Review: Plum Deluxe teas

When Andy Hayes from Plum Deluxe reached out and asked if I wanted to do a tea review, I was really excited! I’d been following them on Instagram and thought their teas looked awesome, so I said yes.

Hayes founded his company in honor of his late mother, who died of breast cancer, which I thought was very sweet. Kind of like my mother, his found joy in the little things and made the most of each day. It’s a great way to carry on her legacy.

I picked one caffeine free tea, and told him to choose a caffeinated one for me.

In the package, I received two full-size teas, one that I chose — the “Self Care Blend Herbal Tea,” and the other from their Tea of Month Club, “A Dark Night Orange Spice Puerh.” Also included was a one cup sample of a chocolate hazelnut tea, which I was excited to see and will review in a future post.

Their monthly tea club subscription includes one 2 ounce tea, and another in a one -up size. As a subscriber, you can choose your tea, or if you’re indecisive, go with the blender’s choice. In this review, I’m focusing on the two regular-sized teas I received.

Self Care Blend Ingredients: Honeybush tea, elderberries, apricots, apple peaces, marigold, apricot essence, love, gratitude. With the message: “Feel energized, loved, and supported with this warming, healing blend of herbs.”

I chose the self care tea for two reasons:

1. The ingredients sounded heavenly and it was caffeine-free
2. Self care is important, so the name drew me in

And I was not disappointed with the tea. This one was my favorite of the two, because I really like fruity teas and the honeybush added a soothing flavor. The apricot and elderberries drew me in, but all of the ingredients work really well together.

Apricots stand out most in the aroma. Elderberries are also noticeable. When blended, it’s smooth and fruity, but not overpowering, and it’s something I will definitely be reordering. The honeybush adds sweetness without any artificial ingredients. I like how all of the ingredients mingle together to make such a soothing tea. It’s perfect for bedtime, to help wind down after a stressful day.

A Dark Night Orange Spice Puerh ingredients: Puerh Tea, cinnamon bark, orange peel, ginger root, hibiscus, rose hips, anise, safflower, love, gratitude. With the message: “Warm, calm, comfortable and grounding.”

This blend is interesting to me, I’ve never had one like it before. I’ve had orange teas, but and teas with these ingredients separate, but not all in one tea. It works pretty well. The tea smells almost like a creamsicle, with the orange overwhelmingly standing out. But when brewed, it blended well with the cinnamon, and I can taste a bit of ginger too.

Puerh is a fermented, though in China where it is from, is known as red tea and has a different taste. It is similar to black tea, but is post fermented, rather than fully fermented, so it aids in mental alertness, and can help lower cholesterol. This tea has an almost nutty, earthy taste.

Unlike other teas with hibiscus, I didn’t even realize this one had it in their until reading the ingredients list, because I couldn’t taste it in the tea. It was very subtle. This tea would be good for daytime and morning, and for citrus lovers. It was a good tea, though I am not the biggest fan of orange teas.

Overall, I enjoyed trying these Plum Deluxe Teas, and will probably start their monthly subscription soon. I like that they all fresh, organic and fair trade, and also that they don’t have any artificial ingredients. Many teas have artificial flavoring, so I was excited to see Plum Deluxe teas are all natural.

I like how they make their tea a full experience, by sending out a tea magazine, and a personal note. Online it seems that they have a decent sized tea community as well, and I’ve recently checked out their blog, and listened to their inspirational podcast (and liked what I’ve heard so far).

Have you tried Plum Deluxe teas? Let me know in the comments if you have, or what your favorite tea subscription company is! Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel 🙂