Fusion Teas

I had this iced this morning after receiving it as a sample from Fusion Teas. It was so delicious. More red in colour than I thought it would be. It has a nice grapefruit taste which comes out above everything else. It’s not bitter & tart like an actual grapefruit which was fantastic. And had a nice slight sweet taste.

I have been living under the impression that I don’t really like herbal teas which is clearly wrong since I love them. I’ve loved them all along since my go-to bagged teas (aka “lazy teas”) are all herbal. So why did I think I disliked them? I think I had one bad experience with over-steeped, bitter hibiscus and just wrote them all off. But I’ve since re-discovered my love for them and am on an herbal tea kick, so I was thrilled when I saw this in my samples from Fusion Teas. I’ve been debating over which of their samples to try first since they all sound tasty, but today it’s late and I need to go to bed so I grabbed this one.

You know those fresh from the fryer donuts you get when you go apple picking? The ones rolled in brown sugar with a crunchy crust and amazingly soft & fluffy insides? Yeah, the dry “leaves” smells very much like that. The stepped tea smells more chamomile-y, but the taste is still donuts! Donuts & chamomile. There are a bunch of ingredients that I’m not tasting individually (coconut, lemongrass, etc) but I think blended together they’re adding to that bake-y taste. Chamomile and vanilla are definitely the dominant flavors (which you’d expect given the name) and with a bit of honey this is divine.

I was really excited for this tea. The dry leaves smell JUST like pina colada. Yet, once it was steeping, it started smelling like fruit punch. It tastes a bit like apple juice, with just a hint of the coconuty, pineappley goodness I was anticipating. This tea does taste good, but it isn’t pina colada flavor. Fusion Tea, if you made another version of this without the apple and hibiscus, I feel like it would be exactly what I want. I would buy buckets of that stuff. Pretty please make it?

I received this as a sample from Fusion Tea Room (thank you!!!).
This smells delicious and rich dry – and the same steeped. It steeps to a rich brown colour and tastes wonderfully rich as well – cocoa and raspberries. Great with a bit of milk!

I received this tea as a sample from Fusion Tea Room (thank you!!). This is a nice fruity green tea hot, with a great goji flavour and the tea itself is sprinkled generously with goji berries. It is awesome iced!

This is the second genmaicha I’ve tried, and this is the second time I’ve tried this one.

Every once in awhile, I get this strange craving for genmaicha, so I brew up a cup (in this case, a small pot), and then as I’m drinking it, I really don’t like it.

But I drink it anyway since it satisfies the craving… and it’s better than actual popcorn loaded with butter!

I’m on my second steeping of this one, and I think I prefer it to Teavana’s Gyokuro Genmaicha. The bancha green is smooth and there’s a bit of caramelly taste toward the beginning of the sip. The rice is toasty but it doesn’t overpower the tea, and it’s very earthy. Not necessarily earthy in the sense that a pu’erh is earthy, but maybe grounded or solid is the word I’m looking for.

I can’t see myself ordering this again, but I’ll get around to drinking genmaichas if people give them to me :)

From this morning – I must have three dozen samples in little Baggies, most of them hearty black teas, that I haven’t tried yet. Of course I walked out the door without any of them because I am too asleep. It’s ok; I have an overflowing drawer at work. I’ll be fine. Except, I open the drawer and there are so many choices I feel paralyzed. This one popped up. I know it is not what I want for my first cup of the day, but it smells fruity and spicy and just happy. I could use some happy. Fusion Teas are master blenders. Nothing ever seems out of place in their teas. I can’t single out the ginger when this is hot. Frankly, I don’t feel like trying to sort it out. I just want tea. Oh wait. Once it cooled I gulped the last couple drinks and caught the bite of ginger and cinnamon. There was even a nice splash of light clove. This is a really nice cup; it just isn’t what I wanted this early. On to the next.

So I start the morning and the week in a blurry fog. I swear I grabbed the wrong glasses because I can’t focus on anything. I opened my tea drawer looking for a slap upside the head. Darjeeling, that should do it. As it is steeping I start to question my decision. Fusion makes awesome balanced blends but… in my awake state I don’t think of them when I need a caffeine jolt. Oh well, the deed is done. The timer goes off. I pour. I sip. Tastes like peaches. Instead of a slap, this is more of a pat on the head saying it is going to be ok. The taste is more peach, honeybush, ginger. The Ceylon and Darjeeeling teas are obvious in the leaf but distant in the taste. A great afternoon tea, and apparently a great wake up slowly tea. If this is English it must be working.

While I am steeping the first cup, the guy in the office next to mine buzzes on the intercom and asks, “Are you making tea?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I can smell it. It smells peachy”
“Do you like peach?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like me to make you some?”
“Sure!”

Minutes later I carry a cup next door. The power of tea.

My co-worker who had no expectations going in (except peach!) gave it a big thumbs up with a smile. In fact he later asked if I would make him another cup.

An extended review can be found on my blog @ http://theeverdayteablog.blogspot.com/2012/05/fusion-teas-ginger-darjeeling-peach.html

Iced tea of the day…. (SRP #34)

I have been waiting for a warmish day…. The first time I tried this tea, I steeped it up according to my usual mug method. It was bright and limey and reminded me of a margarita. Then the wheels started turning in that this would make the most awesome, refreshing iced tea. Today is the perfect day. We are working outside and it is going to get up to the 80s. I brewed this up using my iced tea method (double strong, pour over copious amounts of ice…) and what I have now is the best iced tea EVER! I love how the lime flavor is incredibly refreshing, and the pineapple and stevia leaf make it ever so lightly sweet. The Ceylon adds a light briskness. Perfect on its own. I need some!

Thank you to Thomas at Fusion Tea Room for the sample.

Usual iced tea method. No additions but ice!

This is really a tasty rooibos chai. It has a very pleasing balance of spices – spicy, but not too spicy, with just the right peppery kick to it. I taste the nutty tones of the rooibos which usually I’d prefer not to taste, but here, it works. A nice depth of flavor. Sweet, spicy, and delicious. The citrus peel adds just a touch of brightness to the cup without overthrowing the balance.

Very nice.

Thanks to Fusion Tea Room for this incredibly generous sample!

I have to admit, I wasn’t super stoked about this one – I don’t recall whether I requested it specifically, but it’s been a while, and citrusy greens and I have not been getting along terribly well. However, most were from DavidsTea, so I shouldn’t give up on them entirely until I try some from other companies! So I opened up the package to give some away to Indigobloom… and was pleasantly surprised by the smell of the dry tea. Not just citrus, but there’s something a little perfumey, fruity, and delicious-smelling in there too. Makes my mouth water. Steeped, it smells lightly of citrus. (Did I mention I put a giant orange slice and papaya chunk in my infuser?!)

Well, it definitely tastes like it smells dry (this is a GOOD thing!) And I seem to be getting a creamy/nutty green tea aftertaste, which is wonderful. The taste is nicely fruity, with no specific fruit taking over, everything just blends together. Although there is lemongrass in the mix, it also blends seamlessly in with everything else. There’s absolutely no astringency; I’d be tempted to both use more leaf and try a longer infusion to make this a bit stronger.

I think it would be interesting to ice/cold-brew this one for a refreshing fruity iced tea. I probably don’t have enough leaf to do too much playing around, but hopefully can get around to trying it that way!

ETA: Second infusion still has some flavour, but not enough. I should have used half the water. Oh well!

Tisane of the evening….. (SRP #33)

I love a good desserty honeybush blend. This one has notes of chocolate (although, like LiberTEAS, I do wish it was a little more prevalent), caramel, and rose. It does pay off to look at the steeping recommendations on this one…they recommend using 1 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of water and I might even use a little more than that. When it is done steeping and very hot, the flavors are not as noticeable as when the brew cools a little. And it does remind me of chocolate cake… I might add a little raw cacao powder next time. Who says it can’t be somewhere between a tisane and cocoa? A very enjoyable evening treat, especially for those who want to have their cake without too many calories.

Mug method with 3 tsp Chocolate Cake Honeybush, 8 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

Sample provided by Fusion Tea Room.

Second tea of the morning….. (SRP #32)

This sample was provided by Fusion Tea Room. (Thank you, Thomas!)

I have had many an Earl Grey as it is one of my favorite flavor profiles, so I was more than willing to give this one a try before it goes up for sale. This one has a mellow bergamot. I would not call it light, just mellow in that it is not super citrusy. I guess that means it leans more to the floral side. Yes. Mellow and floral, but not perfumy. The tea base is interesting. I did notice it was a little more smokey than the usual Earl Greys I drink, and then I read the description here…..it has a Ceylon and Yunnan base. The floral bergamot and the slight smoke from the Yunnan is a very good flavor match. There is also a hint of a bite/briskness from the Ceylon, but again it works with the floral and slight smoke. All in all a very well done Earl Grey. I like that it is a bit different from the usual ones I have been drinking. I think Thomas mentioned that this would be available around June 1, 2012.

Usual mug method with about 200 water and a 3 minute steep. Lightly sweetened.

My last sample that I haven’t logged from Fusion Tea Room!

So this tea…

Well…hmm…see…I……it was good. But…….it……….sigh It wasn’t what I was expecting, to be completely honest. But let me just review it and then explain.

Smell: Dry, in the bag. CARAMEL CARAMEL OH MY GOODNESS IT SMELLED CAKEY AND YUMMY! Though I did not taste chocolate at all. I mean, I guess maybe it was there….somewhere. Steeping it smelled WAY caramel-y! Yummy.

Taste: On the site it said this tea could be drank straight. I’m sorry, but THAT IS NOT TRUE! For me, at least. When I drank it, it wasn’t sweet and I couldn’t taste anything yummy. (Maybe I steeped it wrong, I don’t know, but at 8 mins and boiling, and following all instructions, twice, I don’t think so.) So I put in one packet of raw cane sugar, and that gave it a bit of a slight caramel taste. Slight. One other packet and it was SUPER sweet and SUPER caramel tasting. That was all though. It had a creamy caramel taste, a rich mouthfeel (haven’t been stretching my tea vocab, I need a start) and a pretty caramel color. Some slight cream may have made it better, maybe even more steep time. All in all, the tea wasn’t bad, I just couldn’t taste lots of yummy stuff. Sorry FTR, this one I don’t think is for me! (But I enjoy it enough to finish it, and keep trying to see if maybe it was something I did…I’m just not convinced this tea isn’t a slice of heaven, all of the other reviews were SO GOOD. So yeah, another go.)

I’ll rate now, but I’m not near a real computer and touch screen keyboards are finnicky.

Thank you Fusion Tea Room!

Smell: Dry, in the bag. It was very spicy, and I could definitely smell cinnamon and cardamom, and a hint of orange. It reminded me of chai a bit. There’s also a lot of ginger. Yummy smelling, but strong, so I couldn’t sniff it too much. LOL Steeping there was a lot of cinnamon going on, but that’s ok with me.

Taste: The cinnamon and all the spices were at the forefront, which is nice. It’s not too overpowering or strong. The orange is there, but not too much. It’s subtle. I do taste it though, and I like it. I also want to say I can taste the rooibos, but I’m not sure because I haven’t had enough of it yet to know it’s taste. Same with the tulsi. It’s all very yummy though, with a warm taste that isn’t too spicy. :-)

Other tasting tidbits: two packs of raw cane sugar. No cream, but I think I saw a review that said it was good with it, despite the orange. I’ll try it next time.

Sipping now. Will add review and rating after I get deeper into it!

Again, thanks to Fusion Tea Room for this sample! I must say, it was a very beautiful blend!! Very colorful and it made me smile at how pretty it is! Job well done. :-)

Smell: Dry, in the bag. PEACH!! PEACHY PEACH PEACH! And maybe some berry-ish appley smell? More peach berry than anything else. It was another one that I kept sniffing the bag while I waited for my water to boil. Steeping the peachy smell was still there, though the berry kind of died out and the hibiscus began surfacing. Color was a pretty red-purple, common for hibiscus and berry teas, I’m noticing. Kind of wine like. Yum.

Taste: First sip, with one packet of sugar (in the raw, as always!) It was tart. Not overly so, but a little bit, and the peach was so-so. A bit more sugar, and the peach came out a bit more and the tart died down. I’m not sure what my other tastes are, to be honest, because the tart and peach are the only ones surfacing. I’m going to let it cool for a bit.

time lapse. Warm now, but not hot, and the peach is WAY there, the tart is not bad at all anymore (me and hibiscus are starting to become friends) and I can taste a berry something. Not sure what, but I can taste it. I really like this tea, I think it’s yummy, I can taste all sorts of things, just don’t have a name for them, and I can taste lots of peach, which is good for me, because when I get a peach tea, that’s what I want: peach. (And I LOVE peach!)

I’m going to try this iced in a little bit, and update, because that is how it was suggested, though I think it is good warm. Peach. :-) Yay.

Side note on brewing: The first few times I’ve brewed any of my Fusion tea room teas (the Earl Grey, and the Chocolate Cake) and a few other loose leaf teas I used a tea ball, and they didn’t come out right. Now that I’ved used my bigger tea strainer (not huge though. You can put it in the mug. Perfect size!) all the teas have been perfect. :-) Yay for good tea strainers!! And letting tea breathe!

Update: THIS TEA IS GREAT ICED! But again, it’s also very good warm, so which ever you try and prefer is the way to go!!

I drank this one last night but it was iffy since I wasn’t using my kettle/tea stuff, I was using a friend’s while visiting. So I didn’t add the tasting note last night because I wanted to make sure I did it right with my own things. :-)

Once again, thank you to Fusion Tea Room for this!!

Smell: Dry, in the bag. Very Cocoa-y. Can’t really smell the orange, and the cocoa is a medium smell, but yummy. It doesn’t smell overly sweet, it smells like natural cocoa, and I like it. Steeping the cocoa is still there, though not as strong. Still yummy though. Makes me excited. The color is a light orange-brown, and I was worried that for some reason it was steeping weak, but the taste for both times is about the same, and this time is strong, so I think I’m doing this right.

Taste: First raw sugar packet, the cocoa is subtle, and the orange isn’t there at all. A little bit more sugar (I like sweet!) and the cocoa is definitely there. The orange is also there, a bit less than the cocoa, but I love the mix. The cocoa is smooth, creamy, and again, not overpowering, and there is a nice citrusy taste, but not sour. It’s all very sweet and pleasant. takes a sip. Oh yeah, this is just….so yummy! I love how I can taste the cocoa, so that the name isn’t lying. The orange…it’s there, but, now that I’ve tasted it again, it’s very subtle, and a bit overpowered by the cocoa, but for me personally, I like that. Upping the rating a bit because it is sweeter than the first few sips let on….

more sips. Yummy. I’m happy with this, and it’s herbal so I can drink this late at night!!! :D

My first cup last night was steeped at 7 mins, but again, it just wasn’t exactly right because I was working with stuff that wasn’t mine. This time, I bumped it up to 8 minutes. If there wasn’t orange in this, I would possibly put cream, but I learned the hard way (before being told) that cream curdles in orange tea. :P But I don’t think it needs it that bad, it would just go nice with the chocolate taste.

I’m very satisfied with it though! YUM!

I want to send a big shout-out to Thomas at Fusion Tea Room for your amazing service (100 rating, I swear) and the wonderful (and generous) samples. My first review wasn’t great, so please read this one instead if you already saw that one!

This is a re-do of my first review. I am heating the water now, and I am going to ensure I have the proper water temperature. I’m going to let the pot cool for a bit, and then try again.

time lapse Yeah, because I’m not going to make you wait.

Smell: Dry, in the bag. OH MY GOSH OH MY GOODNESS OH MY……Just wow. I love the smell of Earl Grey, and I could just smell this the whole time I am waiting for it to steep. I mean, I don’t know if you can eat tea straight up, but if you could, I would want to eat this. That may be weird, but it just SMELLS SO GOOD TO ME! It’s a light, citrusy (did I spell that right?) aroma, and it isn’t too strong. It’s just….heavenly! :-) As it is steeping, the aroma isn’t as strong, but still as good. I am going to up the rating just because of the smell….

And my temp. slider won’t let me set it at 203 degrees……but 205 isn’t that off, so yeah.

Taste: Ohhh yeah, that’s perfect. This is a very smooth Earl Grey. There is NO bitter in here. None. So I take back my previous statement about Bergomot being bitter in general.Well, ok, I taste a small amount of…not bitter, but just the strong taste of tea in general, you know? But the Earl Grey! The flavor!! THIS IS AMAZING!!! And it’s amazing what temperature change can do! Two packets of sugar in the raw and this is perfect for me. And yeah, you may think my rating is high but THIS IS THE BEST EARL GREY I HAVE EVER TASTED!! It is even a bit better than my favorite, also 100 rated Earl Grey tea. I’m going to have to bump that rating down a bit, since it has been so long since I’ve had that EG anyway. I don’t think I’m ever going back to bagged tea again, not if it comes in a loose form. (Or if it is just one of those really high quality places anyway. I can do that.) I want to just ramble on. I LOVE this!

And this review is supposed to be completely honest. So here is my honesty: The first steep, before I re-adjusted tea temp, wasn’t so good. I could drink it but it wasn’t that good. But now that I have re-done it, THIS TEA IS AMAZING I AM NOT LYING!! BEST EVER! EVER!! And to know that I have CHOCOLATE CAKE HONEYBUSH BY FUSION TEA ROOM THAT I HAVE YET TO TRY? Oh……………boy.

Last night I was so wired when we got home I couldn’t sleep. So my wife heads to bed and I head to the den to launch a rescue mission to save three brave Kerbals trapped on the surface of Laythe, a moon of the gas giant Jool. This morning they are still staring at the sky wondering if help will ever arrive. Yeah, the mission failed to make a good intercept, and rather than trap another, I returned to the space center.

I prepared a cup of this herbal while trying to unwind. I learned 3 things. I have never reviewed this on my blog – how did that happen? I didn’t realize there were so many ingredients in this. And finally, I learned even with chamomile there is no point going to bed when you are awake. My brain would not shut down. Tossed half the night. Had to get up early to set up my guitar for church. Now my brain hurts.

I did enjoy the appley coconut and vanilla of this last night. Just wish it had actually put me to sleep.

Been a long time since 5:00 AM. My brain won’t shut down. Fixed a cup of this and I am hoping it works. My favorite chamomile.

From last night. I really like the combination of chamomile and vanilla – especially when the vanilla is not over the top. This is just a nice relaxing cup.