Fuze | Black/Green Acai

Black tea and green tea mixed in the same bottle – I like the concept.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste, but I assumed Fuze would make it tasty based on my past experiences with Fuze products.  Keep in mind, this is also Acai flavored…

It literally took me three drinks to figure out what I was tasting.  One thing I can say for sure about this beverage, you’re not going to be bored drinking it.  The first drink is just a super sweet berry blast (grape-like).  I’m talking big-time sweetness in every drink of this beverage.  I was really stretching to taste any tea in this mix.  The big tea flavor just wasn’t present.  I’m getting a light black tea flavor, but I can’t find the green tea.  The sweet berry flavor (Acai Apple flavor) just totally dominates this beverage.  You have to be in the mood for a sweet drink when you grab this bottle. There are more than 30g of sugar in each bottle (Crystalline Fructose).  The bottle label  boasts 133mg of Polyphenols, 225mcg Folic Acid, 138mg Vitamin C, 17 IU Vitamin E, 37mg Vitamin B Complex (for the label readers).  For me, this is a fun ready-to-drink beverage.  It has an enjoyable smooth berry flavor with soothing sweet notes, but the tea flavor was really missed by this consumer.

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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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As I blog about ready-to-drink teas, I’m always looking for the authentic flavor of the tea.  If the bottle label says it’s black tea, white tea, green tea, or oolong – I should taste it with every drink.  Having said that, I’ve drank a lot of RTDs that taste like juice.  Typically the particular fruit that compliments the tea just dominates the bottle.  Maybe it’s just me, but when I drink tea (even from a bottle), I want to taste the tea.

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red espresso® (Rooibos)

This is an exciting product for Rooibos fans or anyone looking for a naturally caffeine free product packed with antioxidants and great flavor.  Rooibos has a silky sweet flavor that is an excellent substitute for both coffee and tea.  I’ve been drinking it for years, and it’s easily my favorite tea alternative.  It’s not easy for me to deviate from tea, but when I need to cut down on caffeine, Rooibos is a great choice.

Red Espresso® opens the doors for Rooibos into the coffee shops and homes of anyone with a coffee or espresso maker.  The great thing about this product is its versatility.  You can make many hot and cold beverages with this product (click here for recipes and more info). I was fortunate to try a few hot versions of red espresso® at the World Tea Expo a couple of years ago, and it was really good.  If you are a Rooibos drinker, just note that this is not the same Rooibos you would normally find at a tea shop.  The Rooibos of red espresso® is ground; which creates a powder-like form of Rooibos as well as a finely ground Rooibos.  You can still identify the Rooibos (it’s not like it’s completely ground to dust).

from red espresso®: “Rooibos tea espresso is made from 100% premium Rooibos tea refined under a patented process to an espresso grind similar to coffee – is a unique innovation that fuses two fast-growing global trends: café culture and good health, and is being embraced by tea and coffee lovers alike. It offers a sophisticated, delicious way to drink tea and a naturally caffeine-free alternative to coffee by allowing people to enjoy a rich-flavoured cappuccino or latte – with health benefits. Naturally caffeine-free, a shot of red espresso® has five times more antioxidants than a cup of green tea (per ORAC measurements) and ten times more than regular Rooibos tea and is known to be a potent immune system booster. Easy to prepare at home or in a café, red espresso® is best prepared using an espresso machine and stovetop espresso maker but can also be prepared using a French Press and coffee maker. Versatile, red espresso® is the basis for a range of delicious red drinks – including the popular red cappuccino®, red latte® and fresh red™ (a freshly prepared, natural iced tea).”

This product has a ton of potential.  It’s time for me to start perfecting some of the recipes listed on red espresso®’s website.

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Tavalon | Jasmine Dream

Many years ago, I tried my first green tea that was jasmine flavored, and I quickly realized what a powerful complement jasmine was to green tea.  To me, jasmine has a balance (sweet and flavorful without being too fragrant) to it that makes it appealing to those of us that don’t always enjoy floral flavored beverages.  Some floral and fruit flavors can simply dominate the flavors of the tea rather than complement the tea.  Having said that, this is totally my opinion and many people still think jasmine is too flowery for a cup of tea – as always, the consumer is the final judge.  If you don’t like jasmine, don’t buy jasmine infused teas.

Tavalon’s Jasmine Dream unfortunately didn’t have the balance I was expecting.  Since it was called “Jasmine Dream,” I was anticipating more jasmine flavor.  However, the lack of jasmine power was not my main problem with this tea.  The green tea used in Jasmine Dream, for my taste preferences, was too smokey.  A rough, smokey, and slightly bitter flavored green tea mixed with jasmine just didn’t appeal to me.  I made several cups of this tea trying to get the most out of it.  It’s very important that the tea be steeped in water that is 180°F for about three minutes.  In the end, I needed more jasmine in the mix.  I enjoy smokey flavored green teas, but it didn’t fit with this mix.

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First of all, thank you for reading. I have a lot of reviews on the shelf that I plan on posting in the near future.  Recently, I’ve started an iced tea project that I’m excited about.  I’ve drank a lot of excellent ready-to-drink iced teas over the years, and I’ve been inspired to make my own homemade iced tea recipes.  As I drink a wide variety of loose leaf teas, I’m now focused on how I can turn them into an awesome iced tea.

I’m still having a blast blogging about tea.  I started in August of 2006.  That seems so long ago… The future of tea shines bright, and it has been a pleasure to be a small part of the tea industry by introducing people to the joys of tea.

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Rishi Ancient Moon White Tea (2009)

What makes white tea special?  To me, it’s the pure and subtle flavors derived from the tea.  Primarily labeled as “the least processed” tea, white tea is not oxidized.  It’s easy to say the tea is simply plucked, steamed, and dried, but there are still major tea skills necessary to produce a high quality white tea. When drinking a pure white tea like this, the leaves have to come from excellent growing conditions in order to taste good on its own. Due to the fact that the leaves and buds go through very little processing, it is said by many tea experts that white tea contains more antioxidants than green tea and black tea.  It’s important to me as a tea consumer to share my thoughts regarding white tea with you to help you form an expectation. Having said that, your taste buds will be the final judge.

I drink white tea when I want to relax.  After a stressful day or before a hectic day, white tea is very calming.  It’s a beverage that helps me focus and it helps me relax with its subtle notes of  freshness.  White tea does contain caffeine.  In fact, recent studies that I read in the January 2009 edition of Fresh Cup magazine revealed that certain white teas contain a much higher amount of caffeine than was recently thought by the tea industry. One defining characteristic I like about white tea is it’s appearance. When you show someone white tea, if their only experience with tea has been finely chopped dust and fannings in a tea bag, now they can actually relate to tea as a leaf or bud from a plant (or tea tree). Once the tea steeps, the soaked leaves come to life. You can see the vivid colors and defined shapes of the leaves and buds.

Rishi’s Ancient Moonlight White Tea (a.k.a Yue Guang Bai, from Yunnan) was a very enjoyable white tea.  Again, you’re not going to be wowed by powerful flavors.  However, if you’re like me, you’re going to be impressed with the natural freshness that white tea offers.  It’s not grassy like many green teas.  This white tea captures that hot sunny day when the sun has been shining bright on the vegetation of the land and the gentle breeze is sharing the scent of the land to anyone lucky enough to be near.

Rishi describes the tea as: “Having a rich and lively mouthfeel. The complex floral aroma and sweet finish suggests pit fruits, persimmons and wildflower honey.”

I’m not picking up a lot of sweetness in the flavor of this tea.  The floral and fruit flavors are very distant and not always easy to recognize.  This tea has more of a dryness to it.  My best advice to people wanting to try a white tea like this, don’t expect it to taste like something it’s not.  This tea is very mellow and shines with it’s subtle nature and not it’s popping flavors.

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Bigelow | Vanilla Chai Latte

Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai Latte is a vast departure from the boxes of Bigelow tea you will find in your local grocery store.  A product such as Bigelow Vanilla Chai Latte (creamy spiced black tea) has the potential to attract customers that otherwise would not buy loose leaf tea or tea bags destined for hot tea steeping (or iced tea).  I heard this product was coming, so I’ve been looking forward to this moment.  First of all, let’s start with the bottle.   My entire family thinks the bottle is cool.  There’s no way you can drink this without someone asking about it.  So, great concept for the bottle design on Bigelow’s part.  It does remind me of the vibrant colors you would see in India.  It’s one of the happiest bottles I’ve seen.  I’m glad to see Bigelow bring this product to the marketplace.  As an RTD consumer, it’s one that I’ve been waiting to try for a long-time.

Taste: Creamy and sweet with a splash of cinnamon, vanilla, honey and a touch of black tea.  It’s almost dessert like, but not over-the-top sweet.  I can’t stress enough the creamy-smooth texture of this product.  In addition to liking chai, if you enjoy coffee flavored RTDs (lattes, cappuccinos, etc.), you’ll most likely enjoy this beverage.  I’ve drank a ton of chais over the past couple of years, and this one is definitely more tame than the traditional Masala Chais as far as overall spice.  Having said that, it’s right on par in the spice department with many Chai RTDs I’ve tried.  You’re not going to get a mouthful of cardamom or cloves with this tea.  I know for most of my friends and family, that’s a good thing.  If you’re in the mood for a sweet, creamy, chai to take on-the-go – definitely try this.  It was a lot fun to drink.  I only wish the bottle was bigger.  The (10.5 fl. oz.) bottle states: Calories 160, Calories from Fat 25.  Another note at the bottom of the label: contains milk, soy.

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