Tea Rebellion has a mission to rebel, raise, and trade tea! Rebel against how it is consumed and acquired. Raise the bar by providing authentic, quality tea. Trade directly with family farms and partners to provide a wholesome business practice. They strive to have relationships with the tea farmers and make sure that their farmers are treated ethically and fairly. They sent me seven different teas to review.
Analyzation of the Teas:
Black Chai Tea – Kathmandu Cosmos: Wow, this tea actually surpassed my expectations. After looking at the ingredients, I had quite high hopes for this tea. And just brewing the tea was a beautiful aromatic experience. Once tasting the tea, I could really identify the cinnamon, clove, and ginger tastes along with beautiful slight black tannin notes. I made this tea for my boyfriend and his dad as well, with one of them getting a second steeping cup of tea. They both really enjoyed the tea and the calming spiciness that it offers. I also really liked that the tea has a person highlighted on the back of the packaging, mine being Pharsuram Khatiwada: a local cook and sometimes security guard to the farm and an entrepreneur.
Origin: Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Nepal
Price: $9.00 – $23.00 (Bagged – 24g, Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g)
Ingredients: Organic Black Tea, Organic Cloves, Organic Cinnamon Bark, Organic Cinnamon Leaf, Organic Orange Peel, Organic Ginger, Green Cardamon, Organic Lemongrass, Coriander Seeds, Black Pepper
White Prakash: I made my mom a pure-tea conformer with this tea. She usually likes tea blends more but happily tried this one and called it “delightful”. The white tea was very smooth at its first steeping and fairly light even though it was steeped at 4 minutes. I could taste some floral notes that were masked fairly well by the normal “white tea taste”. I am looking forward to if there are more visible notes in the next steeping. The second steeping was just as lovely and had even stronger and smoother floral notes. I could not necessarily detect any vanilla notes but I think the texture of the tea was slightly vanilla-y like. I do not know how to describe it more than that. I really enjoyed this tea though, and cannot wait for my next cup of it! The highlighted person is the founder of the Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Deepak Prakash Baskota. He is responsible for the organic movement in Nepal.
Origin: Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Nepal
Price: $9.00 – $13.00 (Bagged – 20g, Loose – 25g, Loose – 40g)
Ingredients: Organic White Loose-Leaf Tea
Purple Leaf Tea: Every time I brew purple tea, I just expect it to be purple colored. I usually am disappointed, and I was slightly sad to see this one turn more of a golden color than purple (I think I just have the wrong expectations). But I was extremely happy to try this tea anyways. The aroma of this tea was very nice, subtly sweet and kind of reminded me of a plum. The taste was just as pleasant. It reminded me a bit of green tea, mostly the aftertaste of the tea was like that of a strong green tea or matcha. But the tea itself tasted quite smooth with a little sweetness, no bitterness insight. The highlighted person on the packaging is Boaz Katah who manages the Tumoi Teas Cottage Factory and used his engineering skills to build machinery for the farm.
Origin: Tumoi Teas, Kenya
Price: $9.00 – $16.00 (Bagged – 24g, Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g)
Ingredients: Purple Loose-Leaf Tea
Green Tea – Kukicha: I was shocked that I was steeping my tea for 30 seconds, but I happily complied. The resulting brew was quite light but flavorful. Light in color and light in taste. Very much smooth, I could not detect any astringency in this tea. It mostly tasted light and slightly grassy, and slightly reminded me of seaweed. The aroma was much stronger than the taste and was a light green aroma. I did a second steeping and this was a slightly sweeter brew almost reminding me of a lemon or orangy citrus note mixed with after-notes of slight seaweed. It did have a lot of the same grassiness notes and a nice lightness to it again. I ended up brewing the second steeping for 45 seconds instead of 30 which I think was a good move. The highlighted person on this packaging is Toshiaki Kinezuka who was into organic tea when it was not a thing and was actually fired from the Farmer’s Association. This inspired him to make NaturaliTea.
Origin: Naturalitea, Japan
Price: $13.00 – $23.00 (Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g)
Ingredients: Organic Green Loose-Leaf Tea
Light Oolong, Rolled: I love this tea. I was not expecting to, honestly. I recently found that I like oolong again, but sometimes I find that oolong teas are more vegetal than I would prefer. HOWEVER, this tea was perfect. The taste was a balance of vegetal and subtle sweetness, with a possible mineral note detected (still investigating that). The tea leaves did not unravel fully after the first steeping and I did not expect them too, so I am going to see what a second steeping (maybe a third) does for this tea. Okay, I did a second steeping….and a third. The second steeping yielded a sweeter brew with a tiny hint of nuttiness. The third steeping was more similar to the second with some smooth sweetness and some more nuttiness coming through. I thoroughly loved this tea and will keep it in my drawer until the very last leaf. I still felt as if the leaves had more to give as well, there were a couple still closed but most of the leaves had beautifully opened by the last cup. The highlighted person is Mr. Pak Asep, one of the longest standing farm members and now currently leading their HR department.
Origin: Harendong Farm, Indonesia
Price: $9.00 – $22.00 (Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g, Loose – 120g)
Ingredients: Organic Oolong Loose-Leaf Tea
Alishan Black: Wow, this tea is so dynamic. Currently on my first steeping out of four (according to the packaging). I brewed it for 1 minute with 2 scoops of tea leaves and watched avidly as the leaves took to the water. My first thought was that this tea was so smooth and drinkable, I had to slow myself down so I could focus on some of the tasting notes and character of the tea. Besides the smoothness, this tea was dynamic and ended in my mouth with a hint of sweetness and maybe honey. The aroma of the tea when brewing is a mix of oolong and black tea, where I can sense the slight floralness but a nice tannin smell of the black tea. The second steeping was quite different than the first, the smoothness was still present with a slight twang of metallic notes. A little less sweet also than the first, but an overall great cup. I did a third steeping and it was quite similar to the second cup. I ran out of time and was unable to do the fourth steeping. The highlighted person is Valencia, one who helps run Jhentea and launched Tea Tours to help share information about tea.
Origin: Jhentea, Taiwan
Price: $19.00 – $34.00 (Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g)
Ingredients: Black Loose-Leaf Tea
Black Tea – Kanchanjangha Noir: This tea was extremely developed and took full focus to actually analyze and figure out what different flavors I could taste. When tasting these teas, I never thought this black one would be the most complex and difficult. It is truly intriguing. After a while, the different flavors started to come out and show up in my palate. The first one was a smooth floral taste. Possibly nuttiness that I normally associate with black tea as well, but I cannot tell if that is my personal knowledge of black teas thwarting my tasting abilities. I actually started tasting a caramel kind of taste and sweetness at the very bottom of my cup. The highlighted person is Ratna Rai, the oldest employee at the cooperative and helped build the factory.
Origin: Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Nepal
Price: $9.00 – $16.00 (Bagged – 24g, Loose – 40g, Loose – 80g)
Ingredients: Organic Black Loose-Leaf Tea
Tea Rebellion also has a tea subscription box, 4 boxes a year for $39 every 3 months. They are specifically formalized for each season, with different health benefits and the ability to try different teas and
I was able to see the adorable Authentic Tea Lovers Club box (Fall Version), in person for a tiny bit. I did a giveaway in which I gave it away, but I was given permission to do an unboxing video which you can view below. Sorry for no music, but copyrights and such!