Disney Wonderland Tea

So I have been walking around with tea samples from my swap with Arby for like 5 months…if not longer. I keep them in my purse because I figured they were teabags and therefore easy to make at work. Except I don’t make tea at work so they’ve just been hanging out. I figure it is about time to change that since Arby and I are discussing another swap.

Anyways, I was surprised this tea has as much mango flavor as it does because it is quite flavorful. For one thing it is a teabag and I might be a little bias about that, and for another it has been stored in just a clear ziploc bag all this time. Alas, the vegetal green base is still prominent and tends to overshadow the mango as you near the end of the sip. It is kind of like a mango salad the more I drink about it. Ripe mango mixed with slightly more savory flavors. I am enjoying it so thank you Arby for the share!

A nice fruity iced tea to improve my evening. 1 teabag, 25 minutes, 400 mL cold water

Cold brewed 1 tsp in 500 mL water
Did not brew by 5 minutes, had to squeeze out the teabag a bit.

Tastes like low quality green tea (vegetal, astringent, faintly fruity), not very fresh. The fruit flavour barely came through at all.

30/100 not try this cold brewed

Thank you Arby for the share. I have actually been carrying your teas around with me since our swap and I keep planning to steep tea at work but just haven’t gotten comfortable using the shared kitchen facilities. This is a fairly bland black tea, malty and smooth and a touch astringent, but I was surprised by the background notes of creamy vanilla. It is nothing earth shattering but better than expected. I have had worse vanilla teas and I have had better vanilla teas, this one is middle of the pack which still makes for a pleasant sip and an exciting new try.

This is best served with milk to mellow out the very strong base.

Coldbrew

This is actually too strong. The brew was very light in colour (almost clear) but it had a lot of bergamot. I only had the teabag in cold water for about two minutes, but I already had to dilute it. This makes me think the tea is more akin to a double bergamot, where the bergamot steeps strong before the tea tannins/colours steep out. Did a second brew (30 seconds), and the teabag easily could have done a few more cups.

Lots of bergamot, some citrus zest, will be slightly bitter (as bergamot oil naturally is) if oversteeped. This is ok iced, but milk would taper the bergamot more.

A mellow bergamot flavour, but no citrus.

Tea base is a bit strong for me, but most teas made from fannings are. Slightly bitter if oversteeped. It is must better brewed with slightly cooler water (95 deg C water instead of boiling). Another alternative is to add milk, as Earl Grey takes milk very well.

I’m getting a lot of ginger and citrus in this cup. Some apricot, but quite spicy. It is actually one of the better blends I have had from Disney so far. As a latte I recommend two teabags if you want it strong.

oooh spicy! Once again,, I got engrossed in my work and forgot about my tea steeping. Thus, I am drinking yet another tea latte (unsweetened vanilla soy milk).

Slightly tannic, but flavourful black base. I’d actually say this is a nice base for the fruit/spice flavours and strong ginger, however I don’t like the bitterness. I can taste something I think is cardamom, lots of very spicy ginger, fruity notes of apricot, pomegranate, and peach. The ginger is phenomenal; it is so difficult to find ginger teas that are spicy. Overall, a nice combination, but not the best quality tea used for the base.

Not so much French Vanilla as it is generic black tea with some hint of vanilla (if you pay attention). Even as a latte and using 3 teabags I didn’t get much out of it because my tea is so old. Luckily, this is a sipdown. It’s about time, too, because I’ve had this for many years now.

I’m trying ot use up these old teas, so I’m using two teabags per mug. Hottish water, some unsweetened soy milk. The milk makes this an excellent cup. Otherwise it is tannic and bitter like most bagged English breakfasts.

I do not get any vanilla, but there is a bit of cream. Lots of thick malty bread, tannin, smoothed over by milk. It mskes for a good cup, but without the milk it has few enjoyable characteristics.

I brewed this too long and it came out bitter, so I added unsweetened vanilla soy milk and it is fantastic this way. If they had this in decaf, I would keep it stocked.

While the vanilla is nice, the best part of the tea is how sweet and creamy it is, while still being a very traditional tea. My grandmother would really like this, it has a strong (very strong) black base with a tendency to be bitter. I wouldn’t say it is a bad black, I think there are many who like the very strong flavours that bagged black teas give. That being said, this is not high quality by any standards (hence why it is finely ground in a paper teabag). But, it is a very old fashioned British sort of tea IMO. It reminds me a lot of Yorkshire brand black tea, but with French vanilla flavouring.

Arby has me stocked with a variety of Disney blends. Since I am not one for jasmine teas, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this one however it turns out there isn’t that much jasmine here to be worried about. Mostly it’s just a vegetal green teas. To me the word “peas” comes to mind. Thank you Arby for the share but I don’t think this is for me.

Thank you Arby for the share. Your swap package is actually one of two packages I have been carrying around in my purse all day, the other being my teas from Liquid Prost. I was super excited to try everything but haven’t gotten a chance until now.

Tbh I worried that this tea would be gimmicky and thus not very good. I am happy to report that’s not the case. The base is mellow and subtle which leaves a whole lot of room for the pomegranate flavor to shine. To me, this is actually a cross between cassis and pomegranate since it’s not quite as sweet as pomegranate and has a touch of that cassis richness. It’s actually quite an enjoyable tea to sip on.

Sipdown!

Coldbrewed 2 teabags in 500 mL water for 1 hour. I reccomend doing this hot or overnight if cold, because it doesn’t steep very fast. A bit fruity, a bit sweet. The base isn’t great but it is a good bagged tea that comes in a cute Alice in Wonderland box (which I will be refilling with future teas when I’m done this one).

There is a definite blueberry flavour and it tastes quite complex to me. The black tea is a bit sweet, but also tannic (but not overly bitter!) I really love this tea, I just wish they had a decaf version haha.

Very sweet and lemony, but not acidic. I love this tea!