Amoda Tea Box is a monthly subscription box based in Vancouver Canada. Since I last review them, they now have their own teas that focus on primarily herbal, matcha, and wellness blends. The subscription boxes similar as before, sourcing high-quality teas from small independent tea vendors. Today I am going to drink a subscription box and a wellness blend.
June 2017 Amoda Monthly Tea Box
This is the June Box, reviewed in October because I am seriously backlogged since World Tea Expo.
Willapia White Lavender is from Beach house Tea Co, and is a blend of white peony, lemon verbena, wild harvested rose petals, Washington lavender.
Oh boy, this tea is STRONG lavender. The leaf is pretty with the rose accents. The leaf is super light too, I used about 3 teaspoons and it came out to 2.5 grams. “Freshly Boiled” throws me off, so I used 200F – it should survive since it is herbals and white tea.
I was prepared to potpourri and soap, as this is the type of tea I generally don’t like, but Willapia White Lavender isn’t too bad. It is strong on the herbal side with a more lemon fresh side, with a mix of floral rose and lavender. I can certainly taste the white tea too, adding a sweet linen taste. The flavor is quite strong, likely leafing less or cold brew would have had interesting results. After each sip, I got a lovely fresh and floral aftertaste. You certainly need to like lavender for this blend, but thankful it isn’t overkill if you tend to think it as soapy. Willapia White Lavender would make a great afternoon tea session or an evening relaxer.
Himalayan Golden is via Nepali Tea Traders. This tea is unflavored.
I likely had this one already, but I drank it anyway grandpa style with 3 grams. This tea doesn’t get bitter. The notes are awesome heavy dark chocolate, despite it not being altered with flavoring in any way. It is thick and on the sweet side – close to a 70% dark chocolate. Amoda tends to lean more on flavored/blended teas, but having Himalayan Golden on the list shows how powerful unflavored tea can be.
This would be the perfect tea to have when you have a sweet tooth or for chocolate lovers. Pretty much everyone would enjoy this tea – it is a very comforting, easy to drink tea. I let it over-steep 20 minutes, refilling it as I went, and it still didn’t get that bitter. No milk, sugar, or steep care needed.
Almond Toffee Puer is via High Noon Tea Co and contains puer, coffee, almond bits, caramel/toffee flavoring.
My experience of flavored puer teas is mixed – the make or break is the base. It doesn’t matter what flavoring you add, bad shou puer will dominate with the fishy flavor. The leaf smells like marzipan. I steeped it grandpa style because I can.
Yay! This is done well with a not terrible puer base! The puer is dark and woodsy without being fishy or basement tasting. The flavoring is sweet almond, with a brown sugar sweet edge. It is quite a good combo for you sweet tooths out there. Himalayan Golden is also deep and rich, but Almond Toffee Puer is even more so, with a stronger flavor. If you love a cup of coffee with dessert, Almond Toffee Puer will win your heart. There is apparently coffee in this, but I don’t taste much of it at first. The stronger the tea gets, the more slightly coffee taste comes out, though it is still subtle. A well-done blend.
Caramel Apple is via High Noon Tea Co, and contains apple, orange, hibiscus, rosehop, cornflowers, and natural caramel flavor. So I am a sucker for hibiscus and one of my favorite iced teas. I used a whole sample (8grams) for this mug and steeped it for 10 minutes. I then topped with ice.
Without agave, it is tartly hibiscus with a hint of caramel. I added agave as it needed it badly. The main note is hibiscus with some apple flavor. I get an aftertaste of caramel, which makes for a fun tea. I quite like this one, but this is coming from someone who always has iced hibiscus in the fridge.
Amoda Golden Turmeric Ginger
As a bonus, I got a packet of Golden Turmeric Ginger, Amoda’s best selling tea. You can also order it on Amazon!
It is blended by Amoda and contains turmeric powder, fennel powder, true cinnamon powder, ginger powder, anise seed powder, vanilla powder, black pepper powder.
I used 1 teaspoon/ 3 grams per cup. The first attempt I just used 200F water. Cool photo of the tea still spinning from being whisked!
Made with only water, it is strong. If you like chai, you’ll enjoy Golden Turmeric Ginger by Amoda. It is moderately spicy, but with an interesting creaminess from the vanilla. The main flavor is ginger. I am tempted to add this to cookies, ice cream, or even curry. The ginger isn’t harsh or bitter and I can pick out some pepper heat and fennel. There is no gritty texture either.
I then tried the Golden Turmeric Ginger with soy milk and a bit of honey. It looks like a yellower eggnog.
I prefer this tea with milk as the milk chills out the ginger and spice, making it even more smooth and lean more dessert-like. The flavor is sweet ginger with some spice that warms you as it goes down. I do like ginger teas, they are very nice on the stomach. I drank a bunch of young sheng today and the Golden Turmeric Ginger latte is really soothing my gut.
Comments
Amoda is still killing it with awesome curated tea of the month clubs. Everything tasted good and is great quality, with my favorites being the Caramel Apple and Himilyan Golden. All their tea is small batch and curated well. If you like flavored teas and want a tea subscription, Amoda is a good match and will get you down the rabbit hole trying out new teas. I only got to try one of their house-made teas, the Golden Turmeric Ginger, but it was also well done.
Amoda’s Monthly Tea Boxes are $20 CAD a month (free shipping for Canada/USA). They are a great option for Canadians as they ship from Vancouver BC. Amoda also has a shop, if you are a subscriber you will get free shipping, which is a great deal to stock up on favorites you found from the club, or to try their own blends. For the monthly tea box, I honestly think the price is a little steep for the volume of tea you get (around 35-40 grams in the box I sampled), but like other tea of the month clubs, you are paying mostly for monthly shipping, as well as curation of the teas you wouldn’t find otherwise. If you want a deal and know what you like, it is better to just simply buy the teas.
(tea provided for review | Amazon Affiliate links)
