All posts by Dona

Dona Tea: Heartbeat

tea, ,

I’m tasting the teas from my Dona tea library in the order they are presented in the library (I skipped the Amber Assam because I already know I love it). Today’s was a spiced black tea called Heartbeat.

The description reads: Full-bodied black tea, directly sourced from the Chota Tingrai tea estate in Assam, India, paired with ginger and cardamom. Inspired by Indian masala chai.

This tea smells like chai — and it should since it contains cardamom (sourced either from Honduras or Nicaragua) and ginger (sourced from Nicaragua).

The taste reminds me of a Victorian mansion for some reason. I can definately taste the cardamom, but not the ginger. I splashed a little milk in my tea, but did not sweeten it. It’s just about perfect. If I were just sitting in a parlor drinking the tea instead of sitting in my messy attic, it would be perfect.

Dona Tea: Supertwist

tea, ,

I’m tasting the teas from my Dona tea library in the order they are presented in the library. Today’s was a green tea called Supertwist.

It’s from the Chota Tingrai Tea Estate in the Assam region of India, as are all Dona’s teas, green and black, according to the sourcing map included in the tea library.

When I opened the tea sachet pouch and took a whiff, I recognized a scent but could not name it. Finally I figured it out. It reminded me of dried orange peel. A review on Dona’s website mentions a lemony taste — I don’t taste lemon (or orange) — just green tea. The leaves were full and the color of the tea a typical green tea color.

I am curious about how this green tea will taste differently from another Dona green tea, especially if the teas all come from the same tea estate. Does Dona tea do something to the tea leaves to give it a distinct taste/aroma? Or does the tea come with that taste/aroma?

Ahh — it comes that way. The tea estate lists SuperTwist on their website under Whole Leaf green tea.

I liked the tea as much as other green teas — I am not that into green tea, but this was good. I’ll have to taste the other teas to compare — maybe I will buy this someday.

Dona Tea: Introduction

tea

For Mother’s Day, Katie gave me a bottle of masala chai tea concentrate from a company called Dona. Of course I loved the gift! I love tea and anything that spells my name right is a winner.

I looked up the company and thought I would try their assam tea — a favorite of mine. I also splurged on their tea library since I was able to receive my first order at a discount.

Dona's tea library closed
Dona's tea library open showing 18 different teas plus a sourcing map

I love the assam, it’s perfect. I didn’t try any of the tea in the tea library until today (next post) when I decided to spend my birthday month tasting and blogging about the 18 different teas in the library.

I reached out to the company to ask a question, but I forgot to ask them where their name came from. Until I know the answer I’ll assume they named it after me.