The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

I received a generous sample of this tea from the company for review and I must admit I’m a bit wary to begin with. It’s not that the tea looks or smells poorly in any way, just that the pomegranate aroma is quite sweet. Lately, I’ve been more drawn toward more naturally flavored teas, so I wanted to wait a little until I was more liable to enjoy the tea for what it is.

Upon opening the tin, the aroma was quite sweet and fruity. Though it is not in a sugary way that you sometimes get with flavored teas. So it’s definitely a good start! The appearance of the dry leaves is quite appealing. With little dried bits of pomegranate in the mix, it gives me hope for a very nice, natural flavor. I’ve noticed with some other pomegranate flavored teas that the aroma is more powerful than the actual flavor, so everything so far indicates something I should enjoy.

As suspected, once brewed, the sweet flavors are absolutely muted to a mellowness that is absolutely pleasant. The green tea taste is perhaps muted more than I would prefer, but I definitely am enjoying this tea more than I anticipated when I first popped open the tin.

To come down to it, this is a tea I will happily enjoy on a relaxing morning when I am looking for a light pick-me-up. My next experiment with this tea will be to make it iced and see how that goes. I have a feeling I’ll enjoy it even more like that!

My second taste of a rooibos blend (first being Adagio’s Foxtrot) and I think I am probably going to be a fan of it!

From the leaves I got almost entirely a caramel smell, but on the brewed tea I noticed a medicinal smell as well. The combo of the rooibos’ earthy flavor and caramel made each mouthful seem almost /filling/. Like a mouthful of something other than liquid (maybe sort of yoghurt-y?), which was quite good.

Thank you Dhart1214 for this sample tea

La la la la la….

What does one do when one does not care for a tea? One has to look for something that is good about the tea like a detective!

I’ll become… Miss Marple …The BBC Detective!

Miss Marple is in the kitchen with her pot of tea, flowery rose china cup (totally not me) which she takes on a tray (along with cream and castor sugar) to a table by the garden window.

The first pour is a nose scrunching audible, “Really, oh no! Something has to be done about this!” (The black thick tea was so strong and bitter it could have disintegrated a discarded murder weapon!)
“I’ll add some cream and castor sugar. Surely that will make this tea drinkable.” But alas, the tea was still sour and without a chocolate, coconut flavor at all.
“Drat it all! Whatever is the matter with this tea? Has it been meddled with?” Looking into the cup for a bit, you could see the process of deduction…the sleuth at work.
“I’ll dilute the tea!”
This proved to be the best answer to drinkability but just barely.

Miss Marple’s deduction was as follows:

Either there was something that went terribly wrong with the Puerh base which made the tea have an odd taste. Or,the flavoring went berserk taking on a persona that has nothing to do with coconut or cocoa. (It could also be a sinister plot.)

The case had to go into the file of unsolved mysteries!

I like a good mystery, and I’ll assume that I am the only one that had an off packet of this tea and leave it at that.

I am reviewing this tea thanks to a lovely sample sent to me from Awkward Soul! Thank you! When I first smelled the dry leaves, I thought they smelled a little soapy. But I love coconut, chocolate, and tea, and the thought of all three together made my head explode, so I thought I’d steep it anyway.

I’m glad I did! In the cup, this tea is very dark. The taste is smooth and rich and there is a creamy mouthfeel. You can definitely detect the chocolate; the coconut is more muted. I finished my cup several minutes ago and I still have a creamy aftertaste on my tongue.

I’m not experienced enough to figure out how pu-erh tea differs from regular black tea in taste, especially because I usually drink flavored teas and sweeten them. But I’m pretty sure that this would be a good introduction to pu-erh tea because it’s so smooth.

Please see full review at 6 central on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are snippets:

Today I needed something to center my mind. I have had a crazy busy week, missing one day of reviewing entirely (sorry about that), so today I just needed to get focus back, and ground myself. This tea was calling to me and it is doing just what I needed it to. I also find that Genmaicha helps curb hunger pangs and will really get you through to meal time.

I have sampled a lot of Genmaicha teas and this is one of my top three favorites due to its high roasted flavor. Yet, even with its high roasted flavor, the sencha is the star of the show! You do not lose one bit of the wonderful sencha taste. It also just fills my room with earthy, fresh aromas and is way better smelling than any room spray!

I love a tea company that does good. I personally love this excerpt from their site:

“We, at The Persimmon Tree®, contribute to the sustainability of our planet. Where possible, we use recycled and recyclable materials in our shipping supplies and printed materials. Using recycled products increases the demand for recycled material, which increases the rate of recyclability. Our passion is to instigate and experience positive change through the simple things, and we encourage our customers to do the same.”

A very good Genmaicha, a very good company!

I got this as a sample from The Persimmon Tree Tea. I LOVE genmaicha! This is a really nice one. Its roasty and toasty and really forgiving!
I knew I was using too hot of water temp but I was too impatient to wait for it to cool down so just used the 195 degree water out of my Zojiroushi. (sp?) letting it steep for a good 5 minutes. I really need a nap and am in one of those moods where if I over steeped or didn’t get the water temp right so be it. Surprisingly this turned out really nice!
It does not taste over steeped or as if I burnt it!
Thank you genmaicha for being so kind today!
VERY yummy!

Mmm.. I completely forgot I had this tea! But I’m happy I found it. And good thing too because I’ve been craving a jasmine tea. Anyways.. this tea smells wonderful, fruity and floral. The flavor is light, mostly floral with fruity undertones. The flavors blend well :] This makes a good tea to just sit and relax with.

Eh, this tasted neither like chocolate nor banana. Meh.

Apparently it was better when it wasn’t so old.

Wow, this is better than I expected! The rooibos is nicely tamed, and I’m tasting some banana, but less chocolate than I would like (although it is definitely there!) If you’re looking for a desserty tea, this would probably fit the bill, but it’s not quite as banana-y or chocolatey as the name would suggest. Getting a bit of throat scratchiness from the rooibos though, which seems to be a common issue with me. This is a nice blend for the evening, but not something I’d stock up on.

Sipdown! 261/365!

Made a large mug of this tonight just to finish it off. Yay for sipdowns of old things! I’ve been drinking a lot of new stuff lately. Anyways, this is one of my fave chamomile blends – sweet and creamy and delicious. I can taste caramel, but not as much banana today – which I’m totally fine with. And the coconut, which I think I’d remarked was on the way out, is just fine today. Fingers crossed this will counteract the effects of 3 cups of caffeinated tea before bed! Haha. (What good is a chamomile tea for helping you sleep when you pair it with a bunch of caffeinated beverages?)

I distinctly remember picking out this tea to try from the Persimmon Tree, mainly because I quite enjoy(ed) DavidsTea’s Banana Dulce. Although this one seems more broken up, it tastes very much like my memory of the DT version, leading me to believe that they were likely sourced from the same place. I’m not really tasting banana specifically (banana haters may disagree), but it’s a smooth, sweet, caramelly rooibos blend. The chamomile, as in the DT version, is not offputting as it sometimes can be for me. It does contain coconut; by some miracle, it has not yet gone rancid, though this tea will be put into the pile of coconutty teas to drink quickly. Overall a pleasant evening blend.

Picked a sample of this one up as I was curious as to how it compares to DavidsTea’s Dulce & Banana. The aroma of the dry tea is quite similar, caramelly-sweet and chamomiley, but I’m definitely getting a bit more chamomile than I’m used to, and it’s a bit offputting. Steeped, however, it smells very similar. The flavour, too, is quite similar; not really much discernible banana, some caramelly sweetness, all rounded out by chamomile.

I’ll have to do a direct comparison to DT’s version at some point, but I think I like it a bit better.

ETA: A re-steep worked out ok here, definitely got heavier on the chamomile though. I opted to stick with just the two infusions as the smell of the chamomile was getting to me.

Full review tomorrow on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but for now here are the snippits:

My first experience with Lotus from The Persimmon Tree was almost a year ago from a sample The Persimmon Tree sent me. I am so glad that they did because this is not a tea I would have selected for myself. The main reason is because I detest anise. Actually had I remembered that Anise was in this tea I may not have even tried the sample, but one day I grabbed the first thing from my sample drawer and steeped this up, without reading the description. I am glad that I did! It was a happy mistake. The anise in this tea comes over more as a black pepper taste on my palate, but it is like a flowery black pepper! Then at the end of the sip this lovely creamy vanilla note comes creeping over, leaving behind a lovely floral after taste. As I sat there enjoying the floral note, the pepper creeps back in! This tea makes you do a double, no, triple, then a quadruple take!

This tea is spectacular, completely different from any tea I have experience before including other lotus teas. I have noticed the reviews on Steepster.com and it appears that this is a love it or hate it tea. I really suggest getting at least a sample size to try for yourself. I know how much I despise anise, yet this tea is so yummy. Every time I get ready to prepare it I brace myself to dislike it, just because I know how much I dislike anise, yet every time I sip it I sit back and smile thinking how good it is.

OMG I LOVE This and I for one hate anise! So let me tell you the first impression I got from this is flowery black pepper! Then a creamy sensation took over. Then a floral after taste – but wait THEN it developed back into the pepper. I took agree, I don’t know what is going on with this tea but I am in LOVE here!
I am absolutely getting some of this!
I am surprised it took me so long to give this one a try!
It has me rethinking several other teas from The Persimmon Tree that I have passed by!
Regarding the other two tasting notes I really never thought I would have liked this.
So glad they sent me a sample!
:)

I got this as a free sample with my last Persimmon Tree order, and was a bit skeptical. As much as I love loose leaf tea, I didn’t think there’d be any real difference between a bagged mint and loose mint. I mean, it’s just mint, right? Not like it expands or anything.

Well, I was wrong! Even though this has spearmint, and I really prefer peppermint, the blending is just perfect. It has that characteristic sweetness from the peppermint, but it’s balanced by a nice bit of tang/bite from the spearmint. It’s so smooth and refreshing, I think I’ve found a new everyday mint tea! Plus it’s grown domestically which is pretty cool.

I think this tea has, sadly, lost flavour. Don’t recall if I could taste much the last time I drank it (but, it was also in a travel mug so maybe that was just a poor decision). Anyways, still some left to finish off.

Tasty travel mug tea from yesterday. I wish I could taste more strawberry, but I do like the guava/ginger combo. This tea is so fluffy, the ounce I have is lasting FOREVER…

Finally trying my tea from The Persimmon Tree! I got this one in a free 1 oz. promo they had. Hoping it’s delicious!

The dry tea smelled a bit like guava, if I recall correctly, but not as strongly as I would have liked. The flavour is also rather mild… BUT it does actually taste like guava! I just read Azzrian’s note below and see that there’s apparently ginger in here?? I’d believe it, and it’s at the perfect level too. Strawberry? Hmmm, can’t really pick that up. I’ll have to try this again when I’m in less of a rush, and can review it before it sits cold for a couple hours. Seems quite promising though!

ETA: Second infusion was even better, if I recall correctly! Threw out the leaves after that though, as they had been sitting too long. Many more future attempts await :)

This is a lovely tea. I think i’ll need to try it iced as there’s a bit much in the way of jasmine for me to really enjoy this hot. However, it’s exactly what I expected. :)

I tried this both hot and cold brewed—hot I think the mint kind of overwhelmed everything else, it just tasted like a regular peppermint to me. Cold, though, the other flavors come out beautifully. The rose, mint and white tea all meld together and work so well in combination. I love mint/rose together, and this definitely doesn’t disappoint! They don’t overwhelm each other OR the base, which I was surprised by. White teas are so light and delicate, I didn’t know how a strong flavor like peppermint would work. But the blending is very nice, just the right amount of everything.

There’s also a hint of something else… maybe fruit of some sort? Like a soft whiff of strawberry. It’s very nice! Being a lover of both rose and peppermint I am totally loving this blend.

This is quite different from what I was expecting. In my head, ‘Tropical Pineapple’ sounds like a pina colada type drink, heavy on the flavoring. However, this is a pretty light blend! The green base shines through, grassy and crisp. The flavors are very subdued: the pineapple tastes like some fresh squeezed juice was mixed with a nice green tea, it’s very soft and subtle. However, it’s without any tang, which I kind of expect from pineapple.

There’s another fruit taste here too—apricot maybe? Well, it tastes like apricot! Kind of rich and lightly sweet, it goes really well with the pineapple to balance it out. It’s a tropical glass without being overly tropical (not that I mind super tropical flavors, but I prefer them with a black base). Of course I had this cold brewed, for some reason I find hot teas with tropical tastes kind of… strange? Anyway, an excellent iced tea, maybe the best green I’ve tried from Persimmon—I think the flavors are balanced a lot better than Green Pomegranate. The Caramel does give this a run for its money though! Maybe I should do a side by side taste-test.