Several years ago, Disney moved on from a large corporation (Nestle) for their coffee, and to the surprise of some, ended up contracting with a small company out of Tampa for all of their coffee and tea (well, outside of Starbucks) called Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea. To say that it was a dramatic improvement would be underselling the change. I wouldn’t buy Nescafe in the stores, but I have purchased several bags of coffee directly from Joffrey’s since the change.

That all being said, we haven’t really tried any of their teas before now. And the tea we chose, isn’t really a tea! All regular teas come from a single plant - camellia sinensis, and any “teas” that don’t have the leaves of this plant are more properly termed tisanes. These herbal teas have flavors that are far-ranging, from fruity to flowery to spicy. The African Celebration tea from Joffrey’s uses an herb called rooibos (or redbush) and it is particularly popular in South Africa. It has no caffeine (somewhat to our dismay) and has a woodsy, smoky flavor. In the blend we tasted, it has hints of vanilla and citrus. For me - it tastes somewhat like the way a wicker basket smells. I needed a bit of sweetness and cream in mine - not my favorite herbal. Lindsay seemed to like it quite a bit, though!

We’re on the lookout over the next few weeks for a new wholesaler for our blends. The black tea we have on hand is just a bit too astringent for our tastes, even at low steeping times. Hopefully we’ll be back into making our final adjustments to our Earl Gray recipe and get it out to taste testers soon!

-A