Rishi Tea’s Houjicha Review

Type: Green
Origin: Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Price: Free sample (regular price - $3.00 for 1oz.)
Vendor: Rishi Tea
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 185°F, steeped for 3 - 4 minutes
Overall Score: 4.3 out of 5

Houjicha is an organic, roasted green tea from Japan. The aroma of the dry leaves is toasty, woody, and slightly grassy. The leaves are various shades of brown and are long and flat with quite a few stems in the mix, as well.

The tea smells woody and nutty. It definitely doesn’t hold back the roasted aroma either. It reminds of oolong tea because it lacks the fresh scent that most steeped green teas have. The liquor is a yellowish orange color.





The taste is… unlike other green teas. It tastes nutty and buttery. It also has a sweet, honey-like flavor to it. There isn’t much of a grassy or vegetal taste to this green tea. The boldness of this tea matches that of oolong tea – roasted notes that linger for quite some time.

This should not be an intro tea to those trying greens for the first time as it is rather bold and astringent. The tea isn’t bitter, but the intensity of the roasted flavor can be a surprise. Although, if you want to drink green tea and you don’t particularly like the grassy taste, this would be a good one to try as it has darker qualities similar to oolong and black tea.

With that said, this is a great tea for those who are tired of the same old stuff. This Houjicha is a rather complex tea and it surprises me every time I take another sip. I have to remind myself that this is a green tea even though the taste is unlike anything else. The fact that it is organic is a major plus, too.

My New Tea Table Guests

While shopping the strip in Gatlinburg, TN, my boyfriend and I visited the China Bazaar store. It was mostly filled with martial art swords and knives, but it also had some Asian style figurines. I spotted the bright red foo dogs nestled in a corner of a shelf. I have been looking for a pair of these statues to join me at my tea table, but I couldn’t find any for the right price and of the right size… until now.

Foo dogs – also called fu dogs, fu lions, lions of Buddha, stone lions, or Chinese guardian lions - are the creatures that sit outside of Chinese palaces, temples, and even homes to act like guardians. The dogs always come in a pair; the male is holding a ball under his paw and the female has a cub on her paw.

Rishi Tea’s Dragon Well Review

Type: Green
Origin: Zhejiang, China
Price: Free sample (regular price - $5.50 for 1oz.)
Vendor: Rishi Tea
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 180°F, steeped for 2 - 3 minutes
Overall Score: 4.8 out of 5

This particular Dragon Well is organic. The leaves are pressed flat so that they are long, slender pieces marbled with various shades of green. The aroma, however subtle, is toasty and grassy. The dry leaves smell buttery with a rich sweetness.

While the leaves are steeping, the tea has a fresh, sweet, buttery aroma. The liquor is a light greenish yellow color.





The taste is quite buttery and creamy at first. As I continue to sip I can taste the subtle nutty flavors mingle with the slight grassiness. No bitterness at all… in fact, I find it rather sweet. The tea also lacks any unpleasant dryness that sometimes accompanies green teas.

This particular Dragon Well seems to be creamier than others that I have had. Usually the nutty flavor is front and center which kicks the rest of the flavors to the background. But, this one holds that buttered toast flavor up front, making it a savory tea.

Dawn and Dusk Cup

Dawn and Dusk. At least that is what I am calling the new cup that I bought while on vacation last week. My boyfriend and I stumbled upon the Black Bear Tea Company while browsing the Mountain Mall in Gatlinburg, TN.

Thankful for some air conditioning on a day in which I am sure hit over 100°F, we took our time looking at every piece of tea-inspired item that this little store had to offer. I took a closer look at their tea ware and their black tea as I was looking to buy one or more of those. However, I do not recommend buying any tea ware from this particular store because it is extremely over priced. They wanted $119 for what looked like a simple 150ml yixing pot. There was also a $249 price tag on two approximately 200ml yixing pots with six tiny cups. To compare, I have a 250ml yixing pot that I bought for $25. There was no way I was going to pay those prices!

On the other hand, the tea was reasonably priced. It was $9.95 for each 2oz. bag of loose leaf tea or buy six bags and get one free. I bought some Black Orange tea and some Kenilworth Ceylon to satisfy my diminishing black tea stash at home.

Ok, so I said I was going to pass on the tea ware, but yet I began this post talking about the new cup I bought. I caved, alright!





This beautiful cup and saucer caught my eye and when the store clerk saw me looking at it, he explained that it was hand made with a signature on the bottom. The price of $25 made me wince, but it is hand made, with a signature, and my interpretation of the piece is an “opposite” – one of my favorite forms of art.

Allow me to explain. I have a thing for opposites. I like yin yang symbols, black and white clothes or paintings, night and day art, etc… something about seeing the extremes of a spectrum right next to each other is simply amazing to me.

Hence why I call this cup “Dawn and Dusk” and also why I bought it. The yellows and oranges represent the dawn while the blues and blacks represent the dusk. Cool, eh?

Kalahari’s Zambezi Red Chai Review

Type: Rooibos
Origin: South Africa
Price: Sample (regular price - $3.50 for 20 Pouches)
Vendor: Kalahari
Brewing Method: 1 teabag, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 200°F, steeped for 4 - 5 minutes
Overall Score: 3.8 out of 5

Zambezi Red Chai is a rooibos base blend with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper. The dry leaf aroma smells of chai spices with the ginger and cloves standing out more than the rest. I cannot see much of the dry leaf blend because of the opaque tea bag, but from what I can make out there lots of colorful specs of spices throughout.

The cinnamon and clove aromas are more distinguishable as the tea is steeping. The liquor before milk is added is a light copper color. The liquid is rather foggy, but I have found that to happen whenever cinnamon is an ingredient in the blend. After milk is added, the liquid becomes a light brown or tan color.



The taste is… warm. I can taste the cloves, cinnamon, and ginger which provides for the overall warm feeling. The milk helps cut some of the harshness from the spices, but I can still feel the heat in the back of my throat.

This rooibos base chai seems to be sweeter than the Assam base chai’s. There is a lack of bitterness and astringency that normally comes with the Assam base blends. It is also mellower than chai’s made with black tea… even though the cloves are always relentless no matter what else is in the blend.

Kalahari’s Cherry Vanilla Review

Type: Rooibos
Origin: South Africa
Price: Free Sample (regular price - $4.99 for 16 Pouches)
Vendor: Kalahari
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teabag, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 180°F, steeped for 3 - 5 minutes
Overall Score: 4.1 out of 5

Cherry Vanilla is a rooibos base blend of dark roasted cacao, cinnamon, licorice, chicory, cardamom, ginger, cloves, vanilla, and natural cherry flavor. As soon as I made the first rip on the foil wrapper I could smell the overwhelming sweet scent of the chocolate, cherry, and vanilla flavors. From what I can see through the tea bag, there are white specs of something among the dark rooibos.

The vanilla aroma comes out a lot more as the tea is steeping. In fact, the cherry and chocolate aromas that I could detect in the dry leaves are almost gone. The liquor is a dark copper color.





Wow, there is quite a bit of flavor from that tiny tea bag! The overall sweetness of this blend knocked me back a bit. The cherry and vanilla flavors come together to create a creamy/fruity flavor which is kind of like putting whipped cream on a cherry and eating it.

There is also a bite that builds after a few sips. I am assuming that is from the cinnamon, licorice, and chicory as it has a woody/burning after taste. I don’t look at this as a bad thing… it gives the tea a little kick at the end, basically. Although, I lost the chocolate aroma and flavor completely.

Don’t even think about adding any sweeteners. There is no bitterness or astringency to this tea. I think these ingredients provide a nice balance of sweet and savory… which is something I have never tasted in a tea.

Kalahari’s Highlands Honey Review

Type: Rooibos
Origin: South Africa
Price: Free Sample (regular price - $3.50 for 16 Pouches)
Vendor: Kalahari
Brewing Method: 1 teabag, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 180°F, steeped for 4 - 5 minutes
Overall Score: 4.8 out of 5

Highlands Honey is a rooibos base with natural honey vanilla flavor. I can smell and identify the honey and vanilla right away – more so the vanilla. The dry ingredients give off an overall sweet aroma. I cannot say much about the appearance of the blend because it is in an opaque paper filter bag, hence the lack of the dry leaf picture that I normally take.

The aroma of the brew is of sweet vanilla with the woody rooibos in the background. The liquor is an orangish copper color.



The taste is super sweet. I cannot taste any honey notes, but I can taste the vanilla up front, then the rooibos in the after taste. The tea has a cooling effect in my mouth – similar to mint. Because of that, I can see how this would be great iced.

There is absolutely no bitterness or astringency in this cup. I will have to call you crazy if you think this needs any type of sweetener added to it.

I will admit, “red tea” (even though it isn’t really tea) or rooibos is not my favorite cuppa, however, I cannot stop drinking this. I am not sure why. It could be because the normally strong woody flavor of the rooibos is not that strong with this blend. It is more about the vanilla flavor. Although, vanilla is definitely not one of my favorite flavors either. I am still baffled, but whatever it is, it won’t let me put my cup down.