Tea Derivations

Now that I can smell things again, having been sick the last couple weeks—I really hope that trend keeps up—I want to do an Earl Grey showdown, in the same vein as the Peppermint Tea Showdown, for I love Earl Grey more than I love Peppermint. In fact, out of all teas, I probably love Earl Grey the most; it’s the bergamot orange oil combined with, usually, fine black teas, making for a stunning combination. That Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation also loves Earl Grey is more of a fortuitous coincidence.

Currently the contestants will include:

• Bigelow’s Earl Grey¹
• Novus² Sapphire Earl Grey
• Twinings’ Lady Grey
• Tazo’s Earl Grey
• Adagio’s Rooibos Earl Grey for an herbal version
• Tao of Tea’s Blue Flower Earl Grey
• Republic of Tea’s Earl Greyer
• Mighty Leaf’s Organic Earl Grey
• Harney & Sons’ Earl Grey Supreme
• Harney & Sons’ Winter White Earl Grey
• Steven H. Smith Teamaker’s Lord Bergamot

This… will take a while. But on the other hand, I love Earl Grey.

Some notes:

• This is not the definitive list. For instance, I might be a coward and remove Tao of Tea’s version. They and I have not worked well in the past, except for their Mandarin Green, which contains essence of mandarin orange instead. Hmm. Perhaps I will include that in the list.

• Strangeness occurred during my Google searches: Celestial Seasonings has mostly gotten out of the black tea business, save for their Chais. So they’ve discontinued Victorian Earl Grey. Which is either a shame, or… not, if they’re discontinuing it.

• I love it when people come up with different names for their Earl Grey variants, as opposed to just calling it, um, Earl Grey. Perhaps it’s not quite as good for marketing, however.

• For the most part, I struck out for variations on the traditional Earl Grey recipe (like Twinings’ Lady Grey instead of their Earl Grey, but I might change my idea), but sometimes you just have Earl Grey in a line.

• Thank gods Lipton does not appear to have an Earl Grey in any of its lines.

• Saphara³, where’s your Earl Grey?

• Tao of Tea’s “Blue Flower” Earl Grey and Novus’ “Sapphire” refers to their inclusion of Malva leaves. It’s supposed to lighten the typical Earl Grey’s ORANGE CITRUS!!11!! characteristic. I… dunno, I tend to like Earl Grey, but let’s see if this works out or not.

1. Which my workplace stocks in every single kitchen. We have a lot of kitchens. [↩]
2. Bigelow, but with full-leaf pyramids [↩]
3. Celestial Seasonings’ upscale line. [↩]

Peppermint: such a simple ingredient. You wouldn’t think there was a difference between different brands of peppermint tea, especially when the list of ingredients is “Ingredients: peppermint.”

And yet there is a difference. Just like there’s a difference in the various grades of tea, so there is when it comes to herbs, and definitely when it comes to peppermint. Location and rainfall and how the leaves are cut all make a difference in how a peppermint tea tastes, and it’s really quite strange. Even a blind taste test can distinguish the difference between many brands; it’s that marked.

I’m going to cover some that I’ve tasted over the years. The featured teas below solely consist of peppermint—but wow, what a difference. I’ve had mild and kicky and inbetween peppermint teas from both supermarket and specialty tea makers, even from Steven H. Smith himself, and that’s special indeed.

The list is presented in the order that I recalled them, and as a progressive discussion of the qualities of peppermint tea that can change its flavor profile in such whacked ways.

Celestial Seasonings: Peppermint

This is the second brand of peppermint tea I ever drank, and I did so mostly for peppermint’s stomach-soothing capabilities (it calms down the digestive system’s agitation, basically). I usually brewed it about double-strong. This brand is the most available and very popular, even, I think, the most popular. It comes in both large and regular-sized packs for this very reason.

Like most peppermint teas, Celestial Seasonings uses Oregon peppermint, the taste of which is very distinctive and what most people think of when they think “peppermint.”

This tea usually has a good kick to it, so it’s great value for money, but the strength’s not consistent and it can go off once you peel off the plastic (and even before that, if it’s over a few months old). I think it’d be difficult to distinguish a fresh pack of the Celestial Seasonings brand from the higher quality Oregon peppermint teas later in this list. But it would have to be very fresh.

Bagged: Celestial Seasonings • Amazon.com

Mighty Leaf: Mint Melange

Of peppermint teas, this is by far the mildest one, with nary a kick. For folks who dislike the rather unsubtle strength of most peppermint teas, this may be the most ideal tea. I’d almost describe the taste as spearmint.

People who love the taste of “real” peppermint (which is to say, Oregon peppermint) will usually think the taste is too weak.

Mighty Leaf’s usual high standards for ingredients is present here, and the peppermint comes from Morocco—where the rainfall is such that the flavor of the leaves produced is delicate indeed.

Available both bagged and in full leaf form.

This used to be my favorite peppermint variant, but it has since been booted out by the next two brands.

Bagged: Mighty Leaf • Amazon.com
Full Leaf: Mighty Leaf

Twinings: Pure Peppermint

Twinings speaks very highly of its peppermint tea, but never specifies exactly where this particular peppermint comes from, instead murmuring something about “it’s grown all over the world now.” Wherever it comes from, it has neither the delicate taste of Moroccan peppermint nor the flavorful body of Oregon peppermint. If it comes from Oregon, I’d be very surprised; perhaps older peppermint is used, and the less powdery this older peppermint is (Twinings tea particles tend to be larger than Celestial Seasonings’) the less it can compensate.

Or it just comes from somewhere else that’s not the same conditions as the Pacific Northwest. In my experience, tea makers will usually broadcast the location of their peppermint quite loudly. Perhaps Twinings is simply being British.

Regardless, if you prefer something inbetween delicate and ass-kickingly strong, this may be the perfect brand for you.

Bagged: Twinings US • Twinings UK • Amazon.com

Harney & Sons: Peppermint

This is my second-favorite peppermint tea. This is a very good Oregon peppermint tea, and arrives in a little tin so that it doesn’t go stale quickly. (Perhaps if one stuck the contents of a young Celestial Seasonings box in a tin it wouldn’t go stale, but the more powdery a tea is, the quicker it stales in general.) The leaves for Harney & Sons seem the right age for maximum kick while staying at what I’d call medium size cuttings. And it’s high quality as per the usual.

I love the pyramidal sachets, although ever since I discovered little sachets that one can pack oneself, I’ve switched to the full leaf version. You can also get this in run-of-the-mill teabags.

Bagged: Harney & Sons • Amazon.com
Sachets: Harney & Sons • Amazon.com
Full Leaf: Harney & Sons

Steven H. Smith: Peppermint Leaves (No. 45)

I like this peppermint tea the best. It has the largest leaves and the freshest taste, most likely due to its individually foil-wrapped teabags in sturdy boxes, and the way Steven Smith usually obtains his ingredients. His teas are expensive indeed, because ingredients are hand-picked by the makers themselves. This doesn’t exactly happen for the mass-produced teas (all of the above, even the technically higher grade brands). For this reason, the Steven H. Smith teas usually taste very, very good. It’s kind of strange that their peppermint is no exception (but then again, as shown above, peppermint can taste differently depending on location, age, picking, amount of crushing).

Available both bagged and as full leaf, directly from their website or at local stores. This is likely never to be sold on Amazon.com or other online tea shops because the batches are relatively small, even tiny, compared to other tea makers.

I’d say that this tea has the highest quality, but Harney & Sons has a similar quality for a cheaper price—though full leaf is more comparable in price between the two brands. Make sure you have a ready tin for the Steven H. Smith full leaf, though.

Notably, Steven H. Smith also has a spearmint tea. I haven’t tried it yet, but want to….

Bagged/Full Leaf: Steven H. Smith

Summary: A well-balanced lemon herbal blend that’s a balm for sore throats.

Maker: Bigelow
Type: Herbal (bagged)
Ingredients: rose hips, lemongrass, natural lemon flavor (soy lecithin), lemon peel, lemon verbena, peppermint leaves, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), citric acid
Steep time: 3-5 minutes

I never thought I would be reviewing a Bigelow tea this favorably. They tend to be either very run-of-the-mill (emphasis on very) or actually bad. However, someone did right with this blend of lemon, lemon, and lemon.

I’m used to teas that apply lemon as the winds of a tea blend symphony, rarely in the forefront—or if it is, usually paired up with some other featured ingredient. In Bigelow’s I Love Lemon, however, lemon is clearly the star soloist, with just about every kind of lemon-style ingredient in any other tea combined together.

However, if this were merely lemon on lemon plus lemon with a dash of lemon, this would be a mouth-puckerer rather than a balanced tisane. The addition of the rose hips and the peppermint, however, turn this into a lovely blend, giving lemon a background instead of letting it just overpower the taste buds. Primarily it’s the rose hips that work so well. (I’ve seen rose hips give life to other blends that otherwise would fall into mediocrity or worse, like Mighty Leaf’s best-selling Chamomile Citrus.)

The amount of lemon in this tea makes it wonderful for a sore throat (which I’m experiencing right now, ugh). In fact, I actually dragged myself out of bed while still ill to buy four boxes of from the local store¹ because this tea was the only one that actually soothed my throat well. Even other teas designed for this purpose (like the Throat Coats from Traditional Medicinals) didn’t work as well as I Love Lemon. Plus, they don’t taste good, whereas I Love Lemon does.

So now I suppose I also love lemon.

Would sip again: Definitely now, while my throat is still tender and sore. Will do so again when that (inevitably) happens again.

Buy: Amazon.com • Bigelow • any grocery store

1. Don’t worry, this was early in the morning, when there would be few other cars or people [↩]

Summary: NO

Maker: Republic of Tea
Type: Red Tea (bagged)
Ingredients: Rooibos, orange peels, natural flavors
Steep time: 5-7 minutes, whatever

My gods, where do I start…?

This tea claims to be a Chocolate Orange Rooibos tea, which I was looking forwards to, since I love the combination of chocolate and orange, and having it in a caffeine-free tea would be a bonus.

One of the things about rooibos is that its flavor is naturally a bit sharp, so blends have to take that into account. This isn’t your normal tisane; and because it isn’t black tea, even if it has as strong a flavor profile, a black tea recipe won’t work well without adjustment.

Plus, also because of how rooibos tastes, orange can be difficult to blend in properly. This can be done successfully: for instance, Harney & Sons’ African Autumn is a cranberry-orange rooibos blend, and the tastes of all three main ingredients work well together.

With Republic of Tea’s Year of the Tiger Tea, however, somebody dumped orange peels into rooibos, along with “natural flavors”, and called it done. Could be that chocolate was one of the “natural flavors” but it doesn’t appear to be the case. The dry blend itself smells of an overpowering orange that overlays a bitter batch of rooibos indeed. Nevertheless, I was optimistic and made up a cup under the directed brewing time of five minutes, because I didn’t want my tea to start glowing orange, despite how long rooibos itself takes to brew to achieve full flavor.

The end result is a tea that tastes like cough syrup. I couldn’t taste any chocolate at all. Utterly disgusting. On the upside, it didn’t actually make me throw up.

I’ve dumped the canister into a small vat of baking powder, but it’s been over a week and the smell just won’t go away, which means it’ll be a while before I can reuse this canister for anything. Such as for Mighty Leaf’s Chocolate Orange Truffle.

Don’t get it. It’s not good.

Would sip again: No. Not even if this were the last tea blend on earth.

Buy: Republic of Tea

Alternatives: African Autumn (Harney & Sons) • Chocolate Orange Truffle (Mighty Leaf)

It’s getting close to Valentine’s Day, which I usually think of as National Chocolate Gift Giving Day. I love chocolate. And I love tea. You’d think such a combination would be wonderful, but that really depends on what kind of tea you like. So here’s a little advice for prospective chocolate tea gifters.

Chocolate can be used to flavor any type of tea—black, red, green, herbal, I’m sure there’s some kind of chocolate oolong out there. I mean, there’s chocolate pu-erh, which is… an interesting experience. And even though one may love chocolate, whether or not one loves a particular chocolate tea depends on whether one loves the type of tea that’s being flavored. You’re rarely going to actually get tea that tastes like hot chocolate.

The types of tea and their flavorings:

Black Tea

Due to the potential richness (or body) of black tea, this has the most potential of turning out a very delicious combination. But only if you’re already fond of black tea. If you don’t like black tea, no amount of chocolate is going to make it better.

Green Tea

Green teas are more delicate than black teas, and have a sort of vegetative taste, which can put some people off. Combining this with chocolate can work, but you really do need to love green tea (as well as know how to brew it correctly, because bitter chocolate green tea is not an experience akin to bittersweet chocolate, and really isn’t enjoyable).

Pu-erh Tea

You really, really, really need to love pu-erh tea. Chocolate is never going to mask a pu-erh’s very distinctive, rather earthy taste.

Red Tea

Red teas follow black teas in terms of body and taste, although they take a longer brewing time to reach that richness. A long brewing time also allows chocolate flavors to come out more, and thus is much more approachable than your typical black tea. Red tea are technically herbal teas anyways, and herbal teas are the most flexible.

Herbal Teas

Herbal teas are very flexible in terms of ingredients and thus taste, and so a chocolate herbal blend is the most approachable type of chocolate-flavored tea. Some herbal chocolate teas, in fact, are almost a hot chocolate experience. This is especially nice for those of us who are lactose-intolerant, or perhaps looking for a dessert tea that’s not as heavy (or caloric) as hot chocolate, or all other kinds of chocolate.

What are good chocolate teas? Here are my favorites:¹

• Pear Caramel Truffle (Mighty Leaf, black tea): This is the richest chocolate tea I’ve run across. It comes across as something like a dark chocolate with a slight hint of caramel; you may not be able to taste the caramel, but I can. I suggest a shorter brew time for this tea, because black tea can quickly overtake the other flavors.

• Coconut Cocoa (Republic of Tea, herbal tea): One of Republic of Tea’s more successful herbal blends, its very chocolaty taste is due to the direct inclusion of cocoa powder. I suspect some tea blenders may regard this as cheating, but hey, it works. You can definitely taste the coconut as well. It’s one of the most ideal dessert teas around.

• Strawberry Chocolate (Republic of Tea, red tea): One of Republic of Tea’s more successful red tea/rooibos blends, it succeeds in actually tasting like strawberry chocolate. Be prepared for a long brew time for this one: the taste comes out best after over 10 minutes. I usually use 15 minutes for red teas, and it works out that way here. You want a tea warmer, tea cozy, or lidded mug for this one.

• Florence (Harney & Sons, black tea): Not advertised as a chocolate tea, nevertheless it combines chocolate notes with something like almonds and other kinds of nuts that people like to cover in chocolate and include in chocolate assortments. Very definitely a black tea first and foremost, however, as Harney & Sons blends usually are.

• Mayan Chocolate Truffle (Mighty Leaf, herbal tea): If you’re looking for a spicy chai-like chocolate tea, it’s hard to find a better blend than this. It actually contains chili powder, so it’s even spicier than most chais, but it’s balanced out by the chocolate. Like their vanilla teas, Mighty Leaf does not mess around with chocolate.

And because I can’t help it, here are some more lists! For instance, runner-up chocolate teas for me:

• Chocolate Mint Truffle (Mighty Leaf, red tea): This sort of works for me, but doesn’t taste rich enough for a chocolate tea (although that may be because I tasted this back before I knew about rooibos’ longer steep times). It works for many other people, and has the advantage of being a red tea, and thus technically herbal, without tannin, and without caffeine.

• Chocolate Orange Truffle (Mighty leaf, black tea): Also a sort-of works tea for me, not because it isn’t rich enough—it definitely is—but because I can’t taste the orange in it. Other people can, perhaps with shorter steep times, but I miss it (and then again, I’m among those that can taste the caramel in Pear Caramel, but others can’t. Such is the pitfall of black tea).

• Valentine’s Blend (Harney & Sons, black tea): Do you like rose-flavored black tea? If you do, you’ll love this tea which combines roses and chocolates quite successfully. If you can’t stand most teas with a quite noticeable rose taste, avoid. (I don’t like rose-flavored tea, unfortunately, but it is technically a very well-done blend.)

And here are chocolate teas I want to try, but haven’t been able to access or have time yet to taste them.

• Chocolate Mint (Harney & Sons, black tea): I’m rather interested in what Harney & Sons do with this; it has the potential to be very rich, or possibly just very black.

• Year of the Tiger (Republic of Tea, red tea): If this works out, i.e. I can taste the orange, I will be grateful, for I love chocolate-orange in chocolate bread, chocolate cake, chocolate chocolates….

• Chocolate Raspberry Bliss (Celestial Seasonings, herbal tea): It sounds very good, and Celestial Seasonings’ fruity teas usually work out and are widely available. Sadly, the island is apparently full of chocolate tea haters, from the national chain grocery stores all the way to the speciality tea store.

• Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai (Celestial Seasonings, black tea): Wow, it sounds rather interesting. Another chocolate chai would be a nice addition to the collection.

• Mayan Cocoa Spice (Yogi, herbal tea): Another herbal tea with cocoa powder, and this time cinnamon. If it works, will definitely be a worthy part of the collection that I am currently running out of shelf space for.

1. Note: there’s no green tea or pu-erh blends in this list, because good green tea + chocolate just… argh… doesn’t work for me in the slightest; and pu-erh has never worked for me, because I can’t get used to the muddy intensely earthy taste, even with chocolate. [↩]

Summary: An orange herbal tea that tastes strongly of oranges, chock-full of zing, and wonderful iced.

Maker: Tazo Tea
Type: Herbal (Bagged)
Ingredients: Lemongrass, blackberry leaves, citric acid, rose hips, spearmint, orange peel, safflower, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, orange essence, ginger, licorice root
Steep time: 5 minutes, and it’s right

There’s always a run on Wild Sweet Orange at the island’s local grocery stores, and I’m rather afraid that if more people know about this wonderful little tea, I’ll have even less of a chance to run across stock without resorting to online ordering.

It’s a surprisingly lovely tea, and is full of what Harney & Sons would refer to as body: the taste fills your mouth. It would also have full marks for briskness and aroma. The zing may hit you hard on the first taste, but afterwards you appreciate a tea with such a strong yet sweet, rather than bitter, taste (especially if you love Celestial Seasonings’ Lemon Zinger). “Wild Sweet Orange” is quite an appropriate moniker.

With such a strong, fruity taste, this is one of the most ideal iced teas around. I’d say that it tastes much better iced than hot, but of course that’s a matter of preference. I’m amazed at the variety of the ingredients, especially the inclusion of licorice root, which can easily overcome the flavor of a tea. Getting a complex blend like this right must have taken some time (and I suppose that’s not surprising, given that the same tea master who blended this is now manufacturing the high quality and often interesting blends under “Steven Smith Teamaker”).

That this is a herbal tea is a bonus because it doesn’t contain tannin, and thus can be taken during meals without affecting iron absorption (always something of a problem for me, which is why I can actually faint from too much black/green tea tasting in one day).

What a shame this isn’t available as a full-leaf tea, because with all those ingredients (far more than is present in a typical herbal tea, so that must have been an interesting blend to try to get right) it must look interesting before it’s stuffed into little tea bags. On the other hand, this is pretty much available everywhere, except for exclusive tea shops.

Would sip again: Always and forever, iced, pretty much every day.

Buy: Starbucks Store • Amazon

I found the first one on YouTube, and started searching for more. The ones with animated sand are quite interesting, but the ones acted out by people (apart from the “Waterfall” one here) are a little… bit… American, which is to say, lame, and remind me why I stopped watching commercial TV.

Tea notes for the past couple days. I don’t review a tea until I’ve drunk it at least three times. (Note: the multiple tastes marked out here have been done over a series of days, not all in one day. I can only fit so much tea in me.)

Single Taste

Republic of Tea: Apple Blossom (Daily Green Tea)

I wanted some variety in my iced green tea, and their Tangerine Orange wasn’t working out well for that. It seems that more tart flavors work well, and Apple Blossom (which also combines an orange flavor), while not as tart as Kiwi Pear, is also nice iced.

Harney & Sons: Florence

Started drinking this on morning commute due to its chocolate and hazelnut notes. Harney & Sons’ blends tend to emphasize the type of tea (black, green, red, whatever) in combination with the flavor. This is a bit unlike Republic of Tea, which usually prefers to let its non-tea flavors take the forefront.

Two Tastes

Republic of Tea: Coconut Cocoa

What an interesting tea. It should be more widely available, as it’s a very sweet herbal tea (which wins on multiple points) and is full of cocoa powder, both qualities that makes this tea more traditionally chocolatey than most chocolate teas. The coconut taste is also definitely there. I’ve not yet tried their iced latte recipe.

Harney & Sons: Paris

Alternating this along with their Florence on my morning commute. In a way, Paris is the complement of Florence: vanilla and fruit (supposedly) rather than chocolate and nuts. I taste the vanilla but not so much the fruit, and I still prefer Mighty Leaf’s Vanilla Bean (review here).

Tazo Tea: Passion

Dear Tazo: please have a normal site so I can link to your tea detail page. ‘Cause a pure flash site won’t let me due that.

I love this tea so far, it’s got a different hit from Celestial Seasonings’ Lemon Zinger while retaining the same level of zing. I want to try it iced.

Tazo Tea: Calm

This is made from “normal” chamomile, not Egyptian Camomile, which I prefer as it’s got more of an orchard apple taste rather than… well, a taste that I usually think of as being potpourri-like. I’m not fond of it, and prefer Mighty Leaf’s Chamomile Citrus.

Should Review

Republic of Tea: Kiwi Pear (Daily Green Tea)

More than other green teas, this sharp kiwi taste means that this makes for a most delectable iced green tea, even for those who aren’t as fond of green tea as they might be (some don’t like the “green” taste of most green teas). I’ve drunk like multiple 2-liter pitchers of this, iced, by now, and should really review it.

Republic of Tea: Apricot Decaf (Fair Trade Certified)

I think this flavored black tea would appeal to even those who traditionally dislike black tea. The taste of apricots is the strongest note by far, and the black tea is far in the background.

Republic of Tea: Cranberry Blood Orange (Fair Trade Certified)

While I’ve drank Harney & Sons’ African Autumn (a red tea) twice and loved it hot, Cranberry Blood Orange (a black tea) is something I love even more if we’re talking iced tea.

I don’t hate soda pop, and I don’t have an agenda against it except for a personal one, which is to abstain from drinking it. For me, it’s not about HFCS versus real sugar, or aspartame in the diet sodas, or corrosion of teeth. It’s about empty calories. There’s no point to empty calories, as they don’t give you fullness and they don’t give you anything other than extra food to store in your body.

So I turned to iced tea. If you make up a lot ahead of time, and fill up your own thermos and bottles, you’re fine and you still have a lot of the convenience of soda pop, even though it’s tea.

Some teas are amazingly good iced. The tea-specific taste is just background to the fruit or other flavors (usually fruit) to play out. The flavors are more interesting than the ones for soda (half of which are trying to imitate the other half), without overdoing it.

Of course, convenience while producing a great beverage is key here, so I’m focusing on convenience.

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By and large, tea in America tends to be a rather damning experience. If you ask for tea in most American restaurants or coffee shops, most often you’ll be presented with a cup of brown and bitter hot water. Even though this is Not Tea, such incidents tend to turn people away from tea.

However, tea can be highly rewarding to drink, even if you have no plans to become a tea connoisseur who pre-warms their teapot and orders only the best of leaves from import. And the fact that there is such a large variety of tea out there means that there’s something for just about everyone.

I’m not going to talk about pre-warming your teapot, or from whom to order your leaves from, or even to tell you to only use full-leaf, non-bagged tea. I’m going to assume you start with bagged tea, because that’s how most people get addicted start, and you just want something that tastes good.

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