I’m not entirely certain what it is about peppermint that makes it so imbibable. It could be the invigorating tingling we feel on our tongue when we drink it. It could be the exciting clarity to the nostrils it brings. Maybe it’s the relaxing lull after it’s been consumed. Or maybe it’s some combination of all those things.

All I can say for sure is that we use peppermint in all kinds of teas, tisanes and drinks. It’s amazingly flexible and accomodating.

This Ceylon (Sri Lankan) black tea blended with peppermint and ginger root blend together for for a palate inspiring brew!

The leaves are a dark combination of brow-black tea leaves roughly 1/16 an inch in length (BOP) blended with bright green mint leaves and occasional small white ginger root pieces. The dry aroma is minty and fresh with just a hint of ginger zing. There’s no real sense of the ‘tea’ in this mixture.

Once brewed the liquor turns out a honeyed red-orange. The aroma becomes almost equal parts tea and peppermint. It’s not nearly as minty as when the leaves were dry, but equally sweet smelling and a touch of something extra, I presume to be the ginger.

The flavor is very well balanced as well. The peppermint is clearly there, but not as forceful as I’d expected. The black teas’ puckery astringency somes through nicely but subdued just enough. The ginger comes through in the finish, but still only lightly. The menagerie of flavorful textures is very well done.

I would recommend this tea to any fan of peppermint teas. Also, fans of hot chocolate, mocha coffee drinks, malty Assam teas and muscatel Darjeelings may enjoy this brew.

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When it comes to the relaxing calming teas ni the world, there are a great many which make this claim. I find myself relaxed by quite a few teas. But Serenity from Tavalon Tea takes the cake.

Visually this tea appears to be made up of chamomile, rooibos and lemongrass. Though Tavalon claims vanilla beans and peppermint I don’t visually see these components present.

The aroma from the dried leaves is light. Here, you can tell the mint is present, and the chamomile is a strong part of this blent. Subtler notes from the lemongrass and a smoothness from the vanilla and rooibos is only hinted at.

Once brewed, the aroma changes to rely heavily on the chamomile and peppermint, but there’s a spiciness present I’m unsure of the source for. This tea creates a dark golden liquor equally pleasing to the eye as the tea is to the palate.

Something about the combination of peppermint with the lemongrass must be giving this tea some spice because it’s clearly present. The flavor is smooth, with some very light astringent bite in the finish. Instantly relaxing you can feel the chamomile and vanilla flavors coating your mouth while the peppermint tingles just the very tip of your tongue.

Not strikingly bolds, but certainly containing some bite, I can recommend this tea to fans of peppermint and/or chamomile tisane blends, anyone who enjoys lemongrass and those who enjoy a nice vanilla rooibos.

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Here’s the final installment of this three part recap to the activities and friends from this year’s expo!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Day 3

Ouch! So much ground to cover in a single day! Seven rows and we’ve only finished four! I gues it helps I didn’t attend any educational sessions this year. This would have been a five page set instead! Maybe next year.

First stop when the doors opened? Special Teas! This group has some rather fine offerings. Then, on to Florapharm. A bright logo, good quality product and an interesting name. This German company is housed in the US near my old stomping grounds in Owings Mills, MD. They even had a real live samovar (see last photo)!

Special Teas

Special Teas

Special Teas

Special Teas

Florapharm USA

Florapharm USA's samovar

Next I hit Eco Vita who do supplements and vitamins. Not really my scene. Then was Eastrise Trading Corp. who had the banner for Foojoy, a great chinese company who I had a good rapport with last year. No, on to Rooibos, Ltd. This company obviously specializes in Rooibos related teas.

Further down the isle I hit AOI Tea which specializes in Matcha. I had a little formal ceremony sit down with a great little Japanese woman who whisked the tea up in a little bowl for me to drink. It was extremely good!

Next was Harney & Sons. Last year I was lucky enough to meet both Michael and John Harney at their booth. This year, the booth was considerably smaller and the Harney’s themselves weren’t present. I was a little disappointed.

AOI Matcha

Moving on I had the pleasure of hitting Sugimoto America again. They won an award this year for their greeting cards with a pretty sealed teabag in it based on the occasion. That was kinda neat.

Tavalon Tea was next. Their packaging is some of the more unique I think. Clear plastic that’s UV coated so you can see the tea is nice. What’s great is that unlike other UV plastic tins, these don’t just have a window in the tin to see the tea. The container is the window to see the tea.

Continuing, Stash Tea was the following stop. Most of us know Stash Tea from their tea bags sold in grocery stores and such. However, they have some great loose teas, and the new Chanakara line Cindy Harling showed me is really great, and available loose!

Oh My Gosh! PeLi Teas! The wonderful 2009 Pu’erh they had was equally pleasant in a tea bag as it was loose. Just incredible! Maeda-En was great as usual. With their Green Tea Mochi and their Iced Green Tea. Delicious!

What the heck is up with Sam Ritchey and his hair over at TeaGschwendner! That guys knows how to liven it up something real! A stop off at MarketSpice located in Pike Place in Seattle and a taste of Hojicha Gelee (which I’ll review down the road) at The Green Teaist and we close out the fifth row!

What a hectic run! But we’re only about a third of the way through our day! Will I be able to make it through the seventh row in time for closing? Follow along and we’ll see!

PeLi Teas

PeLi Teas

Maeda En

The Green Teaist

The Green Teaist

There’s a LOT going on here in the sixth row! Plenty to see. Let’s get started!

First stop? The Taiwan Tea Manufacturer’s Association. This is a conglomerated booth area made up of seven or eight Taiwanese tea companies all in one place. They’re almost independent of the expo! Too much to describe here. There’s lots of good stuff!

What’s this!?! Hawiian grown tea! I’ve known about the Hawaii projects for a while now, but it failed to register that anyone was close enough to production. Well, Liam Ball over at Na Liko Tea certainly is! The Hawaiian Oolong was spectacular. This is on top of being a first year production from plants just five years old! They really nailed it!

Tisano was next. They make cacao stuff. In this case their product is made from the outer shells of the cacao beans. This Equadoran product is pretty good actually and tastes like a hot chocolate but not as rich. The company actually helps in the picking and shipping processes for their product and gives some proceeds back to the community and growers from each sale.

Na Liko Tea from Hawaii

Na Liko Tea from Hawaii

Tisano Cacao Tea

Just across the split from Tisano… was Zealong, the New Zealand Oolong people. If you haven’t tried this stuff, seriously give it a go. I did. I’ll have a formal review up soemtime soon. Zealong has some of the best marketing this year I think, and their packaging is simply beautiful! Tulsi Organics across the walkway was another herbal beverages company. There seem to be plenty of these this year.

Time to take a peek at one of my favorite accessory makers… FORLIFE! Great looking stuff as always! Vibrant colors, unique styles. Good stuff.

On to Naivetea. I really like this brand’s identity. Clean and refined but with a slightly fancy augmentation. Always friendly, the couple who run this company are somehow calming to me. It could be the tea too, but there’s something about this fun pair from California!

Zealong New Zealand Oolong

Tulsi Organics

Naivetea

Next up? Hankook Tea who have some simple but nice packaging, and they’re representing Korean teas which are seriously under-represented in the industry. You go guys! On to Takeya USA! These guys make some really swell tea brewer jugs! Some of these are for chilled teas, and others are for hot teas. Some for large quantities and others for just a cup or two. You should check them out!

Keeping up the pace we have Shang Ri La Tea and Hancha Tea another company I remember from last year who has nice clean package design. A trip to Teas Etc. rounds out the 6th row. I mean what would the expo be without Beth and Newman Johnston!

Time for the final row already!?! The Expo can’t be over yet!?! I mean c’mon!

Takeya

Teas Etc

Teas Etc

Row seven is shorter and has less going on. I did run into Jason O. Walker from Walker Tea Review whom I met last year. If I’d been swifter maybe I’d have caught him before he was closing up. Maybe I could have even been in one of his review videos! That would have been killer!

A stop by the World Tea News booth was empty. All that was left was Torn Ranch.

I did make my way back to the International Tea Importers booth to grab a copy of the New Tea Dictionary and a photo-op with the author Mr. James Norwood Pratt.

Disappointed row 7 didn’t have more going on? Oh, fine! There was this row of new product displays. Maybe you’d like to see those, yeah? Here you go, I’ll leave you with these. I hope you enjoyed my coverage of the expo as much as I did getting to go again.

Me sniffing some Himalayan Tips

QTrade Teas & Herbs

Village Tea Mini Canisters

Tea friends Make a Toast

Tea Friends at Lotus of Siam for Dinner

ITO EN Bench Made of Recycled Tea

More Delicious Tea

David Smith Tea Blender

Most tea books have similar approaches. You can categorize them as tomes of knowledge, training books or even a tasting guide. 

What this book by Chris Cason is not… is any of those.

Billed as a travel companion ofr tea drinkers, the book succinctly walks you through many of teas basics without being intellectually demeaning and providing some humor along the way.

Like most tea related books, a little history is present. Some discussion is offered on the creation of tea bags, the proliferation of tea into Japan, and the advent of British colonial tea production.

What I find most intriguing about this book is its simplistic focus on what most avid tea drinkers often miss. Tea is fun, relaxing and pensive all at once. A beverage you can drink as quickly or slowly as you like. To share or not to share moments with others is up to the drinker. Tea is different for everyone.

I hope you’ll share some of your moments with me. But while you’re at it, feel free to drop a line to Chris Cason over at Tavalon, or pick up a copy of this fine book from Adagio Tea.

Help a good cause: CharityWater.org

While I personally feel a tour of a tea facility would be almost equally as exciting… there’s no way I would turn down $1500 just for buying tea I like anyway!

I’ve reviewed a number of Tavalon’s teas including their NYC Breakfast and more recently their Indian Mint. All were very good.

This promotion is exciting and I sincerely recommend taking part. Unlike Wonka Bars, tea is pretty much universally healthy for you… So even if you don’t win the cash prize… you still get some good tea!

From the Tavalon Release:

October 5, 2009 – One lucky tea drinker will be extra happy this holiday season when they open their package of Tavalon Tea and find a Golden Tea Ticket inside the box – worth $1,500. You too can be a winner, just by referring your readers.

By placing an order on the Tavalon website, www.tavalon.com, consumers are automatically entered to win the Golden Tea Ticket. All purchases must be made before October 28, 2009.

In addition, if the winning contestant is referred to Tavalon’s site by a blogger or other website, that blogger also receives $1,500. To be eligible, the blogger has to provide a link to the contest’s web address and/or add the contest’s banner to their web page directing their readers to www.tavalon.com.

Winners will be chosen by Tavalon and announced during the first week of December. Visit www.tavalon.com/goldenticket.aspx for more information on Tavalon’s Golden Tea Ticket contest.

Tavalon Tea is a premium international loose-leaf tea company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York with offices in Brooklyn, NY and Seoul, South Korea. The founders of Tavalon have used their passion and expertise in tea to develop a company for both tea connoisseurs and newcomers to the tea world while providing premium teas and accessories to a mainstream audience. Tavalon aims to educate the general public about teas many health benefits with a fresh new tea experience. Tavalon’s unique and exciting blends bring a high quality to the tea world that is unparalleled. Tavalon’s teas can be found at various cafes, gourmet markets and department stores across the country, as well as on www.tavalon.com. Tavalon welcomes you to experience the future of tea.

That’s right kiddies… by referring you to a tea company with product I already think you’ll enjoy… I could also get $1500 to pay for some great improvements I’ve been wanting to do for this blog!

Help a good cause: CharityWater.org