Tag Archives: Organic

Review: Tenota Organic Sweet Green

Posted on May 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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Please note that while we were sent free samples of this tea to review we are just as critical of free tea. If we receive something we don’t like we give an honest review or skip it all together!

Overall Rating:

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 3 of 5 leaves – This tea is a bit delicate.

Abby says:

Temperature: @ 190 degrees (below boiling)
Steeped: 2 minutes first steep, 3 minutes second steep
Served: Nothing Added

Tenota’s tea notes are just the cutest things. Delicious tea snail-mailed in a stylish envelop with a personalized message attached! For Katie’s b-day I sent her a tea note as soon as I discovered the Tenota. The website for ordering is super easy to use, and there is a nice selection of teas to choose from.

Their Organic Sweet Green is a classic green tea done right. There are nice big tea leaves in the sachet that match the big tea note! This tea already had points in my book because it is organic. With all of the controversy over GMOs and “where does our food really come from?”, certified organic is carrying more weight. I was delighted to find that it tasted great too. That light grassy flavor is there, which makes for a refreshing hot tea. After drinking the first cup like it was going out of style, I decided to resteep this tea for another cup. The results were pretty good. It was certainly more earthy the second time around and the flavor wasn’t as strong. It was good, though and I drank that up quickly too!

Tenota would make a unique and personal gift for tea lovers. I think a tea note would also make a great thank you note or invitation. Most importantly the tea is good, so you know that your tea note will be well received!

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 3 of 5 leaves – This tea is a bit delicate.

Tenota Green

Katie says:

Temperature: @ 190 degrees (below boiling)
Steeped: 2 minutes first steep, 3.5 minutes second steep
Served: Tried with nothing added & with honey

Tea with a note in a card? I’m in! Plus it comes in the mail in a cute little brown envelope so it automatically feels more special than the other mail. As soon as I heard about this I thought it was a great idea and just hoped that the gimmick wouldn’t be better than the tea inside. Happily, I discovered that this tea is delicious! Not only are tea notes a cute idea this is actually quality tea, worth sending to a tea-lover, inside the note. The only drawback for me is that the price for one bag of tea is a bit high, but you’re paying for the their adorable packaging and how easy they make it to send a personalized gift.

OK, on to the tea itself! We tried the Organic Sweet Green tea. I was intrigued that it was sweet and tried it on it’s own, and with honey. It was powerful enough for a second steep so I was able to try this several ways. First I had it hot unsweetened and while it was nice I decided to add some local honey. Yum! For the second steep I drank more unsweetened, from a longer steep, with the intention of pouring it over ice later. I think iced and unsweetened ended up being my favorite! It had just enough caffeine for an afternoon pick-me-up without feeling too wired. This green tea has a green, almost grassy taste, with a hint of sweetness. If you are careful to not over-steep and you’ll find yourself with a very enjoyable tea.

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 3 of 5 leaves – This tea is a bit delicate.

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Review: Good Earth Organic Apricot Ginger Black Tea

Posted on April 4, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Overall Rating:

Taste: 3.5 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make.

Abby says:

Temperature: @212 (boiling point)
Steeped: Left tea bag in the cup
Served: Nothing added

I’m no stranger to Apricot flavored beverages. In fact, my favorite beer is Ithaca Apricot Wheat. So when I saw that Good Earth had an Apricot Ginger black tea AND it was organic, I was all over it! Unlike some of Good Earth’s other teas, I found this one to be more mild in flavor. While it steeped the smell of zesty ginger and sweet apricot was nice, but not strong. I found the taste to be similar. I liked how well the spicy ginger, the sweet apricot and the nutty black tea blended together. It all combined to make an easy to drink and interesting tea.

Taste: 3.5 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make.

Katie says:

Temperature: @212 (boiling point)
Steeped: Left tea bag in the cup
Served: A bit of sugar

First, let me say, this tea is NOT good with milk. It’s a good thing Abby gave me 2 samples because at first I added milk and, yuck! I’m not sure why I thought milk was a good idea but it wasn’t. My second cup, with just a hint of sugar was much better. I, like Abby, found that the ginger and apricot were a nice combination. It could have been a bit stronger but was still overall a nice tea.

Taste: 3.5 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make.

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Review: Tea Forte Breakfast

Posted on February 28, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Overall Rating:

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves: Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!:

Abby says:

Temperature: @212 (@ boiling)
Steeped: 4 minutes
Served: Nothing added

Nice and strong with good flavor and body, this Assam tea is incredibly satisfying as a first-thing-in-the-morning cuppa! The caffeine level is what you would expect (and what most of us need) from a morning tea. It pairs well with hearty breakfast food, but has enough of its own flavor to satisfy long after the food is all gone. Most of all, I like the nuttiness found in Forte Breakfast. It also holds just a hint of sweetness that doesn’t turn bitter if steeped for a while, which is great for busy mornings when tea-making is not as precise as maybe it should be.

Forte Breakfast is USDA certified organic! Just another reason to give it a try. We sampled this tea in Tea Forte’s biodegradable filterbags, but it also comes in single serving loose tea packs. Love those too!

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves: Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Katie says: Abby gave me a sample of this tea but I can’t find it. Oops! I’ve had it before and enjoyed it but haven’t had any recently enough to remember for an accurate review. Guess you’ll all have to just trust her word on this one!

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Posted in black teas, Easy to make

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Review: Bhakti Chai (Unsweetened)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Leave a comment

 

Overall Rating:

Taste: 4 of 5 – quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Katie says:

Temperature: Hot from the stove, but not boiling
Steeped: N/A
Served: With 1:1 ratio of milk, then with honey

For me this is hands down, the best chai from a bottle ever. I love the idea of chai mix due to convenience but most are just a syrupy mess. This tastes like real TEA! Also, without sweetener or milk added you can make it to your taste. One word of caution, I think real chai needs real milk. I’m talking 2% or greater…in India it’s practically cream!

I have to say, I was surprised to see Abby’s rating on this one because we tend to agree more often than not. It may just be that while she likes chai, she’s not a fan of milk in tea. And this mix NEEDS milk.  I love that I can count on the ratio and make the same cuppa more than once. If you like traditional chai with a kick of ginger than this is a MUST try. But pass the cream. :)

I also like that this tea comes refrigerated and has a shelf life. That certainly makes it seem more real. And, when you real the label there is in fact good (ie real) stuff in there. It’s also a pretty cool company out of Fort Collins, CO. Check out their website for their story & more of their flavors.

Taste: 5 of 5 – outstanding a must try!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Abby says:

Temperature: Hot from the stove, but not boiling
Steeped: N/A
Served: With 1:1 ratio of milk, then with honey

Seriously spicy! You know how, sometimes you find chai teas to be dull without the spice that you love? Well, forget all that.  This tea is spicy and has a ton of flavor. Bhakti Chai comes pre-brewed in a refrigerated bottle containing: “organic fair trade black te, organic ginger juice, organic cardamom, black pepper and other spices.” It carries the fair trade certification, but it is not certified organic. The directions call for heating the tea with milk at a 1:1 ratio and heating on the stove top or in the microwave.  It also says you can serve it over ice, but I can’t even think about that right now (too much snow everywhere for that).  Typically I choose not to add milk to my tea, but for the sake of the review I decided to be a good girl and follow the directions.  I’m glad I did because I think skipping the milk would have been a mistake for sure.  In fact I ended up adding more hot milk and a bit of honey to mellow out the spice level. This tea was good, but I will only have it when I am craving the spice!

Taste: 3 of 5 leaves: A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Bhakti Chai

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Posted in black teas, Easy to make

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Review: Numi Gunpowder Green

Posted on November 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Overall Rating:

Taste: 4.25 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

Katie says:

Temperature: @200 (below boiling)
Steeped: 3 minutes
Served: Nothing added

Quite a tasty tea! This is a very nice green tea, especially for bagged tea. Even in the bag I could tell that there were large pieces of leaves so I cut open a bag to see. You can see the little gun power curls!

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I just love when there are big pieces of leaves inside a tea bag. Seeing leaves so small they are dust is the worst! Luckily the inside of the bag did not disappoint! This tea has a nice robust typical green tea taste. Great for on the run, just don’t over steep or it will get bitter!

Taste: 4.5 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

Abby says:

Temperature: @200 (below boiling)
Steeped: 3 minutes
Served: Nothing added

As you know from previous blog posts we love Numi tea! Not just because the tea tastes great, but because it is also organic. Typically, gunpowder green is a beautiful tea to watch while it steeps. However, we sampled Numi’s bagged version, so we were unable to watch the unrolling process this time. Even with bagged tea, you can still see the transformation of the tea leaves just by looking at the tea bag. It is called gunpowder because the tea leaves are rolled into tiny balls in order to preserve qualities of the tea leaves. When it steeps, those leaves unroll and the delicate tea leaf flavors are released. Cool, right?

Numi’s gunpowder green has delicate, earthy flavors that give it a distinct taste. A great option for quick and pretty easy (careful not to oversteep) green tea for people with no time to prepare loose leaf. It is easy to drink and can be re-steeped at least once. On second steep I left the teabag in my mug for about 3.5 minutes. The flavor wasn’t quite a potent. It was lighter and still good tasting.

Taste: 4 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

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Review: Lipton Herbal Orange

Posted on July 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Overall Rating:

Taste: 3 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make!

Katie says:

Once again Abby & I agree! This is a decent tasty tea that is very nice iced in the summer. I was glad that it was tasty iced because I actually bought this in the spring when I had a terrible sinus infection. I thought orange…vitamin c maybe? And when my nose is stuffed I like to constantly drink tea because the heat seems to be the only thing that keeps me able to breathe through my nose! Anyway, back to summer.  Since that IS the season. Brew this tea in a large batch and keep it in the freezer with a few slices of lemon or orange. It is tasty & won’t keep you up at night! And…if you buy a box to make iced tea now we’ll be sure to use it up (if there is any left) during cold season!

Temperature: @212 boiling
Steeped: Left teabag in my mug
Served: Nothing added at first, the a little honey

Taste: 3 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make!

Abby says:

Temperature: @212 boiling
Steeped: Left teabag in my mug
Served: Nothing added

I’m happy to be reviewing this one in the summer because it makes decent iced tea. When the weather is hot I am always looking for tea that I normally drink hot that translates well into iced versions. Most of these have caffeine, so I for one, need to be careful of how much I drink and at what time of day. This tea is decent as both a hot and cold beverage and it is caffeine free! This isn’t my favorite tea for either category, but it isn’t unpleasant either. It has a nice a-little-bit sweet and a-little-bit spicy flavor, which I like, but for me is a little too weak.

Mild tea drinkers, this might be just what you need, for hot or cold weather, any time of the day.

Taste: 3 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: 5 of 5 tea leaves – This tea is easy to make!

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Review: Rishi Summer Lemon Organic Iced Tea

Posted on July 3, 2012 by | Leave a comment

This tea is USDA Organic & Fair Trade Certified!

Abby says:

Temperature: Cold, over ice
Steeped: 5 minutes
Served: Nothing added

Steep-your-own iced tea is great for serving lots of people and for tea fanatics like us! It is great to make-ahead so it’s always ready. For me, being without iced tea in the summer is a crime! Lucky for me, with this oversized Rishi Summer Lemon Organic tea bag, I can make 32 oz. of iced tea in a snap! What could be better than a tasty USDA certified organic and fair trade iced tea on a hot day in July?

Ok, ok, now you want to know how THIS is tastes. Of course. More good news – its tastes great! As a black tea, it has a nice robust earthy flavor with just a touch of lemon. Even cold, you can detect a hint of both smokiness and sweetness – not something you typically find. It is a unique, delicious tea that although it has its own strong flavor would go well with just about any summer food. I, for example, was eating a tasty piece of baklava from the Portland Greek Food Festival in all of its over-the-top sweetness glory while sampling this tea. It was a prefect combination! The earthy black tea cut the very sweet honey nicely, while the hint of sweet and lemon in this tea allowed for a nice mingling of flavors instead of just two harsh contrasts.

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves – Quite a good ICED cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 leaves — This tea requires very little effort

Katie says:

I suggest sipping your iced tea in these adorable bee glasses that I photographed for Stonewall Kitchen.

Temperature: Cold, over ice
Steeped: 5 minutes
Served: Nothing added

I share Abby’s enthusiasm about this tea. There are several things that made me choose to give it a very high rating.

1) This tea is both fair trade and organic. Those are two good things that for me boost the rating of any tea.

2) This tea is strong enough to make a whole pitcher quickly! You brew the tea in 16 ounces of boiling water, then after 5 minutes add 16 oz more cold water. At that point the tea is about room temp so when you add ice it doesn’t melt quickly like if you try to ice hot tea. Even when after a little ice melting this is still a strong & tasty tea.

3) This tea includes lemon right in the tea bag. You can enjoy the fresh taste of lemon iced tea even if you are without fresh lemons. Bonus!

Most of all, I enjoy brew-your-own iced teas because I like just a hint of sweet. I do enjoy the occasional glass of sweet tea. However, to drink it all day long (as is my style) I like to have just a hint of honey or agave nectar. The rich somewhat smoke taste that Abby was talking about really works well with just a hint of honey to make a nice complexly-flavored tea. If you like to make your own iced tea without waiting for sun tea or refrigerator tea then this should become one of your summer pantry staples.

Taste: 4.5 of 5 leaves – Quite a good ICED cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 leaves — This tea requires very little effort

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Review: Sweet Leaf Half & Half Lemonade Tea

Posted on June 5, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Overall Rating:

Taste: 4 of 5 tea leaves
Steepability: This tea is bottled!

Abby says:

Temperature: Cold
Served: Over ice, in a glass

Now that summer is unofficially here, Katie and I are excited to review some iced teas!  We both continue to regularly drink hot tea, but surprise, surprise, we both love iced tea too!  This week we reviewed Sweet Leaf Half & Half Lemonade Tea.  I like Sweet Leaf because they don’t use an artificial ingedients in their bottled teas and are USDA certified organic.

Okay, so most of you probably already know that I am typically not a fan of tea that is sweet.  In fact, I usually drink my tea with nothing added.  However, that goes out the window somewhat when it comes to iced tea.  When it comes to the cold stuff I like both sweet and unsweetened varities.  This tea is definately sweet!  In fact one 16oz. bottle (two servings) contains 48g of sugar. That is sweet!  But this IS Half & Half we are talking about here.  To me it tastes good and really reminds me of summer!  The balance of tea and lemonade is just right.  I found it refreshing, tasty and easy to drink – maybe too easy to drink! :)

Taste: 3.5 of 5 tea leaves – A decent tasty tea.
Steepability: This tea is bottled!

Katie says:

Temperature: Cold
Served: Over ice, in a glass

Abby & I realize that although we drink hot tea year round, all day long in-fact; that’s certainly not the case in for many of you. As we welcome June we thought it was certainly time for some iced tea reviews.

From the name of this tea, sweet leaf, you know it’s going to be sweet. Abby doesn’t love sweetened teas. I am an admitted sugar addict. What I don’t like is the fake sugar “sweetener” taste. I’ve had sweetened iced teas in the past that have been ok, but I find to good ones to be few & far between…with many being sickeningly sweet. This tea uses real organic cane sugar. While it is sweet, I’d say pleasantly so.

I’m always looking for a hint of sweet after lunch like a small bite of candy. This tea is a nice change to fill that sweet craving. I love that the makers of this tea, Clayton & David, say “Clayton’s grannie ‘Mimi’ taught us never to use ingredients that you can’t pronounce.” I like that policy when it comes my food!

Overall I find this to be a very good bottled iced tea. No strange ingredients, plenty of tea flavor (the lemon doesn’t take over), and quite sweet but no where near the sickeningly sweet taste of some iced teas. (The sweetened diet kind are my least favorite!) If you prefer less sweet in your iced tea you may want to opt for a lower sugar or unsweetened tea.  If you like sweet tea give Sweet Leaf a try, it’s a good one! And…check out their website, it’s quite spiffy!

Taste: 4.5 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: This tea is bottled!

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Review: Numi Jasmine Green

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | 1 Comment


Overall Rating:

Taste: 4 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

Katie says:

This is a delicious tea. The green had a nice flavor that was not at all bitter. The jasmine added a nice aroma and flavor to this green without being overpowering. Sometimes I find Jasmine teas to have a perfume-like taste and that was not the case with this tea. Green teas are one of the few types that I tend to drink unsweetened but I’ll add a hint of sweet if I find it to be at all bitter. This tea isn’t bitter at all and is wonderful to enjoy just as it is. Bonus, this tea is fair trade and organic!

So, with all of these great things to say, you may wonder why I’m not giving it a higher rating. The only thing that would make me give this tea a better rating is if inside the bag the pieces of tea leaves were larger. I often cut open the bags of teas that we review and inside I did find a little “dust” (tiny fragments of tea). For me to give a tea a 5 I like to find that the bits of tea are large enough to be steeped in an infuser with a tightly woven strainer or small openings.

Temperature: @200 (below boiling)
Steeped: 2.5 minutes
Served: Nothing added

Taste: 4 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

Abby says:

Temperature: @200 (below boiling)
Steeped: 2 minutes
Served: Nothing added

We’ve got another certified organic and fair trade one for you!  I just love how easy it is to find teas that are both organic AND fair trade!  This time it is Numi Jasmine Green.  The aroma of this tea will instantly draw you in.  The jasmine scent is so delicate  and wonderful that it makes you want to keep steeping this tea all day just to keep the smell of it in the air.

The green tea flavor is strong – and I only steeped it for 2 minutes!  The big green tea flavor is well balance by the light jasmine.  This is an easy to drink flavorful tea that is great for drinking by itself or with food.  A perfect springtime treat.  Just be careful not to oversteep – it could easily become bitter.  For this one I recommend keeping a close eye on the clock or setting yourself a timer.  If careful with steeping you are left with a tasty cuppa!

Taste: 4 of 5 tea leaves – Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 4 of 5 tea leaves – This tea requires very little effort.

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Review: Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Fire Light Chai

Posted on April 4, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Overall Rating:

Taste:4.25 of 5 leaves: Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Abby says:

Temperature: @212 (boiling point)
Steeped: 4-5 minutes
Served: Nothing added

Fair trade and USDA certified organic, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Fire Light Chai is a great spin-off on traditional Chai tea!  Rooibos is fused with chai spices to create fantastic aromatics, and a wonderfully rich and spicy-sweet tea.  The aroma as this tea steeps is enough to convince anyone to give it a try!

Compared to other Chai tea blends, this one is slightly subdued while still providing the complex flavor from the concoction of spices.  I found that I was able to easily taste the distinctive Chai flavors instantly upon trying it for the first time, but the punchy experience that is commonly found with other Chai tea was pleasantly missing.  Given that this a milder and sweeter Chai, it would be a perfect first cup for anyone looking to try Chai.  This tea is also caffeine free (yay!), so feel free to have as many cups as you want!  I know I will

Taste:4.5 of 5 leaves: Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

Katie says:

Temperature: @212 (boiling point)
Steeped: Just leave the tea bag in the cup
Served: Nothing added at first then milk & honey

This tea is my go-to for when I’m looking for the taste of chai without the caffeine. Does it taste exactly like it’s black sister tea? No. However the red tea flavors blended with chai spices and sweetened with cream and sugar is a delicious combination! While this tea is OK with nothing added, in my opinion it’s far better prepared as a traditional chai with the addition of milk & sugar.

Red tea is the newest to my tea box. I think I stayed away from it because I tend to like flavorful black teas with a touch of cream & sugar or light green teas as they are but I pass on most herbal tea. Red tea is herbal, so I skipped it thinking that it would never be a good substitute for my beloved black tea. I was wrong.  While most herbal teas would be gross with cream and sugar, red tea is delicious with this addition. I’m a convert. If a craving for a cuppa with milk & honey strikes me late in the day I have a cup of this! Or, if I’m out I stop into Starbucks for a red tea latte.

Taste: 4 of 5 leaves: Quite a good cuppa!
Steepability: 5 of 5 — this tea is easy to make!

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