Salada | Soothing Mint

If you are a long-time tea drinker, you’ve probably seen Salada Tea on your local grocery store shelf.  Today I’m drinking one of Salada’s new green teas called Soothing Mint.  The ingredients: Green Tea, Spearmint, Natural Spearmint Flavor, Peppermint, and Lemongrass. Combined, the ingredients create a very flavorful cup of tea.  Obviously you need to enjoy mint flavored beverages to appreciate this product.  Soothing Mint easily exceeded my expectations.

The minty flavors mixed with lemongrass create a very smooth and refreshing flavor.  I would like to taste more of the green tea, but I don’t think it’s necessary to make this a popular hot or iced tea option.  The fact is it has an appealing flavor.  Salada’s tea is very finely cut in a standard tea bag.  There’s nothing over-the-top about their products.  Salada aims to please based on a consistent, flavorful, and affordable product.

In the end, I found the tea to be delicious when it was iced.  Moroccan-style mint tea is one of my favorite iced teas.  With Salada’s Soothing Mint I can create an iced tea that has many of the same properties I enjoy about Moroccan-style mint tea.  As a hot tea, I would have liked more green tea flavors to be present.

Enjoy Salada Tea

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Organic White Acai

I’ve been craving an organic white tea and two leaves and a bud delivered just what I was looking for.  One of my favorite iced teas is an organic mix of Acai and white tea, so I’m always looking for a hot version of my favorite iced tea. An important note to point out about this tea: the authentic white tea flavor is present in every sip.  The berry flavor is not overpowering.  In fact, this is one of the more authentic Acai teas I’ve tried.  I don’t see any “crazy” artificial colorings in the liquor of the tea (I can’t stand that).  The acai flavor does have a slight tartness to it.  You may want to add a touch of your favorite sweetener to balance the flavor.  I liked it without sweetener.   Whole-leaf teas served in tea sachets have really grown in popularity.  The average tea consumer is graduating to higher quality teas and sachets (sometimes pyramid shaped) are perfect for them.  What I learned years ago…there are millions of tea bags sold every year for a reason.  Some people are not going to change from what they know, and in many ways I totally understand.  I say, drink the tea that makes you happy.  An organic whole-leaf tea served in a tea “bag”  is a great transition.

Two leaves and a bud describes the tea as: “Special harvest long whole-leaf tea leaves and buds create this super light but full tasting white tea. Light enough in the cup to be called “white” with nutritious tropical acai berries to round out a great cuppa’!   Acai berries are berries grown on special Amazonian palm trees, harvested in the rain forests of Brazil. The rich taste is a distinct combination of berry flavor and subtle chocolate. The berries are high in anti-oxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids which aid in fighting off cancer and other diseases as well as sharpen mental focus.”

Visit two leaves and a bud

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The term “breakfast tea” always bothers me for some reason, but I don’t see the name changing any time soon.  Tea can be consumed at any time of the day.  Breakfast blends are obviously excellent compliments to your morning meal, but don’t let the name stop you from enjoying it after-hours.  It does contain caffeine, but it’s a much smaller amount than a cup of coffee. Breakfast blends are usually the consolidation of strong black teas from around the globe that combine to create a full-bodied, bold cup of black tea.  This blend combines teas from: China, India, Ceylon and Kenya.  The tea itself was very smooth in flavor.  I enjoyed the fresh scent rising from the cup. Overall I felt the tea did offer enough flavor for me to recommend to tea drinkers looking for a good mix of popular & authentic black tea flavors.  This particular blend came in one of The REPUBLIC of TEA’s round tea bags.  It’s also important that I note that this tea is Certified Kosher.

The REPUBLIC of TEA gives this interesting fact: “This blend is our version of the popular blend called “English Breakfast” which is a name tea marketers created to describe Britain’s popular morning blend. Usually this blend has a substantial amount of China teas as opposed to “Irish Breakfast” which has dominance of India teas.”

If you like English Breakfast teas (traditional tea bag), you might want to give this one a shot.

Visit The REPUBLIC of TEA

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Moving on with two more selections from Tea Forté

These two teas are part of a recent batch of tea my wife purchased from Tea Forté.  I’m trying their signature tea infusers.  The pyramid shaped tea infuser might be one of the more stylish available.  About Tea Forte: “Founded in 2003, Tea Forté is the realization of one man’s dream and vision. Renowned American designer, Peter Hewitt, set out to capture the “art of tea” and define the contemporary ceremony of tea. Through the combination of artfully blended teas, and custom-designed accessories, Tea Forté elevates a cup of tea into an extraordinary experience for all of your senses.”

Orange Pekoe (Classic black tea): Every now and then, I enjoy a simple Orange Pekoe.  This Ceylon was very enjoyable.  With its low tannin levels and smooth black tea flavor and aroma, this tea appeals to a variety of tea drinkers.  Orange Pekoe is a premium Ceylon option.  If you enjoy black tea from popular retail stores, this tea will easily meet your expectations.  I communicate with a wide range of tea drinkers.  Most of my friends and family would easily pick an Orange Pekoe over some of the premium loose leaf options that are available.  Therefore, I’m happy to recommend this one to them.

Orchid Vanilla (Dolce Vita dessert collection): We’re talking some serious vanilla here.  If you do not like scented/flavored vanilla foods or beverages, stay far away from this.  Now, if you enjoy vanilla flavors, you will greatly appreciate this one.  I liked it.  The vanilla is the dominant flavor and it easily outshines the black tea, but I was expecting that from the start.  The tea is said to contain Madagascar vanilla and coconut slivers.  The coconut does mellow the tea and adds a smooth/creamy texture and flavor to the beverage.  Orchid Vanilla is an excellent dessert tea.  I enjoy a tea like this in the morning.  You can enjoy it whenever you like.  Again, the stylish tall pyramid tea infusers will be sure to delight your guests.

• Visit Tea Forté

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Wow, special thanks to two leaves and a bud for offering such a wide variety of teas. I was very foturnate to get to try several options.  From the dark and mighty Organic Assam to the berry-blasting Alpine Berry herbal.  All the teas have been enjoyable. Most recently I’ve sampled the Organic Orange Sencha green tea.  This was very interesting.  The delicious vegetal flavor was present throughout the Sencha and the Italian red orange flavor was very subtle creating a pleasant aftertaste.  With so many organic tea options and delicious teas from single geographic regions, two leaves and a bud is well worth a try. Now that I’ve narrowed down many of the samples, I’ll start to blog on the remaining options one at a time.

Two leaves and a bud work directly with tea gardens to select the finest teas grown using traditional organic methods.  The teas I consumed were packaged in biodegradable tea sachets (mug size).  The packaging allows the consumer to see the tea leaves throughout the steeping process.

Green Tea: Organic Orange Sencha

Black Tea: Organic Assam

Herbal (caffiene-free): Alpine Berry

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Tea Forté offers premium packaged teas.  Check out their signature tea infuser.  The elongated pyramid shape reveals its full leaf tea & quality herbs, and it adds style and character to what traditionally is very dull and forgettable. If you like premium teas served in a pyramid tea infuser, Tea Forté takes the concept to another level.  I have to say, the string with the tea leaf is a quality touch.  I have a lot of Tea Forté teas to drink, so I’m going to double-up some reviews. I picked two black teas to start.

Decaf Breakfast: If you cannot drink caffeine or you are cutting down your intake, here is a quality option for you.  Through the pyramid infuser you can see the full leaf Ceylon.  As the tea steeps, the leaves expand to fill the pyramid tea infuser. The Ceylon has a traditional black tea flavor and aroma to it.  After a few sips, I lost interest.  I apologize, I just can’t drink decaf tea and enjoy it.  It did have a slight bitter aftertaste that I could do without.  With a little milk and sugar, it was enjoyable.  Compared to other decaf black teas, this was actually one of the better ones.

Black Currant (contains caffeine): With its naturally sweet berry aroma and flavor, this black currant option was satisfying. After patiently waiting just over 3 minutes for the tea to steep, the first sip was very refreshing.  The packaging states that the tea contains: Chinese black tea and blackberry leaves from Bulgaria.  The tea was balanced and flavorful throughout the cup.  I could taste the black tea, and the black currant was not overpowering.

Visit Tea Forté

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An organic orange spice white tea.  The tea is very spicy…

Ingredients: Organic Cinnamon, Organic Orange Peel, Organic Cloves, Fair Trade Certified and Organic Pai Mu Tan white tea, Organic Hibiscus, Organic Allspice, Organic Ginger, Organic Schizandra Berries, Organic Lemongrass, Dried Lime.

The first thing you notice with this flavored white tea is the powerful aroma coming from the dried ingredients. The cloves are very strong.  I detect a faint scent of orange peel.  Honestly, the tea sachet has such a high-powered aroma, I can’t detect many of the ingredients due to the cloves.  After steeping the tea in near boiling water for about 6 minutes. The first sip tingles my tongue with an explosion of flavors.  The flavor is spicy like an authentic chai and tangy like a citrus beverage.  The aroma from the tea is just too much for me to thoroughly enjoy.  It’s reminiscent of an air freshener or potpourri.  The white tea is really lost in this mix.  There are too many dominant flavors working against each other.  I was looking forward to an orange flavored white tea with a light spice accent, but this tea was over-the-top. Unfortunately, this tea did not appeal to me.  As always, I still greatly respect Numi.  Their efforts to incorporate fair trade and organic ingredients in their products should not go unnoticed.

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Numi offers an organic breakfast blend of black teas

Ingredients: Fair Trade Certified & Organic Keemun black tea, Fair Trade Certified & Organic Darjeeling black tea, Fair Trade Certified & Organic Ceylon black tea, and Fair Trade Certified & Organic Assam black tea.

The breakfast blend brews to make a very bold cup of black tea.  Dominant flavors coming from the Assam and Keemun can easily be detected.  Having said that, sometimes I detect a slight Ceylon flavor.  The bottom line is you are getting a strong black tea to help start your morning.  As I take focused sips of this tea, I wish it was just a tad stronger.  It is very smooth and balanced.  The Morning Rise breakfast blend is not bitter, and it is strong enough to handle milk. I decided to drink the tea without milk.  If you like strong black bagged teas, and you like to align your tea drinking with responsible companies, Numi is a good choice.  I prefer a slightly stronger breakfast blend, but this tea is in no way bad. The flavor is consistent, balanced, and refreshing. Don’t let the breakfast blend label fool you, if you can handle caffeine – drink it whenever you would normally drink caffeinated beverages.

Visit Numi Organic Tea

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