Stash Chanakara Melon & Green Tea

Description (from stashtea.com): Chakra #4: A Tea for Love & Harmony. Sweet dew melon blended with fine green tea and South American yerba mate makes a refreshing and stimulating brew that will awaken your heart. 18 teabags in each box. Ingredients in the blend include organic green tea, orange peel, yerba mate and natural melon flavor.

Review: I have a soft spot for melon, so to me this tea is as good as anything in a coffee-filter-material bag. The only thing I am not a huge fan of is the aftertaste...it has kind of a chalky, there-is-a-dubious-green-tea-blend-involved flavor to it, and I am not such a fan. As for the flavor itself, not half bad...you taste the orange peel, the melon for sure, but the tea backdrop in this is less than delightful.

** this is a review of bagged tea. While authori-tea.com does not encourage purchase of bagged tea as opposed to loose leaf, we are still happy to review them for relative quality.

The Good: good flavors
The Bad: not such great tea
More Information/Buy: Stash Chanakara Melon & Green Tea

Golden Moon Nepalese Afternoon Tea

Description (from goldenmoontea.com): Nepalese Afternoon Tea is grown at the base of Mount Everest in the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. The infused nectar of this loose leaf tea evokes serene notes of lotus, honey and fragrant sandalwood.

Review: "The infused nectar of this loose leaf tea evokes serene notes of lotus, honey and fragrant sandalwood." Ha. I wonder if getting into the tea description business would be a good career move for me. Good tea or not, some of the ways tea companies choose to describe their teas really amuses me to no end. This tea's alright, it has a very pungent winey flavor, and is pretty malty, but "serene notes of lotus..." etc? Unnecessary, to say the least. I think that using this romanticized verbiage to describe tea really devalues it more than anything else.

Moving on -- this is not a tea for me, really. It is fairly malty, though I do really like the woody, muscatel flavor. It reminds me of Andrews & Dunham Nepal, except really not nearly as good. The leaves are wiry and brittle, not soft and fuzzy like their tea. I would honestly say that if you want a tea with woody, muscat taste, try to get the Nepal from them first...if not, this will do, but it is a distant second.

The Good: decent flavor, good balance
The Bad: there are many better Nepal teas than this
More Information/Buy: Golden Moon Nepalese Afternoon Tea

Mighty Leaf Coco Chai Rooibos

Description (from mightyleaf.com): Coco Chai rooibos tea is a handcrafted, caffeine-free chai tea made from South African rooibos blended with shredded coconut, red peppercorns and aromatic spices including ginger, cinnamon and cardomon. This twist on a classic chai tea will surprise with its intoxicatingly aroma and spicey but sweet flavor.

Review: This tea is straight up, hands down, the most delicious smelling chai I have EVER smelled. It smells so coconutty! I LOVE IT! I loved this tea before I even tried it. Hot damn, it smells amazing.

The taste is no disappointment, either. It's very soft -- I'd like a bit more of a zing -- but the taste is incredible. It has a STRONG coconut flavor, but it also has a peppery, spicy undertone that really lingers. The tea is a little perfumey, maybe because of the rooibos, but I am dead serious people, this is the best chai EVER. It is so sweet and incredible. No, it doesn't taste like hot chocolate or anything, but it tastes like delicious, amazing swirled up coconut and cocoa powder and zesty cinnamon and chai spices.

I am totally in love with this tea, even though I am a bit of a chai hater. This is incredibly interesting, smooth, and it's not boring at all. With rooibos, you will need to steep a bit more than you usually would, especially with chai, but the flavors come through AMAZINGLY well. Trust me, this is an awesome blend. I've already finished the entire sample and just can't stop smelling and tasting it. The lingering nutty/spicy taste is to die for, along with everything else about this tea.

The Good: Everything about this tea rules.
The Bad: None!
More Information/Buy: Mighty Leaf Coco Chai Rooibos

Stash White Peach Oolong

Description (from stashtea.com): A remarkable Oolong tea with ripe, juicy, 100% natural white peach flavor.

Review: I will be the first to admit that I like Stash's bagged teas -- for the most part -- but it's probably because I have fairly low standards for tea in a conventional coffee-filter-material teabag. Stash has some pretty pimp flavors, and many of them are fairly new.

While I don't think this is one of the more creative ones (hello, peach oolong? who doesn't offer this flavor?), the taste itself is still decent, albeit weak. I only filled up my cup to 10oz. for one bag, because that is about the most flavor it can contribute. Anything more than that will just taste like watered down nothing.

So, overall, the tea is certainly strongly flavored for peach. I can't really vouch for whatever oolong they use -- like any flavored tea, the actual TEA involved is only a backdrop to the fruit flavor. All in all, for a bagged tea, this one is eh. The flavors aren't too interesting, the tea is blech. 0 points for creativity with PEACH oolong...but I promise you there will be better flavored reviewed in the near future, and Stash has much better things to offer.

** this is a review of bagged tea. While authori-tea.com does not encourage purchase of bagged tea as opposed to loose leaf, we are still happy to review them for relative quality.

The Good: decent flavor, strong enough for 10oz. of water
The Bad: there's too much peach oolong out there
More Information/Buy: Stash White Peach Oolong

Red Leaf Tea Coupon - 20% off + FREE shipping!

Good morning everyone! The lovely folks at Red Leaf Tea have offered a 20% off + FREE SHIPPING coupon to the first ten people to use the code 'authoritea' at check-out! Enjoy!!

Thank you Amazon.com!

I recently purchased 6 boxes of Choice Organic Teas Kukicha on Amazon.com. For 6 boxes, the cost is about $20 (shipping included)...an amazing price. Unfortunately, I was more interested in purchasing the bulky loose twigs, but the bagged variety was cheaper, and I'm too poor for fancy tastes right now.

I suggest that those of you who purchase from larger merchants check Amazon.com. I don't know if this does damage to the manufacturer, but there are some significant discounts to be had. For example, while one 3 oz. box of Serendipitea's Secret Garden costs $12 on their website, 2- 3oz. boxes cost $14 on Amazon. Good deal huh?

Now if they would only sell Choice Organic's loose kukicha...side note, no idea why kukicha has two different appearances...every other one is gross except for this one, which is actual twigs. The others are weird powdered matcha noodles or fishy tasting grass. Why one name, and two different kinds of tea?

Call for Samples!

Good morning everyone!

Tea reviews will resume on Wednesday, Jul 8. In the meantime, I am running low on samples...so if you're interested in having your tea reviewed, send in samples! This RARELY happens, and I am getting to the bottom of the bucket at this point...so for timely reviews (reviews right now are queued until mid-August, but after that, it's first come, first serve), send in your teas ASAP.

Contact me for mailing address info. I apologize for the delays...my day job is crazy right now!

Choice Organic Teas Giveaway!

Drawing is July 8th! Check it out here!

Mighty Leaf Organic Emerald Needle

Description (from mightyleaf.com): Organic Emerald Pearls green tea, grown on a farm in the Yellow Mountains of China's Anhui province, has tender, deep green leaves and buds. With a flowery aroma and fresh, sweet green tea flavor, this organic green tea is a unique taste experience.

Review: This is delicious. I admit to knowing not so much about green tea. I thought I would hate this tea judging by the smell of the dry leaves, but it's actually really good, and very smooth. It does taste fresh and sweet...though I am not sure about flowery.

When I smelled this, I expected it to be bitter or have a kind of 'off' taste, but I should've had higher expectations for Mighty Leaf...they generally have some pretty incredible teas and I am not sure I have ever sampled anything from them I didn't like. I don't think this would be a daily drinker for me, but I'm surprised by how smooth and fresh the taste is. It's not too grassy or vegetal or anything, though it does smell grassy.

I like this a lot. It's sweet and mellow: a nice surprise, especially for green tea. Another excellent item in Mighty Leaf's collection.

The Good: mellow, sweet, smooth
The Bad: none
More Information/Buy: Mighty Leaf Organic Emerald Needle

Suki Tea Whole Peppermint

Description (from sukitea.com): Quite possibly the best peppermint tea in the world. Whole peppermint leaves create an incredibly fresh, purifying cup. Tingly, Minty & Fresh. Great Taste Gold 1* Award Winner 2008.

Review: Call me crazy, but I really believe that peppermint is peppermint. This peppermint tea is awesome, but I am kind of a fan of this flavor, so not liking it would mean it was pretty awful. It's strong and smooth and I love the menthol inhale action. I will say this is slightly fresher than most other peppermint teas I have had lately, but there is no way to verify that.

I will say something about this packaging, though. While it probably saves Suki money to package their teas by melting pieces of cling-wrap quality plastic together, it's kind of annoying to have to deal with it on the other end. When I received the sample pack, one of the little packets had exploded and leaked into the rest of them, possibly influencing the flavor of the other teas. I would suggest some more investment in packaging, regardless of a slightly increased cost.

Otherwise, I have no complaints. The peppermint leaves in this tea are big and kept in good condition. I like that a lot. The tea looks great and tastes even better. Best peppermint tea I've had in a long time.

Pros: delicious flavor, fresh, strong
Cons: packaging sucks
More Info/To Purchase: Suki Tea Whole Peppermint

Blue Raven Maiden's Mead

Description (from Blueraventea.com): A pleasing taste of honey and ginger. Ingredients: green tea, ginger bits, flavoring.

Review: This tea smells deliciously like mead. And for anyone who has ever had mead before, it is a deliciously sweet and strong honey drink that is as thick and sticky as warm syrup.

Unfortunately once you steep and drink this tea, you will discover it tastes like steeped pine needles. The flavors do not translate at all and the green tea is pretty terrible before you even get to the flavor. The tea doesn't even smell good once you steep it...I would think this tea is sprayed or something, because honey generally tastes like honey when you add water, and this tastes like tree sap.

I've decided to not ramble on too long in bad reviews. This is not a good tea at all. I would not suggest it, unless you enjoy eating pine cones.

More Information/Buy: Blue Raven Maiden's Mead

Pearl Fine Teas Counting Sheep

Description (from pearlteas.com): Need to unwind? Count Sheep... 1... 2... 3... You should be asleep by now. If your day turned upside down or you're in need of an end of day unwinding, sip a relaxing blend of orange, chamomile, citrus peels, rose-hip peels, orange blossoms, lemon grass, nana-mint and hibiscus. The aromatherapy alone should have you sawing wood. Caffeine Free to promote total relaxation and a peaceful end to your day. Just don't sip and drive with this blend... you could fall asleep behind the wheel!

Review: This is the perfect combination of tart and smooth. The tea smells very lemony and fragrant...when you steep it, the orange and lemon flavors really come out and add another dimension to the chamomile. It's very fragrant and smooth without being boring. I struggle with chamomile sometimes because for such a calming herb, it can be incredibly strong and too smooth and soft -- this really is a great combination of sharp fruit and smooth, soft chamomile.

Secondly, for a hibiscus hater, I am surprised I like this blend -- but the hibiscus is only an afterthought. It adds some zest and fruitiness to the tea that I absolutely love. It is slightly floral, but mostly citrus fruit and berry components combined with chamomile. If you like any of the ingredients in themselves, definitely try this. It's an interesting combination that works well.

The Good: great flavor combo - no overbearing flavors
The Bad: none!
More Information/Buy: Pearl Teas Counting Sheep