513 Tasting Notes
This was my first teapot experiment yesterday. I brewed some up and just sat their and sipped at it throughout the day. I always forget how much I actually enjoy this tea. It slides to the back of my shelf until I remember it really is actually pretty amazing and I pull it out again. I like it hot, I probably prefer it cold, but I have all summer to decide.
I get the berry notes but, interestingly enough, I also get a lot of the apple, which I actually enjoy tasting in this tea. It is also one of the few rosehip heavy teas I am pretty crazy about.
I had this as an iced tea lemonade at Starbucks while the boy and I ran errands yesterday. I am not a coffee or a latte drinker, and they have been unable to make refreshers for a month (you know you live in a small town when…), but this is a nice alternative. I adore the tartness from the tea mixed with the sweet lemonade. It has inspired me to make my own calorie free version at home. I plan to mix Teavana Passion Berry (which is the same thing) and Crystal Light lemonade. Jace may question my brilliance, but this plan is sure to succeed. Now all I need is the snow to melt so I can implement it!
I need to watch myself with this tea or I will find myself rethinking my general dislike of cinnamon in tea. It just blends to well to tone down the tartness of the hibiscus. I find myself considering every sip, is it sweet, or is it tart, and never really settling on a final answer. Either way, it is delightful. It does kind of remind me of Kanpe, but it holds its own in terms of a unique, interesting flavour.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Flowers
See, I said I had a ton backlogged to write about! I gave this a shot cold brewed in a Timolino just for the heck of it. Surprisingly it did really well. The vanilla shines through really strong in this tea no matter how I brew it. However, I love vanilla and don’t mind it’s presence in the slightest.
This tea makes me think less of summer peaches and more of an autumn peach cobbler or pie. The vanilla offers a soothing warm note to the tartness of the peach. Cold steeped, the peach comes through very strongly, but the vanilla is still there to ground it. When I smelled my bag of this, I really wasn’t sure, but this is one of those teas you just need to brew up and give a try.
Flavors: Cream, Peach, Vanilla
I think you know you have a problem when you might be hoarding not one but two big bags of this stuff and you still don’t want to share even a cup of this. Cold brewed, it is perfection in a cup. However, given that I have enough to take me into the next millennium, I almost hope they don’t bring this one back this summer and instead find something else just as amazing!
I can not believe this, but I am going to have to drop my rating. This really just does not seem to be the tea for me. I tried it cold steeped and, even then, it is just really sickeningly sweet to me. I tried some of the pineapple out of the tin, and that was great, but somewhere between the tin and the final brew none of that amazing tartness from the pineapply that I am looking for managed to make it to my cup. All I can coax out of this tea is a ton of candied flavour and some lemongrass, neither of which are winners in my world. I have a mix from Teavana (I know, even I can’t believe that I am going here) that mixes blueberries and pineapple, and it is perfect. Tart, but still berry based. I think that, much as it annoys me, I am going to have to stick with it for my pineapple berry combo wants, this just isn’t cutting it for me…
I did not make my 400 note goal, but I have a ton of teas backlogged, so I am going to try and write some notes down and see how far that gets me.
I gave this a shot cold brewed, much improved from the over brewed astringent mess I managed to make the first time I tried it. I agree with the description, this really is reminiscent of a good glass of mango juice. However, I also get a nice grounding note from the black tea base. Personally, I rather like it, but I need to give it a couple more tries to see if it merits a long term space in my cupboard.
I preferred it cold to hot, but I am going to try brewing it hot properly and see if that works for me.
I don’t know if it is just me, but I find this tea super, super sweet. I have tried it a couple of times now and I continue to be almost overwhelmed by the sweetness. I think I banked too much on the pineapple lending a note of tartness, because this is not the taste I had imagined when I heard what was in it. I don’t necessarily really dislike it, I am just getting used to the notion of what it really is, compared to my expectations. I need to try this cold steeped and see what I think then.
This tea is so changeable with me! Tonight, I get lots of bread and not a ton of banana. However, I can handle the bread flavour. I am contemplating mixing my next cup half and half with Teavana’s Chocolate Bananas Foster (which I find almost too banany and sweet). This tea is getting better, but I am still looking for my sweet spot with it.
