The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

With my first order from Persimmon Tree Tea Company I received a 1oz sample of White Guava. I’m not really familiar with Guava and it doesn’t seem to be a common ingredient in teas, but I love white peony which is the base of this blend. I do have to say that I was impressed with the packaging of this tea, it arrived only 3 days after I ordered it, packaged in an air tight tin which will keep my tea nice and fresh.

After drinking this tea all day I hardly made a dent in the sample tin, this tea resteeps incredibly well. The main flavor that comes across is the white peony, but the guava gives it a subtle sweetness that works wonderfully with the white peony. I don’t really taste the strawberry and only the barest hint of the ginger. The overall flavor is mild, but since this is a white blend that is really what I expected. This is the perfect addition to my summer rotation, I can’t wait to try it iced tomorrow because I’m sure it will be amazing.

Impressed with how much this smells and tastes like mint chocolate chip ice cream (one of my favorite flavors) with some milk. Husband walked into the kitchen while it was steeping and was like “Mmmm! Smells good in here, like mint chocolate chip ice cream—where is it??” and was surprised when I explained it was tea. A very nice dessert option.

With a splash of milk, this really does taste very much like black tea chai, smooth, warmly spiced, and rich. I love that the spices aren’t wimpy. The tea also looks beautiful with some milk; I’ve heard it said sometimes you can tell a tea blend is decent by how it looks brewed with milk—some stuff takes on a dirty dishwasher, washed out streaky grey appearance while better blended teas stay smooth and might turn opaque. This does the latter, turning a pretty opaque taupe with some shell-peach undertones.

I don’t smell or taste the rooibos at all—pretty impressive, on the level of H&S Vanilla Comoro at coming off like a decent version of its standard black counterpart. Until I find better (if I ever do) this will definitely be my late night go-to chai fix. Yummy.

This tastes a lot like chocolate banana flavored things—not to say it’s artificial necessarily, but you know how there’s that banana smell from confections and stickers and whatnot versus being at home and dipping a fresh banana in chocolate and sticking it in the freezer or fridge? This is more the former than the latter. And that has its place too. On the other hand I am impressed with the almost…juicy tartness of the aroma, like real, fresh banana cooked in something. And the flavor becomes more authentic tasting as it cools. My understanding is banana is hard to get right as tea flavors go. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thick, weirdly almost like eating a real banana too.

The rooibos flavor is ever present too, a little more than in some rooibos dessert teas (it doesn’t bother me but just a heads up for those who don’t care for it).

I’m curious how this one would do with a latte treatment…

This one’s pretty too; I guess Persimmon Tree’s teas brew up nice hues in general. It has all the trademark characteristics of an EB blend while seeming a bit lighter and a lot “cleaner” tasting. It’s almost refreshing, relatively speaking. I like how despite that cleanness there’s also an element of black pepper, almost spicy. Delivers if you’re expecting an EB while being just distinct enough in a pleasant way to hold your interest.

Butterscotch from The Persimmon Tree is really a good interesting tea blend. It seems to be more on the scotch side than the butter. For a candy inspired tea it really is not that sweet, or candy like. I get a strong scotch flavor in the blend, as in the alcohol.

The mouthfeel is medium heavy and the cup color is a nice clear light brown. I have also had this tea cold and it keeps its flavor profile quite nicely. A lot of teas taste different when hot versus cold, but this is the same either way.

Adding some sweetener, I used German Rock Sugar, does help bring out the candy like flavor in the tea, more like those golden yellow butterscotch candies you can get at the dime store. Even still I get a heavy scotch flavor from the tea mostly.

There is a creamy or buttery like mouthfeel to a degree, but not so much on the butter flavor. I personally would like it to be a bit more candy like but that is just a personal preference. To be honest, I think more people will appreciate this tea for its pure and direct flavor. It is not another overly sweetened, overly flavored, fake candy tea. It is absolutely a fresh and organic blend which I appreciate even if my taste buds would like it to be a bit sweeter.

Persimmon Tree Tea really does tea well when it comes to offering all natural and organic ingredients! Check out more about what The Persimmon Tree does for our world here. http://www.persimmontreetea.com/about-us

Thanks JackieT for adding this to the swap box. Maybe I’m not in the mood for flavored black teas today. I seem to be striking out. This isn’t bad, it’s just ok. I get some apple, I get some peach, not really any cinnamon, and certainly no cobbler/crisp. I think I was looking for more sweet ooey gooey, bakery goodness and I just didn’t get that. I got more crisp apple, peach.

That classic, comforting nostalgic “plain ol’ black tea from when you first drank tea at all” flavor I sometimes allude to, well, this is that in spades. Like going home again in smell and taste, with maybe a little richer body than typical. A little toasty, a little sweet, just enough bitterness and tannin, just as you remember from long ago but better, somehow both smoother and less weak or watered down tasting. You know. If regular ol’ teabag black tea in restaurants was actually good. Naming it “Vintage Black” was smart.

Once in a while I absolutely crave that sort of thing, and nothing else—no fancier or “better” premium additions or usually tempting flavors—will do. This would be ideal for those times. Very satisfying and a good reboot/reminder of my tea beginnings for when all the bells and whistles and hundreds of choices of tea become overwhelming. Fills an important niche for me.

It’s also, for that sort of thing, a rather pretty cup of tea. Dark and smooth and silky looking, nearly like manual pour-over coffee. Would make a great breakfast tea.

Wow this tea has a very strong fragrance brewing, of vanilla and flowers. I’m not complaining—I prefer my earls on the strong, heavily fragrant side, and able to withstand some milk or raw sugar.

This one’s strong in flavor too! Could definitely be cut with milk and/or sugar. A little bitterness but not much, next time I could steep it for slightly less time if I didn’t want to deal with milk, but it’s fine solo right now really. Sweetness and vanilla, lots of that “extract” and perfume feel. I could be misidentifying but I think I can actually see specks of vanilla bean at the bottom of my cup, and that doesn’t surprise me given the aroma and taste. The citrus comes in at the end, a nice surprise and not too tart but definitely present enough to keep you on your toes.

This is one of those Big Ones as earls go, clobbering you all-around—in vanilla, in bergamot, in everything. For me, that’s not a problem!

This one’s a pretty and slightly unusual color in the cup, a dark copper tone with more red with its brown than most unflavored black teas. Dry and brewing it smells like a much lighter/fainter sister to darjeeling or blacks from Nepal. It does have that astringency and mellow but ever present tannin one associates with those teas, done lightly. There’s also an element of warmth, warm spices somehow that darjeelings often lack, and it’s rather pleasant combined with the more typical darjeeling-ish light and floral qualities. It’s also somewhat sweet as these types of teas go, a kind of honeyed sweetness that is not unwelcome at all. I like! It seems I enjoy when darjeeling qualities are mixed with brawnier, warmer, richer, or smokier elements (exhibit A: my fondness for Upton Imports Baker Street Afternoon Blend).

Bummed I had to use the stovetop kettle for this as when I went to use my Russell Hobbes electric one today there was a rattling noise coming from the sealed base and then a screw flew out of the inside. The thing has a warranty—I contacted them this afternoon—so we’ll see. It was super cheap as these things go anyway—less than $40—but I really did like it, especially because it would keep a BREWED pot of tea warm, not just heated water (that way you don’t have to keep steeping every cup you pour to keep your tea warm long enough). And it was so fast! Going to miss it while I figure out what’s what. This weekend has been a little annoying—other disappointments with long-anticipated orders I won’t get into right now plus some drama in my social circle and stress about my husband’s job security—but oh well. There’s always tea, right?

Very lovely bao zhong oolong! Great buttery, sweet, vegetal bean and floral notes.

I had a tealog awhile back when I had this as a sample, and it was on the astringent side – I think I was overleafing as I had no issues with astringency now.

I gotta say, bao zhong is impressive cold steeped! This will be my go to over night cold steeping tea!

Full Review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/bao-zhong-from-the-persimmon-tree-tea-review/

I woke up today in the mood for a puerh! That has never happened to me before! Interesting how our tastes develop :)

There’s always money in the banana stand. I could really go for a chocolate dipped frozen banana right now. Luckily, Jackie T sent this my way.

This particular banana may be hot instead of frozen but it’s a small point; it’s still coated in chocolate. The liquor is a little murky and smells strongly of the two objects in this rooibos’s namesake. The flavour isn’t disappointing either, although it’s weaker than the aroma and I am tasting a bit of the base. I wouldn’t mind a banana split right now either. Or a fried banana. I’ll probably settle for one of the raw bananas sitting in the kitchen though. Bananas are the best food.

On a side note, this reminds me a lot of Banana Dream Pie from David’s Tea, which also has chocolate and banana flavours.

It turns out that smooth and malty black tea, along with some sour hibiscus and citrus rind, makes a decently convincing cobbler. Apple is a distinctive flavour here for me. It tastes lightly spiced too. It comes off as a bit tart but it’s not bad, especially when some of the astringency tones down a bit as it cools. Thanks for giving me the chance to try this, Jackie T!

So, I went downstairs to make this tea, iced, as it’s freaking hot here, and my roommate intercepted asking for some tea.
Problem: He asks for the tea “You know, that really good one you have a lot of.” When you have just under 200 teas, that only really narrows out the samples/almost sipdowns.

Anyways, I did find it, but I didn’t have some with him as I need noncaffeine for this late of evening. Mmmm, peachy orange! I steeped this a little extra because I was lazy, so I really taste the green rooibos base. I prefer this tea at 4 minutes.

It’s strange, in an interesting way — I got a nice little Persimmon Tree sample package (thanks much, Starfevre!) labelled “Vanilla Berry Truffle”, but the tea inside is actually this one, “Mint Chocolate Chip”.

I’m certain of that, because it has none of the ingredients of the former (no white chocolate, no black currants, no hibiscus) — but it does smell of mint, it has big chunks of dark chocolate. And, as a few people here have noticed, it also has those pieces of apple which aren’t listed in the ingredients (at least not here on this page, I mean, and I don’t have the correct package to refer to).
(P.S. just updated the ingredients, from Persimmon Tree website)

Anyhow… that’s all good, because I’m pretty sure I’d prefer the Mint Choocolate Chip Rooibos, to the other one. (White chocolate isn’t something I’d reach for.)

So, the tea. I really like it. It’s nice and smooth, the mint is not too strong, the apple adds a nice hint of fruit. But I wish it tasted more of chocolate. Although I steeped it for 9 minutes in boiling water, a lot of the chocolate pieces didn’t melt. I think it would be perfect with some added chocolate syrup.

I added sugar and a little skim milk.
(Oops, I wonder why it says steep at 200F for 3-5 mins? I guess I overdid it. :-)
I have enough for another cup, so I’ll try it again the “right” way.)

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!

TTB-A sample, yet another with only a bit yet, and I fear yet another contaminated one based on the scent of the dry leaf. It’s like those teas with only a cup left don’t have enough of their own power to fight off the scents from all the other teas in the box!

I do taste pomegranate and raspberry (sort of unexpected in a tea called just pomegranate, but whatever) in the main part of the sip, but they are joined by a host of other indistinct oddness. It’s getting quite bitter as it cools, but that’s definitely not the result of contamination. Ah well, moving on.

I drank this as a way to power through my three hour exam yesterday morning. I don’t remember much of the flavor, but I kept drinking it, so it must have been good! I do remember that I quite enjoyed the smell. One more exam to go for the semester!

On a side note, I’m going to be in Huston next week. Anyone know of any good tea places?

I got this as a sample way back when I ordered from Persimmon Tree, and I was craving silver needle. I’ve got this and a couple other packets to get through before I open my half pound bag of the stuff. It’s been too long since I’ve had some silver needle, ahhh.

The rating makes this tea look bad, it’s not bad. It’s not as good as Teavivre’s, but it’s not bad at all. I’d think a bad silver needle would be really obvious haha.

It just doesn’t seem as intense, but that’s easily fixed with a bit more leaf. I think normally I drink silver needle pretty strongly, but it still has that taste of spring to it. I miss spring. I went to check the weather earlier and it was 30 degrees warmer in Canada. I didn’t think that was very nice.

This is okay, above average, and tasty. I don’t think I’ll bother resteeping it so I can go drink something else now.

Phew, done all my errands for the day! Worst was biking up a freaking hill, with a flat tire, hoping it doesn’t start to rain. Well, my cardio is done for the day! Phew!

I had The Persimmon Tree’s Coconut creme cold steeping and ready to drink upon my return, yay! Very tasty, refreshing, coconut sweet and floral!

Thanks whatshesaid for a surprise sample of this tea! Coconut teas are hit or miss for me and I’m afraid this one is a miss. For some reason, every time I take a sip I get a soap flavor. Not really what I was going for. I feel a little bit like Ralphie right now and I didn’t even say fudge!

[Head nod to those who get that reference :-)]

No notes yet.

I bought this one specifically to be cold brewed or made hot, then iced.

Really good decision!

This is a really light tea, strongly tasting of peppermint with a generic floral flavor as a background note. I don’t specifically note it as rose (of which there were lots in my sample!), but it’s definitely a flower. There’s also kind of a light citrusy note I’m picking up. It’s not super pronounced on every sip, but I’m definitely getting it. With summer coming up this is definitely ending up in the re-buy list! :)