KayTeas & Herb Co.

Finally, I tried this moringa and spearmint herbal mix. It’s the one I was most cautious of because the herbal taste of moringa can be unpleasant but it’s well balanced here with sweet and crisp spearmint!! Quite a cozy tea, and similar feeling to a Moroccan Mint. I think it would go great with honey or a squeeze of fresh lemon.

And that’s a wrap on the KayTea Summer Collection!

Cold Brew Sipdown (1454)!

This time I chose cold brewing to lean into the mint contamination of this blend. The result was a very smooth and highly refreshing cold brewed black tea with just the perfect hint of spearmint, which made it even more refreshing. Probably the best resolution to a scent contaminated tea that I could think of, and it actually made for a really exciting cold brew send off for this tea.

March Madness Sipdown

This was from today’s face off with W2T’s 2016 White Chocobrick tea.

I had forgotten until I went to measure out the tea leaf that this tea had been scent contaminated during shipping – it has a really distinct spearmint aroma and taste from another tea it was shipped with. I actually think the hint of spearmint compliments the very malty, robust and smooth black tea overall but it was hard to feel justified in giving this tea the win since it’s not intentionally supposed to be a part of the tea…

Ultimately I chose the W2T tea as the winner.

Summer collection blend three…

The only caffeinated tea of the bunch, this simply named orange pekoe was pretty smooth and enjoyable. I liked how malty it was and the freshly baked brown bread and hint of molasses in the flavour was great. Unfortunately it fell prey to the side effects of pandemic related shipping delays, and it also took on a spearmint flavour from the other teas it was shipped with.

Cold Brew Sipdown (1422)!

Hibiscus and mint, especially at such strong flavour intensity, can be hit or miss but this cold brew was really good. I want to call it balanced, but in the sense that the flavours were harmonious and less in the sense that they were equal. Hibiscus definitely was the strongest flavour, but the sweet spearmint finishing flavour made this stand out as much more unique and refreshing and added the right amount of sweetness the tea needed overall.

Worked late from home on Thursday and, around five when I realized I wasn’t going to be done for a while, this is the tea I steeped up a small pot of to sip on while wrapping up my ongoing project…

It was really nice and, actually, nicer than I remember it being. The hibiscus was so think and tart/juicy but the really cooling and sweet elements of the spearmint just kept it feeling very fresh. Even though this is a herbal blend without caffeine, because of the very full of life and well balance hibby/spearmint duo I actually felt energized and perked up during those last few hours of work!

Second from the collection!

This tisane was a welcome bit of brightness to my morning. The hibiscus is a little fruity and quite forward and tart/tangy and that intensity makes it a great candidate for iced tea or cold brewing. The cooling minty finish is also really enjoyable and does differentiate this for other hibiscus forward herbal tea. I would love to see how it would work as a simple syrup for cocktails!

Only thing I would change is just amping up the mint even more.

Probably around a month back, KayTeas & Herbs Co. reached out to me on instagram to see if I would be interested in trying their summer collection & I simply couldn’t resist! They arrived yesterday, so today I decided to do the whole collection while working from home!

I started with this blend – as someone who is NOT a big ginger tea fan, I found this surprisingly delightful!! The profile is very simple and clean, and I love the classic taste of ginger with citrus. I thought the warmth from the ginger was great, and appreciated that it wasn’t overly spicy! I think honey would be a lovely addition, but it would also be super fun to make this one into a sparkling tea!

While simple can occasionally mean boring, I think there’s really something to be said for how classic this combination is and how keeping the ingredients list simple has really allowed those flavours to truly shine!