At the World Tea Expo, I found a brand of tea that I’ve never tried before called Stassen.  The Stassen Group is a premier corporate conglomerate in Sri Lanka that offers a wide variety of products and services.  Obviously, tea is one of their main areas of expertise.  I’m trying their organic earl grey today.  It’s a very traditionally packed tea bag.  The tea bag was wrapped with a paper wrapper and the tea is finely cut in the bag.

Stassen defines their quality as: Organic teas by Stassen carry the Bio-Suisse, JAS and Transfair seals, which indeed shows that our organic teas are premium. Stassen also has an ISO 9000:2000 certified tea-bag factory to cater for all tea-bag requirements, HACCP and is currently working towards ISO 14000 international standard. Its two tea factories are also certified to ISO 9001:2000 global standards.

The Ceylon tea was very smooth and full bodied.  The bergamot flavoring was on par with similar bagged teas from other brands.  The one surprise I had from this tea was its fresh and full flavor coming from the Ceylon tea.  This tea will appeal to the traditional bagged tea consumer.  It is an organic product; which will add to its overall value.  If you like simple, traditional, bagged teas, and you see the Stassen brand name you will not be disappointed.

• Learn more about Stassen

marTEA

Earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised by the crisp, smooth, delicate flavors of The REPUBLIC of TEA’s glass bottled iced teas.  I’ve been craving one ever since I finished my last bottle.  At the moment, I’m drinking the Mango Ceylon glass bottled iced tea.  It is absolutely delightful.  There is such a purity about this tea.  The tea is unsweetened, yet it is so flavorful.  The base Ceylon tea is just so smooth and refreshing.  As your mouth is cooled and refreshed there is a release of tropical fruit that coats the palate and excites your taste buds.  The fruit flavor is very light and well-defined.  The mango flavor is perfectly balanced to the tea.  Again, this is not a beverage loaded with sugar.  The bottle itself is a work of art.  I’d highly recommend serving this tea as a compliment to a luxurious dinner.  If you like to have a special meal from time-to-time or you want to impress your guests with a high-quality tea beverage - this is it.

Mango Ceylon is brewed from Organic black tea, mangoes and natural flavors.  I have two more flavors to try, and I cannot wait.  The water they use for this beverage seems so pure.  You know you are drinking a quality product when you actually percieve/detect fresh and pure water.

Visit The REPUBLIC of TEA

marTEA

I often try to find a reliable, affordable, and flavorful loose leaf tea to recommend to marTEA.com readers. Upton Tea Imports offers a blended tea called River Shannon Breakfast Tea. This tea steeps quickly and produces a dark, mild, and balanced cup of traditional black tea. Those of you that have graduated from the traditional tea bag to loose leaf tea, might enjoy this one a lot. I drink the tea without any additives, but if you like milk and sugar - this tea takes it quite well. The dried tea is nothing to brag about. It’s a simple broken leaf blended tea. The scent is quite refreshing and the body and flavor will help you wake up.

Upton Tea Imports describes the tea as: A blend of Tippy GFBOP Assam teas for strength, plus a distinctive, bright Ceylon tea for briskness.This Orthodox Process Irish Breakfast style tea is very flavorful. Reformulated with bolder and more uniform teas to produce a cleaner cup.

• Visit Upton Tea Imports

marTEA

Here’s another outstanding tea selection from Revolution. The peach flavoring and ginger root blend very well with the Assam and Ceylon full-leaf black tea. I find this one to be a great wake-me-up in the morning. The black tea gives me just the right boost of caffeine and L-theanine that I need to wake up and focus on the day. The ginger and peach flavors get my senses going. It’s hard to eat or drink anything that tastes like a peach and be in a bad mood.

To start the Sweet Ginger Peach experience from Revolution, you’ll immediately notice the pleasant peach fragrance coming from the dried tea. The leaves look full and fresh through the bag. I let the water sit for just a couple of minutes from a boil before steeping the tea for a full three minutes. The tea liquor turns very dark as expected from an Assam and Ceylon mix. The aroma rising from the cup will make you think you’ve landed in Georgia in the middle of a peach farm. The ginger flavor is present in every sip, but it serves more as a compliment to the peach and black tea flavors. I personally like that the peach flavor rises above the ginger, but it’s great that both flavors are present in every drink.

• Visit Revolution Tea

marTEA