Good Life Tea

Eight different companies listed at Steepster are offering a tea by the name of Angel Falls Mist, including Good Life Tea, which sent me this sample. I wonder if these companies are prohibited from changing the name? That does not seem likely. But why not go ahead and do it in a case such as this, where what is palpably Rote Grutze is being re-branded as something which has no literal meaning whatsoever. Angel Falls Mist? Really?

This herbal blend is pretty good for a Rote Grutze. Okay, maybe it’s not exactly Rote Grutze, since there seems to be quite a bit of non-red stuff (apples?) here, but the flavor is very similar. It was nice of Good Life Tea to send me free samples, but I’m not convinced that any value has been added to the product since it was acquired from the wholesaler.

I suppose that Upton, et al., do the same thing, in a way, but I feel more confident that they actually know more about tea than I do. Not so clear that the smaller companies sprouting up all over the place are being run by people who are distinguished specifically for their tea prowess… This bubble may pop soon. Or perhaps it already has, as evidenced by the short lifespan of many of these companies. It seems that another one is shuttering its stores every day or so…

When looking for this Belgian Chocolate Rooibos, I found about twelve other entries for teas of the very same name but offered by different companies, so this is obviously one of those cases referred to in a recent forum thread which discusses the phenomenon of different companies sourcing from the same megacompany… I somewhat agree with the OP, that there are all sorts of uncertainties involved, above all, the age of the original blend. How long did the wholesaler have it in stock before it was sold to a retailer who then turned around and offered it as new?

I was sent a small sample of this blend by Good Life Tea—just enough for a small cup. It was pretty good. In fact, very good for a rooibos blend, because it did not really taste like rooibos! The mint was quite obvious, so I’d have called this Chocolate Mint Rooibos. Not so sure that the Belgian is detectable…

This is the tea equivalent of that fireball candy you ate as a kid. There is black tea in it, but all I taste is cinnamon. It’ll clear out your sinuses maybe, but… It’s not really my kind of tea. I’d rather drink a chai with a more balanced flavor.

Thank you Good Life Tea for the sample! Though this blend has hibiscus in it, I’d like to say first that this blend uses it WELL. It isn’t overdone… just enough tang to give the flavor depth. I can deal with hibiscus when it’s used well. Otherwise, there is a lovely berry flavor. It’s almost like two levels – the berry and the tanginess. Here we have blueberries, elderberries, hibiscus and raisins (I THOUGHT I saw a raisin in the blend!) All of the ingredients work very well together. It’s a satisfying cup… a very tasty herbal. I’m sure it’s especially satisfying as an iced tea in summer. Of the six teas I’ve tried from Good Life, all of them were enjoyable, even if they are sometimes something I’d avoid (like hibiscus). I noticed on the website: Free shipping on orders over $15 right now!
Steep #1 // 5 min after boiling // 3 min steep
http://www.goodlifetea.com/collections/delicious-loose-leaf-herbal-teas-and-tisanes/products/berry-berry-fruit-tea-tisane

Backlog:

This blend had a bit too much hibiscus for my liking. I tasted mostly hibiscus, with some notes of ginger and lemon grass. I didn’t taste much pineapple or coconut from it at first, but by mid-cup, I got more fruit notes.

This blend would have been so much better without the hibiscus. I drank it, I’d probably drink it again if it were offered to me, but would I order some for myself if I had other choices available to me? Probably not.

It tastes much better cold than hot. As it cools, some of the promised fruit flavors begin to emerge and the hibiscus fades a little. Still not my favorite, but it becomes much nicer cold.

Backlog:

I wasn’t too excited to try this blend because I’m not all that excited when it comes to hibiscus and/or chamomile and since this tisane has both, it was like … double non-excitement.

That said, this was actually pretty tasty. I learned quite some time ago that the key with teas/tisanes with hibiscus is not to steep it too long. Hibiscus, when steeped too long becomes thick, syrupy and too tart. I don’t want to drink that. Steeping less time will usually result in some texture from the hibiscus as well as some tartness, but not an overwhelming presence of these characteristics.

This tisane is pleasantly sweet – there’s also amber sugar in this blend, which I am also generally against being put in my tea (any sweeteners/sugars/honey), because I like to decide how much sweetener is going into my tea (if any). But the amber sugar does help curb some of the tart and I have to admit that I appreciated that.

Fruity – nice blueberry note. The hibiscus does enhance that berry note. The lemongrass adds just the right amount of citrus-y notes. I can barely taste the chamomile here – this would be a good person who wants to get the benefits of some chamomile but doesn’t like the flavor of it.

A pleasant tisane, here’s my full-length article: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/08/20/c-of-tranquilitea-herbal-tisane-from-good-life-tea/

This definitely has a sweet cinnamony taste, but that’s pretty much it. Steep it long or else it’ll just taste like watery cinnamon. I was expecting more spice to this but it’s pretty mellow.

I got a sample of this tea along with another decaf. I’m not too experienced in decaf’d blacks and thought I’d take a spin for an evening tea. This one sips in watery with a light chai spice with cinnamon, clove and ginger finish.

I wasn’t too keen on the watery start as I was expecting something a bit more richer and thicker texture, however my sample was also pretty smashed in transit.

Monday has arrived, meaning a new week (unless you are someone who prefers to start the week on Sunday, in that case never mind) and a fresh start. I am back in Pennsylvania, as much as I enjoyed my trip to South Carolina, I am glad to be back because I wore myself out! I still have not really relaxed since I left Kansas City, so it will be good to just chill and enjoy the autumn air. Yours truly hopes to go hiking in the mountains before mushrooms go away and all the leaves fall later this week, an exciting prospect!

Today’s tea is all about having a functioning brain, Good Life Tea’s Citrus & Ginkgo Organic Green Tea blends Green Tea from India, Lemongrass, Citrus Peels, and of course Ginkgo. This pungent herb has been used for quite a while to stimulate the brain, I remember back in my school days I would eat strange tasting Ginkgo candies I bought at the local Asian Market, no idea if they helped my perpetually distracted mind though! The aroma of this tea is pretty potently citrus, lots and lots of lemon! Luckily it is not a fake lemon aroma, it smells much like I just stuck my nose inside a crate full of fresh lemons along with the aroma of crushed lemon leaves. There is just a tiny hint of herbal notes and a delicate note of vegetation.

The brewed leaves are much more balanced, I can smell the other elements of the tea, including lemons, fresh vegetation, and pungent herbal notes. There is also a note of pepper and a hint of sharpness that is a bit hard to place, like a mix of green wood and broken grass. The liquid smells more or less identical to the wet leaves, there is just a slight honey sweetness that was not present in the leaves.

The taste is, well it is a bit odd. As with most things that contain herbs, sometimes the taste is nothing short of strange, there is a reason the term herbaceous exists, because it is the best description for it. The tea is a bit sour, both from the lemons and the slightly pungent ginkgo, along with a touch of pepper, and a finish of gentle green notes and smoke. I am not sure how to feel about this tea, it was not my favorite tea ever, but it was not bad, just not necessarily the taste for me.

For blog and review: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/10/good-life-tea-citrus-ginkgo-organic.html

This is the last tea from the free caffeine-free sampler from Good Life Tea. I must say, I do enjoy a good bedtime tea, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to try this one. It looks to be a mixture of red rooibos, crushed mint, and chamomile. I actually used one of my disposable filters that I got with my Select box last month! So hooray for those being useful. Chamomile pollen tends to get stuck in my filter and it drives me crazy.

Steeped up, this is tasty enough. I can taste all three of the components here – rooibos, mint, and chamomile. They’re fairly equal in strength, with the mint possibly being a tad above the others. It’s definitely a mild and mellow blend, and nice enough to have before bed.

This is the first sample from Good Life Tea that I haven’t brewed as per instructions. I was a little worried that this tea would be too much cinnamon for so early in the morning, and brewing at work limits my water temperature options, unfortunately.

That being said, I really like this tea. I used about 1tsp/16oz, which gave me just enough cinnamon without smothering me in the spice.

Aside from the prevalent cinnamon taste, this tea also has an elusive sweetness that I can feel on my tongue during the sip, but not after. The initial sip has a sugary sweet feel, which morphs into cinnamon in the aftertaste.

Adding sugar actually makes this tea a little too sweet for me (which is fine, since I don’t exactly need the extra calories). It brings out more of the cinnamon taste, and the initial sweetness is stronger.

If you’re a big cinnamon fan, I’d definitely recommend this!

Third sample from Good Life Tea!

This tea smells wonderful, both dry and brewed. It has a sweet, almost floral scent, with a hint of vanilla.

The initial sip was very bitter and reminded me of fennel. After that first bite, it’s very smooth on the tongue, and the licorice taste slowly gives way to the floral-vanilla that was in the aroma. It ends with a slight (but not unpleasant) astringency, which leaves a nice, crisp feeling. If it weren’t for the initial bitterness, this would be a tea I would want to drink unsweetened.

Adding white granulated sugar changes everything.

After I added the sugar, the bitterness was completely gone. The first note is smooth and sweet, gradually building up to a nice creamy flavor before melting away into the floral vanilla with a slight citrus-y tang at the end. The astringency is gone.. Much better than the unsweetened version.

If I hadn’t tried this tea with sugar, I wouldn’t have liked it.. but now I think it’s one of my favorites. Definitely recommended.

(2nd steep update)
Steep time: 4 mins, Temp: 212 F

There’s barely any bitterness in this steep. Very smooth, but it’s lost the majority of the flavor the first steep had. Adding a bit of sugar brings out more of the vanilla flavor, but it’s still a little weak (which is actually perfect for me, since I don’t like to be overwhelmed by my tea).

I’ve never had a rooibos tea before, or a chocolate tea, so this was an interesting experience for me.

I didn’t really care much for the smell of the dry leaves, but after brewing, it gives of a delicious chocolaty/minty/earthy aroma.

When I took my first sip, all I tasted was mint.. which was a little confusing since the description didn’t mention it being a mint chocolate. Maybe it’s the rooibos? I don’t know, since I don’t know what rooibos tastes like.

There’s a faint mint chocolate aftertaste, but I’d say that the overall flavor is mint. I added some rock sugar after the initial taste. It brought out more of the chocolate notes, and added a nice sweetness.

I let my unsweetened cup cool down a bit, and now I can taste more of the chocolate. The chocolate taste becomes even more apparent when I let my sweetened cup cool down. I definitely prefer this one as a slightly warm tea, rather than hot.

I tried another cup with a bit of honey, just to see how it would taste, but I didn’t like how the honey mixed with the mint taste. I’ll be sticking with the rock sugar for this one.

I brewed 16oz of this, but I don’t think I can finish it.. the mint is becoming a bit too much for me (mint and I don’t regularly mix well when it comes to drinks). If you like mint and sweet mixed together, I’d recommend this, but unfortunately this tea just isn’t for me.

Maybe I’m just not a fan of rooibos..

Thank you for the samples, GoodLifeTea! Another blend with the same name of a different company I won’t name… That blend is one of my favorites so I can see where it’s going. The black tea base has plenty of cinnamon and orange. Not enough cinnamon (or the type of cinnamon) to compare to the other though. The other has such a sugary type of cinnamon, I’ve never tasted it anywhere else, it’s tough to compare. This cup is nice though. The black tea is on the lighter side… the color of the cup is a light brown, even after steeping for five minutes. This type of blend could really use a tougher black tea. But the combination of the ingredients is lovely for autumn or winter, as the orange and cloves make it a not-quite-chai.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 5 min
http://www.goodlifetea.com/collections/top-10-selling-items/products/hot-cinnamon-spice-tea

After only two days of waiting, my 6 tea sampler pack from Good Life Tea arrived! Since it’s a bright and sunny morning, I decided that the Kyoto Cherry Rose Green Tea would be a good way to start the day.

This tea has a nice, light aroma. The sugary scent isn’t overpowering, and the cherries mix nicely with the floral.

The initial sip is more floral than cherry, but the cherry makes its appearance later on, slowly rising to blend with the floral and leaving a pleasantly sweet aftertaste. The green tea base gives this a light, refreshing body, with a smooth consistency throughout.

While writing this review, I’ve been avoiding using the word “rose” to describe the taste, because I don’t really get a rose taste from this… it’s far too light. As I continue to sip this tea, I realize that the taste reminds me more of cherry blossoms than roses. It’s very pleasant, and not overbearing.

I purposefully followed the instructions on the packet (1tsp/cup at 212 F for 3-7 mins) for this first test, but I think I’ll cut down to .5tsp/8oz ratio in the future (or maybe a 2 min steep time), since I prefer my teas a little weaker. I didn’t add any sugar, since I wanted to get a good taste of the tea itself.. and frankly I don’t think this tea needs any additional sweetening.

Overall, I enjoyed this tea and am considering purchasing more to give as a gift.

(2 cups later)
Okay, so I tried adding a little rock sugar to the tea (1st steep still), and boy was that a bad idea… it ended up bringing out the floral sweetness, which was too much flower for me. If swimming in a pool of flowers is your thing, then by all means go ahead, but I had a hard time finishing that cup.

I tried it with a dollop of honey too (new cup, same steep), and that turned out much better. Adding a bit of honey gives it a nice sweetness, without being in-your-face sweet. I think I still prefer this tea without any sweetening though, but I’m the kind of person who usually prefers unsweetened tea.

Another free sample from Good Life Tea’s decaf sampler. It has the same small, quite broken black tea base, and there are pieces of citrus peel and various spices (ginger root among others). I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

I can smell a lot of clove and some ginger in the steeped tea. I added a small amount of raw sugar to my cup. This is definitely a mildly spiced black tea, which is nice. I suppose it would also be stronger with a longer steep, but I like to keep the steep short with broken leaf teas to prevent bitterness. I can definitely taste cinnamon and clove the most, but there’s also ginger in there and a touch of orange. A little bit astringent for me, but nothing too crazy. Pleasant. :)

Got this one in the free caffeine-free sampler pack that Good Life Tea was offering a week or two ago. I got an email reminding me to review these teas, so I guess they’re impatient. :P Anyway, this one is small black tea leaves with a couple pieces of mango. I steeped it for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

It’s actually not too bad for a decaf tea. The leaves were mostly in small pieces, so I was worried about bitterness, but it’s actually not bitter at all. The mango flavor is more of a vague sweet fruit flavor, but it’s tasty enough. I added a little bit of raw sugar to mine. My only complaint is there is a bit of astringency here. I could see this one making a nice iced tea in the summer.

Thanks for the sample Good Life Tea! This is definitely the best one so far. It’s a tasty tea with fruit and vanilla, a little sweetness like honey. Mmmm… Nice.

Backlog:

I had this tea last night. Currently – and for a limited time – that is to say RIGHT NOW and only until 10 pm Eastern Time (USA only), there is a free sample offer going on at the SororiTea Sisters blog for this tea as well as two other decaffeinated teas. Interested? Check out the offer here:

http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/09/26/gentle-slumber-organic-tisane-from-good-life-tea/

And while you’re at it, you can read my full-length review about this tisane.

It’s a pretty good bed-time tisane. I like the peppermint in it, it sort of masks the sometimes funky flavor of rooibos and chamomile. The peppermint is strong but it doesn’t taste too minty, there are notes of flower and nutty rooibos in the background. I like the combination of flavors and how they work together.

It’s a nice, relaxing blend.

I did a little something special with this tea considering the time of the year. Brewed it once for Summer and once for Autumn..bringing in the Autumn Equinox the tea way :D

Summer:
.5 tsp tea- 4 oz of water- 4 minutes- Added Agave- Iced
Just like those perfect summer mornings, this tea was crisp and refreshing. There was slight tartness from the hibiscus but that just nicely complimented the agave that I added. Sweet citrus from the orange rounded out the summer experience with evoked memories of biting into the first sweet fruits of summer. A delicious fruit medley with an awesome slightly spicy kick from the calendula.

Autumn:
.5 tsp tea- 4 oz water- 4 minutes- Added Agave, Cloves, Cinnamon- Hot
Wow, the apple flavor is surely brought out in this sort of preparation. The calendula nicely compliments the added Autumn spices making a nice spiced cider-esque flavor (just with a bit of added tartness from the hibiscus). Love how the steeped liquid creates a deep raspberry color..it reminds me of Christmas poinsettias.

I’m really quite impressed how dynamic this tea can be. One minute I’m sitting on a tropical beach with sand in my toes and the next I’m jumping into a pile of freshly fallen leaves. Thank you, Good Life Tea!

It was a grey, foggy morning a few days ago so I decided it was a perfect time to make a London Fog Latte with this tea. Mmmm..yes. :D The brisk mornings of Autumn are coming and it is glorious!

The creamy vanilla undertones that this tea added to the latte (something that many other earl greys do not have) were lovely. It was smooth and light adding a dessert-y element to the latte.

The bergamot was not overwhelming in this tea which I rather enjoyed. And the black base makes a much needed appearance without being aggressive. There is a floral note that briefly dances across your tongue and then fades away into the vanilla. I steeped the tea just under three minutes and did not have any problems with the bitterness that some of the others have mentioned. Also I managed to get a lovely resteep out of the tea leaves that taste really similar to the first!

This tea is a light earl grey with flavors that meld really well together-no one flavor overwhelms the others.

Thank you, Good Life Tea!

Thank you for the samples, GoodLifeTea.com! This seems to be a chocolate flavored rooibos but in my opinion the name should be… Neapolitan! While sipping, I definitely get a milky chocolate flavor but there is also a sweet cream flavor that could be vanilla. Then appearing at the end of the sip I could swear I was tasting that strawberry ice cream flavor. The strawberry could be the rooibos itself or my imagination… I’m not sure! But it’s all ice cream to me. The rooibos in this blend is very nice too (especially if it tastes like strawberry.) A unique cup.. haven’t sipped something quite like this before! The second steep has possibly even more flavor than the first cup, but this time it is more chocolate than Neapolitan!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3-4 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min

Those of you that know me on here know exactly how I feel about chocolate- not a fan in the slightest. But I am continually finding myself in possession of chocolate flavored teas.. shrug I don’t know either…o.o Though, to be honest, chocolate in tea is the least offensive way that I have had chocolate. So I always give the teas a go. And in this tea….wow, I’m impressed.

This tea has a smooth, creamy consistency. The kind that coats your mouth in utter deliciousness begging you to take another sip.

Rooibos as a base was genius, it delivers the dessert flavor profile I want without the thickness that can sometimes come with teas. After all, if I wanted a tasty, thick liquid for dessert, I would leave my bowl of ice cream to ‘marinate’ in the sun for a while.

My boyfriend is one of the toughest people I know when it comes to criticizing tea. He often complains about not enough flavor or it being bitter (even when I love the cup)—What can I say, he’s a sweet soda pop kind of guy..but completely enjoys a cup of tea when it satisfies his definition of ‘delicious.’ And he actually ended up stealing most of this cup from me. That sneaky butt. But I can’t blame him, it is delicious.

From a tea fanatic to a soda pop guy, this tea seems to satisfy. It delivers the desserty satisfaction that I crave paired with relaxing warmth to help me drift off into a blissful sleep. Well done, Good Life Tea and thank you so much for the sample. :]