Peter Azak Send Message

What the hell is up with David’s Tea and hibiscus? Like rooibos, it seems to want to ruin any fruit teas that I’m mildly interested in.

It smells like it could be better, as it needs more strawberry and ginger than hibiscus, there is barely any strawberry flavor in this, and the ginger is there once you go through the hibiscus tart after taste.

Unlike rooibos, I am more indifferent to hibiscus, as it is not disguisting, but it seems to be overpowering potentially delicious blends, and it is becoming more commonplace in my recent David’s Tea blend purchases.

Considering the primary ingredient, hibiscus blossoms, I had a slight dread steeping this tea.

It smells beautifully citrusy with the fresh tinge of lemongrass right upon opening the bag, and continues on steeping, giving a wonderfully deep pink tone to the brew.

I’m glad the hibiscus didn’t ruin the flavor, as the citrus seems powerful enough to stand out, giving an irresistibly fresh flavor with a full tart after taste.

Indeed, this would be much better iced, probably with some sparkling water and citrus pieces, on a nice cool sunny day.

This is not bad, as the sencha green tea really works with the mango, there’s a nice detailed flavor added to the fruit.

It is quite a dark tea, as mango is a dark fruit, and the sencha tea really solidifies that flavor.

It is quite surprising how closely this resembles Tim Horton’s peach passion drink, as that is one of very few drinks I enjoy at Tim Horton’s.

I guess this is a great drink for an early to mid Spring afternoon, I would imagine this would be better sweetened and iced.

Have I mentioned how much I hate rooibos? This particular rooibos tea is neither sweet, nor creamy, as the bag suggests.

As well, I had expected more flavors with jellybeans mixed in, but all I could taste was bland terrible rooibos.

I couldn’t even finish my first and only cup, I had to dump it in the sink.

Very disappointing.

I guess this could’ve used some rock sugar…

There are fruits all around in this tea, it even smells delicious, but there’s an unfortunate hint of the overpowering hibiscus, and the even lesser safflower and cornflower.

Overpowering flower blossoms can be a problem, as they take away a lot of the fresh and bright flavors that would otherwise be prominent in a blend like this.

In this case, the hibiscus adds a disgusting amount of tartness and bitterness to a potentially great fruit cocktail.

I would love to drift away to paradise, but the jarring hibiscus unfortunately takes you back to the tart bitter reality.

The aroma is a nice delicate fresh blend of subtle floral and plant with light fruits, quite interesting.

The flavors are very mild and slightly sweet. It is nice, but it doesn’t go beyond for exceptional, staying low key and subtle.

I would think it a great late afternoon Darjeeling, not too strong and not too mild, just before a green tea to close out the workday.

So, DarjeelingTeaXpress had run out of their First Flush Gopaldhara Wonder Tea, which I completely love, and advised me to get this instead, as it is similar. I was quite skeptical, but because I wanted the wonder tea so much, I could make do with the supposed next best thing.

The leaves have a quite mild and sweet aroma, I would guess reminiscent of red wine, as they have described.

As the colors of the leaves suggest, the liquor is quite dark. And, as the aroma of the leaves suggest, there is a mildly sweet scent as you are steeping.

It surprises me, though, how this is not close to my beloved wonder tea, but still a very full and delicious tea in it’s own right. The black tea is quite rounded, accenting the very respectable tangy citrus flavors. For such a dark tea, it is also quite brisk and bright.

Despite not replacing their wonderful First Flush Gopaldhara Wonder Tea, this tea stands on it’s own as more than respectable and very much enjoyable.

Now this is orange pekoe. This tea is very much darker and stronger, with nice toasty and chocolatey accents.

The taste is also much darker and stronger, more earthy, yet still sweet. It has a nice pine after-taste that thankfully lingers long after the sip.

This is a reminder of how handsome a well rounded strong tea can be. I imagine this tea would be great with some honey, but is, of course, great on it’s own.

I was expecting a more bitter tea, as most of my experiences with orange pekoe teabags are.

I was extremely pleasantly surprised by how sweet this tea is, considering how handsomely dark the liquor gets. The aromas of light almonds mixed with even lighter floral notes are very present and very much appreciated.

The sweet and strong dark flavors are nicely balanced. The strong flavors do not overpower but give the best amount of kick with a complimenting sweetness.

I am more than satisfied purchasing this sample, as I didn’t want my impressions of orange pekoe to fall upon inferior teabags.

This is less jarring than Teavana’s Sweet Oolong Revolution. Although similar, this is more tropical, with less odd pumpkin quirks. This is also a less dark tea.

When you have a better focus to what your intended flavor is, this works. This feels like an early to late afternoon tea on the beach, with a bit of spice and rosebuds for romantic effect.

It is nice, and a bit harmless. Maybe this could be brighter, less rosebuds perhaps? Despite, it is still nice.