that I try some and review them for my loyal readers.  

Today's tea is Harney & Sons' Kenya Milima.   The website description of the tea says: "Kenya Milima is Africa's most elegant black tea, with golden tips reminiscent of fine Assams. Produced with traditional methods at high altitude, this tea is light in body and tends toward citrus. – Overall a mellow brew."

Although some (clearly deranged) people recommend steeping this tea for 4-5 minutes, I recommend that only if one needs some sort of universal solvent.   A 3 minute steep is more than adequate to get a nice, dark brew.

The aroma is that of a strong, multi-layered black tea.  My favorite morning smell!  It tastes like the essence of black tea - that particular, wonderful taste that no other thing can duplicate.  It does, as advertised, most closely resemble an Assam, which is just fine from my point of view.  If there are citrus notes in here, however, I'm not tasting them except as the vaguest of suggestions.  All in all, it's a good quality black for people who like the taste of tea for its own sake.

Bottled Iced Teas: Some more from Teas' Tea

This weekend, I had the chance to taste some more bottled iced tea flavors from Teas' Tea.

The lightly sweetened Hibiscus Green Tea was quite nice.  I'm not a big fan of hibiscus, but this tea blended the hibiscus flavor with cane sugar and green tea to produce a nice sweet flavor.  This tea is definitely sweet, but reasonably so.   It was refreshing and hit the spot.

The lightly sweetened Peach Ginger Black Tea is very very strongly ginger-flavored.  There might have been some tea or peach in there, but it tasted more or less like drinking liquid ginger.   I can't recommend it except to people who really like ginger.

The lightly sweetened Pomegranate Blueberry Green Tea was deeply odd.  I can't decide whether I liked it or not.  It tasted far more like some sort of juice drink than anything tea-related.  I'm going to need to try this one again before I can opine for or against it.

Tea tasting: Harney & Sons' Cherry Blossom Green Tea

Harney & Sons' Cherry Blossom tea is a nice quality green tea infused with the aroma of cherry blossoms but not very much in the way of cherry flavor.   It smells marvelous, like a warm April day when the cherry blossoms are blooming.  To the extent it is there at all, the cherry flavor is a light, gentle underlayer beneath the green tea's natural flavors.  I recommend Cherry Blossom to green tea fans who want just that extra hint of something without losing the essential taste of tea.