Hale Tea Company Creamy Cacao Delight
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: varied shades of green, visibile white cacao Ingredients: green tea, white tea, white cacao shell Steep time: 3 minutes Water Temperature: 185 degrees Preparation Method: ceramic teacup and mesh infuser Liquor: deep gold When +Amoda Tea sent me their September Tasting Box, I was really excited to dig in because I had never tried anything from Hale Tea Company before. Event though they are new to me, Amoda Tea explained that they have more than 100 years of history behind them. This blend in particular struck my fancy because I am an unabashed white chocolate addict. The base teas were mellow and vegetal with mild floral notes reminiscent of…
Amoda Tea September Tea Tasting Box
Earlier this year I sampled Amoda Tea’s January Tea Tasting Box and found it really enjoyable. +Amoda Tea offered me a chance to try their September Tea Tasting Box so I was really excited to dive into another batch of samples. The packing is as pretty as ever, with a bit of bright tissue paper to make my day. They’ve changed formats a bit since last time so the three samples are all from the same vendor. This months teas were sourced from The Hale Tea Company, a family business with European roots dating back 100 years. The three teas all seemed to have a creamy theme. Mirabelle Creme, Creamy Cacao Delight and Vanilla Jasmine…
Sloane Tea Oolong Crème
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: dark green, tightly rolled Ingredients: oolong tea, natural flavoring Steep time: 5 minutes Water Temperature: 195 degrees Preparation Method: ceramic teacup and mesh infuser Liquor: gold I received a sample of this blend as part of an Amoda Tea Monthly Tea Tasting Box. Having never tried anything from Sloane Tea before I was really excited to give this one a try. I was expecting something along the lines of a milk oolong but it was more like a mouthful of buttered popcorn. The base tea was light, floral and sweet with a nice roasted quality. I was so glad that the flavoring was delicately done and did…
O5 Tea Chiran Sencha
Country of Origin: Japan Leaf Appearance: deep green, small with needle-like shape Ingredients: green tea Steep time: 1 minute Water Temperature: 160 degrees Preparation Method: kyusu Liquor: greenish gold I received a sample of this tea as part of an Amoda Tea Monthly Tea Tasting Box. The taste was sweet and vegetal with just a touch of refreshing astringency. There grassy notes and a hint of oceanic salinity. That part is a bit hard to explain but it reflects the terroir of the region where it was grown perfectly. The mouth-feel was incredibly thick and buttery, quite unlike anything that I have experienced this this type of tea. I loved that the packaging included instructions…
Butiki Teas Pistachio Ice Cream
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: dark green, curled with lots of nut pieces Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, Pistachios (roasted, unsalted), Lotus Stamens, Natural Flavoring (vegan) Steep time: 3 minutes Water Temperature: 180 degrees Preparation Method: ceramic teapot and mesh infuser Liquor: very pale I received a sample of this blend as part of an Amoda Tea Monthly Tea Tasting Box. Although I’m not a huge fan of pistachios, the idea of an ice cream flavored tea certainly was intriguing. The taste was sweet, creamy and nutty all at once. The green tea was vegetal and mellow. I appreciate that they used Mao Jian, a higher quality tea than you would find in most…
Amoda Tea January Tea Tasting Box
When Canadian based Amoda Tea offered me a chance to try their monthly tea tasting boxes I jumped at the chance. I had heard really good things about their subscription service, especially from Erin of the awesome video blog Erin’s Tea. The first thing that I noticed was how nice the packaging was. The three generously sized tea samples were wrapped in tissue paper with decorative twine. A colorful and attractive booklet gave tasting notes on each tea as well as info on the companies that they were sourced from. Each sample was from a different company. Each month allows you to explore new and different teas. This is the one thing that…
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