Fusion Teas

Backlog! Thank you very much to Fusion Tea Room for sending me this generously sized sample!

Compared to the Coco-Raspberry Mate this one is simply an “eh” tea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, it’s just somewhat unremarkable. I definitely plan on making this one again with milk so I can play around with the taste a little more, but for now this one gets a medium rating in my book.

Thank you for this sample, Fusion Tea Room!

As I was walking with my mug back to catch the last half hour of the American Le Mans race at Long Beach, it suddenly really smelled like hot cocoa. I almost couldn’t wait for it to finish steeping.

Since I have another race to watch that doesn’t start till 3am, maté time it is.

So this is my first maté by itself and I can taste it this time. I’m not used to it so it’s kind of throwing me off. It also tastes kind of minty? I can smell a bit of raspberry in the dry leaf but I’m not getting it in the cup. It does taste like it’s sweet like a berry but I can’t taste it. I might try steeping it longer next time, though I think I did for about 8 minutes.

As it’s cooling though I can kind of start getting a raspberry flavor, so maybe my taste buds are just being rebellious.

It is sweet and chocolatey, and I imagine that this is perfect for a introduction to maté. The earthy maté taste blends well with the chocolate, making it easier to get used to the taste of it.

My boyfriend just came in because I freaked out over my favorite car passing for a podium position and said it smelled good. So I let him taste it, and he said it was pretty good. This comes after he told me he doesn’t like tea.

Additional notes: So this is an old favorite from years ago. But I bought a few sample sizes of my favorites from Fusion for their Black Friday sale. And sadly, I’m starting to see that fresh “harvests” of the new teas just don’t seem to be as fresh as I remember them tasting years ago when I first bought them. If I’m being unclear: these new pouches taste like my years old pouches. Not good. This one is almost unbearable now. Mostly the blend is full of rooibos and it’s the kind that seeps through the teabag I steep it in. Usually nothing gets through these teabags. Now this blend just seems like a scratchy to my throat rooibos with only hints of lime. Hmm. Many of these new samples do not taste as fresh as I remember these delicious Fusion teas were the first time around. I could almost brew up my old pouch of this and have it taste better. (Except for maybe the coconut.) I’m not saying the blends have seemed like different blends yet…. I just mean not fresh. This isn’t amusing seeing as how the sample sizes went down and the price went up. Though Fusion was generous before (I think it was once $2 for a 10 teaspoon sample or something?) I’m just very glad that I didn’t stock up on three ounce pouches of teas that just don’t seem the same. I will commend Fusion for keeping all of their blends in stock that I love though.

Additional notes: When I was going through my teas stocking the tea boxes, I realized this and the Carrot Cake have coconut in them! Ultimate tea ruiners! Even though the pouches they are stored in are the best possible quality, the scent of the coconut is already a little off. I had to check the flavor. Brewed, I can’t taste the bad coconut but the flavor seems less than it once was… faded and mostly rooibos. There isn’t that bright lime as there was before. I really need to make a list of coconut teas and drink them faster. Note: This is an amazing blend when fresh!

Now this is a wicked blend! Pistachios! Almonds! Lime! Coconut! All on a base of both kinds of rooibos and yerba mate! Yum yum yum! The main flavor here is lime, but I think if I steeped it hotter and longer, the nuttier flavors would show. The lime is not too bitter or sour — it is perfect. The bases of rooibos and yerba mate for these flavors couldn’t be better either. This is one of my favorite ideas for a blend! I really think Fusion Tea Room puts extra thought and care into making these amazing blends. I can’t wait to try more!

Backlog from this morning! Many thanks to Fusion Tea Room for sending me this!

Oh.
My.
God.

This is actually amazing. I would bathe in this if possible. The mate is nice and robust and the sweetness of the raspberry and chocolate really compliments it nicely. This really does taste legitimately like a chocolate raspberry truffle! This will definitely be a part of a purchase from Fusion! Thanks again guys!

Very nice – smells like sin – tastes really great too but I had to add a little sugar and milk to make it what I had in mind from the name and smell – still I would buy again it was nice!
Not enough time to do a real review but I give it a thumbs up.

I thought this was a very tasty and smooth earl grey. In my experience, you must be careful in brewing it and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I attempted to brew it like a standard black tea using boiling water but this produced a bitter tea. I tried again with a temperature of approximately 190-200 degrees Fahrenheit and it was DELICIOUS. It was a more mellow earl grey than what I am used to but it was very unique and delicious. Man, earl greys have really grown on me… I’m really enjoying my samples from Fusion and I’m thinking I’m gonna have to place an order in the future.

Yay I have samples from Fusion Tea Room! I am surprised to be the first one logging this. Since I am in Georgia I feel the need to get everything peach flavored. (Fun fact: There are 23592 peach related streets here. Once I was looking for a chocolate shop on Peachtree Road, but turned onto North Peachtree Road, and I had just come from Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, and eventually turned around on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road. Yep.)

Peaches do not really even appear on the ingredient list (probably just under flavoring), but the taste is still there. It’s more berry and peach than just peach. I had been expecting all peach, but the berry flavor is tasty too. I’m not sure what exactly I am tasting, but there are four berries listed in the ingredients and to me they have combined into one superberry flavor.

I am getting better at accepting hibiscus. It wasn’t too bad, and with a bit of sweetener it’s now hardly noticeable over the fruit flavors. If I can get the flavor of hibiscus, it’s the peach flavor that comes to the rescue of my tastebuds and all is well again.

This is pretty good, I should also mention that I had it iced. I don’t think I would try to drink this hot, because it is way too good cooled off and poured over ice instead.

This is delicious, but you have to like tart flavors. The main flavors are essentially sweet and tart cranberry, pomegranate, and hibiscus flavors with subtle warming spices in the background. It’s very juicy and mouth watering, I’m a big fan of this stuff.

I have to say that I like this quite a bit more than others on here seem to. It has an earthy, somewhat smokey/musty flavor that reminds me a lot of pu-erh and I think that those flavors are complemented quite well by the caramel flavor. I was expecting to need to add milk and sugar but I found that it was mellow enough and had enough sweetness on its own. I didn’t like this as much as the mocha mint mate, but it was still very good.

It feels like I’ve been enjoying loose-tea for forever, but there are times when I am reminded just how new I really am to the world of tea. Since December I’ve tried my first white tea, my first oolong tea, my first rooibos, my first pu-erh, and now it’s time for my first mate. Yes, this one is flavored, but it left me feeling very curious to try more mate blends because it was DELICIOUS. There are so many different layers of warm toastiness in this and that toastiness blends PERFECTLY with the slight chocolate flavors. Then you get the crisp, fresh mint flavor to liven up the dark roasted tones. I love the scent coming from the dry leaf, and the flavor of this tea is just as great. I love it. Thank you, Fusion Tea Room for these generous samples.

Backlogging:

So I love Genmaicha, so much, I honestly munch on it right out of the bag, well not the leaves, they don’t chew well, but the rest of it I am guilty of.

Fusion has a nice Genmaicha and its organic, which I prefer when I can get what I am looking for in organic form.

My first teas came from Fusion Teas just this week (this was weeks ago now) and I was really pleased with their packaging. Each foil like bag had a bright cheery label with full steeping instructions. Since I can’t seem to remember from one tea / steep to the next times and temps I love having them provided on the label! Thank you for this Fusion Teas.

Fusion’s Genmaicha is not the strongest flavored genmaicha I have ever had but I like it. Some days I want a genmaicha that is really strong, really “meaty” that I can sit back and savor and sip on for an extended period of time. Other days, especially with summer upon me in the midwest, I know I will prefer a lighter genmaicha and Fusion Teas’ Genmaicha will perfectly fit that bill! While I would not want to go more than a day or two without having a Genmaicha sometimes especially on the hottest of days I just can’t seem to drink a full cup due to its fullness, heaviness, and thickness of mouthfeel but with Fusion’s Genmaicha I know I will be loving this every day all summer long! Its actually one I feel I can chill and enjoy cold!

Genmaicha Light if you will, this tea is also perfect as an introductory genmaicha. Its not too overwhelming and from my own experience introducing people to genmaicha it can be something that people either love or, well, don’t love. I have a good feeling this is one that most everyone will be able to enjoy!

If you have not experienced genmaicha before, think nutty, buttery, lightly sweet, caramel like, and reminiscent of buttered popcorn, yet earthy, and green. Yes I know it sounds like a mouth full!

Fusion Tea Room’s Organic Genmaicha is brewed at 170 degrees F for 2 to 3 minutes. I brewed mine for 3 as I wanted a fuller flavor and usually go for a longer steep time. You can brew from 1 to 2 teaspoons at these settings, I used 1 and a half. I like that you can adjust your steep time and leaf amount to taste as this tea gives a bit of wiggle room for an even lighter or stronger brew!

To me, genmaicha is decadent, an indulgence, yet how can it be when it’s not bad for me? Its something I crave, think about often, I have to keep myself from drinking too much of it from fear I may run out. Did I mention I love genmaicha? The thing is yes there are some genmaicha that are better than others. I had thought I had found my one and only genmaicha, and I will always order that genmaicha from that vendor. The deal is though, now that I have had Fusion Tea Room’s genmaicha I have two I love, one that I believe will become my fall and winter genmaicha, and this one that will be my spring and summer genmaicha! I am just a lucky duck that I live in a state that has four seasons!

This was good. There are some I like better but its not as deep or heavy as many genmaicha – this could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are looking for but for the summer weather I like it! I could see this being what I drink in the summer and Den’s in the winter!

I got my samples from Fusion Tea Room today (very large samples by the way), and I decided to try this one first. The dominant flavors for me are definitely the apple and cinnamon, and there is a little bit of a pseudo-minty flavor in the background. If I really focus on it, I can taste a little bit of the pear flavor as well. Overall, I thought this was very good. It reminded me a lot of hot apple cider with a little less sweetness. I enjoyed this.

I did make this one last night, used some plain rooibos to tone down the flavor a bit, still seems very strong to me and not at all cookie like. Let me know if anyone wants to swap. :)

I tried it again last night, used less leaf this time and steeped for 5 minutes. It still reminds me more of Indian food than cookies – is it the peanuts? I added some sugar which helped a little bit. Probably will not get this again.

I really can’t rate this one for now… upon smelling the wet leaf and the tea I could not place the aroma, then it reminded me: OMG! Indian food! To me this smells exactly like a curry dish. I even had to check to see that there was no turmeric in this. A bit of sweetener was a must but I still feel like I should be dipping a samosa into this.

I tried a bit of the wet steeped fruit in my blend and there must be something spicy in this besides ginger, maybe even cayenne pepper? Wow. I generally like spicy herbal teas but this is potent! I did not overdo it with the leaf but perhaps next time I will try slightly less?

I will check back soon with the Steepster crowd to make sure I am not losing my mind….

I’ve had this over the last two nights as my evening tea (I have a whole bag to finish up!)

This is one rooibos which seems better when it is steeped for only 5 minutes and you need to be prudent with the leaf due to all the stevia and spices. I did increase my rating by a few points, if you drink it with soymilk it’s a bit better. see previous notes for more info.

I’m back from my trip, sad that 3 day weekends seem so short (as do all weekends, or any time I’m not at work).

I decided I wanted a cup of something from the minute I walked in the door but maybe caffeine was not a good idea at this late hour. I had not tried this blend from Fusion Teas before now. It smells exacly like a pumpkin pie when you open up the bag… mmm!

This was steeped for around 8 minutes with boiling water. I did add some soymilk to mine since that’s usually how I drink rooibos. This reminds me a bit of a sweet potato pie! There’s some stevia in it which is definitely not my favorite. I’d rather just add my own sweetener. Stevia leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth. Aside from that, this blend has a lot of cinnamon, ginger and mace which does give it the flavor of a pumpkin or a sweet potato pie. If there was no stevia I certainly would have rated this a lot higher. Note to self: be a bit more careful on reading labels in the future.

Definitely a nice tea for the evening time, a bit of cocoa, orange and lemongrass makes for a very tasty and relaxing tisane. Sweet and yummmmy! See previous notes for more info. :-)

I accidentally typed this note in the Orange Spice rooibos section a moment ago, so I’m going to try again!

Herbal blends can be difficult to do well, or creatively. This is a very earthy cup with orange, cocoa notes and a bit of citrus from the lemongrass. The cocoa element I found to be fairly light but lends some depth to this blend. It is fairly well balanced but also hearty enough to be a nice substitute for coffee. I am not feeling too overpowered by the spices in this blend, but I like my teas kinda spicy.

I liked this a lot and would definitely reorder.

Finishing off the rest of this sample tonight, I cold brewed it for 24 hours as an experiment. It’s pretty good this way, but you would have to like rooibos. See previous notes for more info…

This is very enjoyable for an herbal blend. It does have tulsi in it but also red rooibos. I am getting a lot of rooibos and orange in this cup. It reminds me ever so slightly of Constant Comment with the spices: ginger, cinnamon and orange. I’m not tasting a lot of tulsi here but the other ingredients could be overshadowing it just a touch.

In spite of this being a caffeine free tisane, it seems very rich and dark. It does have a bit of a kick to it, probably due to the peppercorns. This was very good plain but it also accommodated a splash of soymilk quite nicely.