Debonair Tea’s Raspberry Orange Tisane + Ice Pop Recipe

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fantastic Easter! With the metaphoric flip of a switch, it seems the weather in England has brightened and warmed considerably these past few days. Oh sweet, sweet, sun! How I have missed thee! In honor of these happy, springy times, I thought it would be a perfect time to review Debonair Tea’s Raspberry Orange tisane, ANNND include a cheeky little recipe on how you can brew this tea to make delicious homemade ice pops. Please read on! 🙂

This blend smells HEAVENLY. The scent is so naturally sweet and luscious, bursting with notes of orange and apple- it is the pure essence of summertime and carefree days. It’s so intoxicating when I open up the packet, I literally just want to sit there and eat the dried fruit pieces. However! This is a tea blog! Not a trail mix blog. Darn!

Brew Temperature: 95 C

Leaf Amount/Steep Time: 1 tsp per 200 mL of water/3 minutes

Feel free to experiment with the infusion time- a purely fruit/herb blend means you don’t have to fear the threat of a bitter brew!

The brewed tea is even more fragrant than the dried fruit pieces, filling the entire room with a delightful orange smell. Aside from the dominant citrus tastes, the tart flavor of the apple pieces- enhanced by the zing of the added hibiscus- really shines as well. However, this is a bit of a double-edged sword: the inherent strength of the hibiscus flavor seems to overpower most of the far more subtle raspberry taste, and does leave me yearning for a bit more berry goodness in this brew. Regardless, this drink is freaking addictive, and when iced with just a touch of sugar, is a menacingly delicious alternative to even the best fruit juices. There is absolutely no reason to guzzle down a glass of sugar-laden fruit pulp in the morning when I can have a refreshing, crisp glass of Raspberry Orange with my cereal instead. 🙂

I LOVE this blend, and with it being priced at only £5.50/100g, I know I’ll be happily gulping down pitcher after pitcher of it in the coming breezy summer days, as well as enjoying it hot in the evenings as a dessert tea. I’ve tried several citrus/hibiscus tea blends from major chain tea retailers, and at double the cost with half the flavor, none of them hold the faintest candle to Debonair’s blend.

With this tisane, the possibilities are endless! Can’t tell you how excited I am to brew all sorts of tea blendy experiments with it once I have a bigger bag to play around with. I think pairing this with a white tea base would be absolutely out of this world!

While the bulk of my experiments with Raspberry Orange are still yet to begin, I have successfully managed to create one recipe with the small quantity of loose tisane I had left following my initial review of the brew- Raspberry Orange ICE POPS! Can you think of a better way to beat the heat than a refreshing iced tea popsicle? 😛 Do give it a try, and please let me know how it goes!

Check out Debonair Tea’s selection here! http://www.debonairtea.co.uk/collections/buy-tea If you are an international customer, feel free to email/tweet Debonair to inquire about international shipping and I’m sure they’d be happy to help. 🙂

Bonus Recipe! Robin’s Raspberry Orange Ice Pops

What You’ll Need:

• Adorable Ice Pop Moulds
• Freshly Boiled Water
• 1 tbsp Debonair Tea’s Raspberry Orange Tisane per 200 mL of water
• Lemon wedges/lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar per 400 mL of water
• Time!

Directions:

Begin by brewing the tisane in freshly boiled water, though you will want to double or even triple the amount of leaves you use, as well as lengthen your steep time. Again, bitterness will not be an issue regardless of steeping length, as this blend doesn’t contain any tannins. In order to have a flavorful ice pop, you need to begin with a very concentrated tea brew.

Once you’re satisfied with the strength of your brew, add about 1 tbsp of sugar to the pot per 400 mL of water, and stir until completely dissolved. Add the juice of one large lemon wedge (and the wedge itself) to the brew as well. Remember, we want big flavors! The freezing process will naturally diminish the strength of the tea, and by exaggerating the flavors at the onset, we can ensure the ice pops will have the same full and juicy taste the hot and iced brews of this blend possess.

Next, allow the tea to cool back to at least room temperature by placing in the fridge or leaving in the open air. Do not add ice cubes to expedite the process, as this will unnecessarily dilute your brew. This may take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, but please be patient! Pouring hot or even warm liquids into the ice pop moulds may cause the plastic to leech into your tea, or may destroy the moulds entirely.

Once the tea has finally cooled, pour away! Make sure you fill the moulds all the way to the top, or else your ice pop base/stick might not make the best contact with the frozen tea. …I learned this the hard way. Once filled, stick the plastic tray in the freezer overnight, and prepare for a delicious adventure in the morning.

TAADAA! The ice pops look lovely, and they’re ready to be enjoyed! Run the mould under some warm tap water for just a few seconds and you should be able to pull the ice pop out easily. The result is delicious, refreshing, and full of orange and berry flavor. 🙂 All the tasty delight of a storebought popsicle without the weird sugar-syrupy, goopy guilt! Absolutely brilliant!! They’re sugar-toothed boyfriend approved! 😛

Check out Debonair Tea’s selection here! http://www.debonairtea.co.uk/collections/buy-tea If you are an international customer, feel free to email/tweet Debonair to inquire about international shipping and I’m sure they’d be happy to help. 🙂

Tippy’s Tea Raspberry Cocoa Black Tea

Hello, wonderful readers! Hope the holidays have treated you splendidly and that you are having a lovely new year thus far. I spent the last four days freezing my eyebrows off in Chicago! Had a ton of fun though, despite the cold. 🙂 Still, I can’t tell you what a relief it is to be back home again, break into my stash once more, and sit down to write about some great tea.

Just before Christmas, the lovely folks at Tippy’s Tea sent me a very generous variety pack filled with all sorts of samples of their blends- I’m overjoyed to say this will be my first of many reviews of their teas. As some as you may know, I am on the perpetual hunt for flavored teas of high quality, and as this concept is at the core of Tippy’s product philosophy.. I basically feel like they’re my spirit animal in tea company form.

Just opening the package of Raspberry Cocoa is a delight- the smell of the dry leaves alone is enough to begin to fight back against the bitter winter blues. The scent of ripe raspberries and a soft hint of cocoa float up from the packaging, along with a refreshing leafy smell- the combined aroma sends me right back to sticking my face in the raspberry bush growing outside my childhood home as I used to hunt for fresh berries in the summertime. YUM!

As usual, I am using my gaiwan-style teapot, which holds just shy of 200mL of water at one time. Two tablespoons of this tea is just about enough to fill one half of the steeping basket once the leaves are fully expanded. My first steep lasted ~40 seconds, during which the brew instantly adopted a beautiful deep crimson color.

In taking my first sip, I was immediately struck by the tart taste of raspberry flavor- it was almost like biting into a real berry! Somehow, Tippy’s has managed to capture the real flavoring of a raspberry without using any fruit pieces in their tea- not just the vaguely sweet, dull suggestion of raspberry that a lot of companies will use in their products. This tea actually has some authentic zing to it! Hints of cocoa round out the flavor profile, ending the sip with a sweet and savory aftertaste that will linger until your next one.

My second steep was ~60 seconds: one must be careful during subsequent steeps of this tea as the leaves seem to like to stay mostly at the bottom of the basket at this point, resulting in a potentially bitter brew. I realized this a little too late, and though I mixed up the leaves and ended the steep soon after, I was left with a much stronger brew than I anticipated. The flavor profile of the tea changed drastically- the raspberry flavor now took a backseat to the now much more powerful cocoa notes with a bitter aftertaste. The raspberry was now an accent, with the cocoa and astringency of the assam/keemun blend becoming far more dominant. While this is quite possibly something a lot of drinkers may find desirable in their brews, my primary interest is in balancing out both the chocolate and raspberry with minimal bitterness: I elected for my next steep to drop back down to ~40 seconds.

The third time was the charm! After letting the leaves steep for 40 seconds, monitoring them closely and mixing them with a spoon, the resulting brew was easily the one I enjoyed the most of the three. The flavors of all the elements of this tea were admittedly weaker than before, but none of the tasting notes were in competition with one another for dominance this time. This was exactly the cup of tea I wanted from the onset: a blend of black teas whose unique characteristics I could identify and enjoy on their own, with the comforting tastes of raspberries and cocoa as friendly accompaniments. Had I not made the mistake of oversteeping the 2nd brew, I’m sure this tea could have produced four strong steepings, and I think that is a huge accomplishment for a flavored tea. Definitely looking forward to ordering a batch of this blend for myself in the future. 🙂 Great stuff!

Check out Tippy’s store here: http://tippystea.com/

-Robin