The Tea Scoop

ESP Emporium: Roasted Almond

One of the things that I love about tea swaps is that I get a chance to experience tea from companies that I have never heard of, and that I get to try teas that otherwise I probably wouldn't even order a sample of.  ESP Emporium is another tea company that I had never heard of until it came in the last batch of swaps.  In addition to tea, they sell a wide array of tea accessories and gifts. 

The roasted almond description is quite intriguing: "An acid-free base is embossed by the high portion of sweet apple pieces and its red color nuance comes from the added beetroot. The flavor note is determined by tempting, sweet, roasted, caramelized almonds. It is a taste experience which your nose and palate knows and loves from spring and summer fun fairs, the October Pest and Christmas markets. Our tip: simply try it and.. enjoy! For a perfect taste impact brew the tea for 10 minutes."  Ignoring the typos, I was intrigued by the addition of beet root. Not a common ingredient in tea, but it might be welcome.  Beets were commonly used to make sugar in the 19th century, so perhaps in addition to adding color, they add a touch of sweetness. In fact, I have an 18th century cook recipe including beets.  They are beautifully purple.  But I digress.

Opening the package, I took a deep whiff.  It smells like cookies. Like almond biscotti.  Fabulous.  The smell reminded me of Teavana's Almondina Biscotti.  The liquor also had the lovely sweet smell of something yummy baking in the oven.  The tea itself is rich with almond flavor, and almost taste like I'm chewing on them. Yummy.  The apple flavor is really subtle, allowing the almonds to shine through, and the beets remain all the way in the background, just a hint of sweetness and color.  It doesn't taste at all like beets, so don't let that scare you away. 

In fact, I got so distracted by drinking this yummy tea that I almost forgot to write about it.  As an herbal infusion free of caffeine, this would be a great after dinner beverage, especially with some sort of flaky pastry.  I almost want to go bake some baklava to go with it, but oops! I drank it all. 

KTeas: Caribbean Dream

I hadn't heard of KTeas until my most recent tea swap.  Judging from their website, they are a pretty small company, which I always like to support.  I'm rather intrigued by their serving suggestions for their Caribbean Dream tea, which include ice cream topping and trail mix.  Multi-tasking at its best. So, I took out a chunk of candied pineapple, which had absorbed some of the other flavors. Not bad, but I can't imagine eating the flowery bits on ice cream or in trail mix.  I can't tell you what the flowery bits are, as KTeas does not list ingredients. I wish they would.  But they do have some scone mixes that look rather tasty.

Now, what you really want to know about. The tisane. 

I think it contains pineapple, orange peel, coconut, and some dried berries as well as some flowers.  Like many fruity teas, it is a bit tart.  Some people prefer tart teas, but as for me, I like to add a bit of sugar. Once I did that, this tea was quite nice, if a bit generically fruit blend.  It would make a particularly nice iced tea once the warm weather returns, but I couldn't quite bring myself to drink iced tea on this chilly fall day.  This would also make a great tea for kids!

Bigelow Fruit & Almond

It's one of Bigelow's most elusive teas.  I stumbled across a blog entry mentioning that they were releasing a limited number. Unfortunately that time has come and gone, but fortunately for me, one wee bag made its way to me via a tea swap.  

Sitting here sniffing, it smells fabulous. A little bit like marzipan, or almond biscotti.  It tastes almost as sweet as it smells. Underneath the sweetness of the "natural and artificial flavors," the roasted chicory root gives a nice toastiness.  

This tea was a pleasant surprise. It's rare that I find an herbal blend that is as flavorful to me as a good black tea, but this is one of them, largely because of the chicory root. Rose hips and hibiscus flowers can often make a tea too sour for me, but here they are subtle enough to just give the slightest bit of tart sweetness to the blend. The ingredients list includes roasted carob, often used as a substitute for chocolate. The carob may contribute to the heartiness of this blend. 

Mr. Tea Scoop was quite a fan. I did not tell him that it was herbal when I handed it to him. In fact, I rarely warn him what he will be drinking, preferring a completely unbiased opinion. He enjoyed it quite a bit, although he said that he wished it had a bit more tea in it.  When I informed him that in fact, there was no tea in it at all, he suggested blending it with black tea.  Unfortunately, I only had the one bag from the tea swap, and now, an empty cup.  If anyone has a stash, try out a blend and let me know how it goes. 

Ginger Snappish from Bigelow

I've been working on my own gingersnap blend over on Adagio's blending page, but thought I'd give Bigelow's a try.  This particular blend is an herbal infusion.  

The primary aroma comes from the lemongrass and lemon verbena, not flavors I would normally choose to put into ginger snap tea, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  The taste actually has very little to do with the smell, although the lemon gives it a bit of coolness.  Although the description is of a blend of ginger with a subtle hint of lemon, it is in fact quite the opposite. It's quite a mish mash of flavors, but does kind of remind me of a ginger snap.  With all the ingredients, none of them shine, but they do play well together. 

Bigelow recommends this tea for a winter's day, but it certainly does not come amiss on this chilly autumn evening.  I would recommend this for any fans of Bigelow's other lemon teas.  

Over at the English Tea Blog, I wrote an article about growing your own tea garden.  Have you ever grown your own herbs for herbal tea, or even tried your hand at Camellia Sinensis?

Chai Baby Energy Blend

Here is another go at Fair Trade tea, this time from Chai Baby.  I was feeling a little sleepy this morning and Chai Baby's Energy Blend promised a caffeine-free pick up. 

I was excited to see pink peppercorns in the silk tea bags, because I love chai with a kick. The tea bag also contained peppermint, ginger, and cinnamon, and "more." I'm not quite sure what the "more" consisted of besides pink peppercorns, since peppermint was the dominant flavor, with just the slightest hint of the other spices.  The pink peppercorns appear to be more for decoration, since the kick wasn't there. The tea was tasty, but mostly just tasted of peppermint. 

Of course, the label isn't exactly wrong, since chai simply means tea. But, since chai on a tea label usually means spicy, I have a bit higher expectations. On the other hand, this tea was delicious, so I will enjoy subsequent cups. 

Haute Chocolate from Teavana

If you walk into Teavana and order a hot chocolate, most likely you are going to be disappointed. But if you order this drink without a fancy French accent, it sounds pretty much the same. Tastewise? Something completely different.  Teavana's Azteca Fire, while spicy, definitely has the sweetness of chocolate. But this particular rooibos is a much fuller bodied blend and not too much sweetness. Like I said, this is no substitute for hot chocolate. Please don't stop reading, because this tea is so much more. Full-bodied, spicy, rich. Utterly moreish. 

The great thing about rooibos is that it blends with anything.  In this case, rooibos is blended with chicory, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cacao. The hearty flavor of the tea comes from the chicory which has been used as a coffee substitute when coffee was unavailable or too expensive. The spiciness from the ginger and cinnamon kept me sipping and lingered well after the tea was gone. 

This is a great after dinner tea, especially as a replacement for caffeinated coffee.  

ZT The Final Chapter: ZT Vanilla Rooibos

My journey through South Africa via bottled rooibos iced tea has been quite interesting.  I learned about a new natural sweetening agent, inulin, which is apparently a form of insoluble fiber.  I learned how delicious plain rooibos could be over ice.  I learned that honey and ginseng make great ingredients in bottled iced tea. 

As for the vanilla?  If you love strong vanilla flavor, this is definitely something for you to taste. Opening the bottle was like walking into a house filled with the teasing aroma of baked goods in the oven. The taste wasn't far off from that either, sweet and vanilla. The rooibos all but disappeared under the vanilla's dominance, which I found to be a little too sweet for my tastes. However, I have noticed that many people prefer their tea sweeter than I do, and I think this tea is perfect for vanilla lovers with a sweet tooth. It tastes rather like a tea-flavored creamsicle. 

The final verdict on ZT? Loved the plain and honey-ginseng varieties, and recommend vanilla and lemon to those who are drawn to those flavors of bottled tea in general. 

Tea Experiment Week: Experiment Two

It's been rather cold here lately, especially since our heat pump is broken, and I am longing for summer.  Nothing says summer like a big bowl of peaches and ice cream, so I thought perhaps I would brew up a nice hot version of that to warm me up. 

I took a nice vanilla bean black tea and mixed it together with a nice rooibos peach, then brewed it with a teaspoon of rock sugar. Then I divided it into three cups, unsure of the best way to achieve the cream part of peaches and cream. 

In the first cup, I added nothing, to see if the vanilla flavor would shine through and add a little creaminess.

In the second cup, I added just a splash of milk.

In the third cup, I added Coffeemate, less than a teaspoon's worth.  I know, the scandal of using Coffeemate.  But I didn't have soy or other dairy alternatives available, and sometimes milk does funny things with fruit teas.  

The results: I liked the plain version a lot. It was very subtle, and not as peachy as I expected with two parts peach to one part vanilla.  I think if I make it again, I'll add even more peach. The great thing about rooibos is that it's not really tea, so it never gets bitter.  

The Coffeemate version was also delicious, if you were looking for something really sweet.  It came the closest to achieving the bowl of ice cream effect, but it still was not as peaches and creamy as I would have liked. 

The milk version tasted awful, and reminded me why I never put milk in fruity teas.  

I would love to try this with vanilla soy milk, and am going to try to remember to pick some up at the store next time I go.