94
drank Sparkling Sangria by DAVIDsTEA
639 tasting notes

I’ve been away for a while, but I have a great excuse…

I am now the proud mama of two! I gave birth to my son on April 8th. We are so blessed to have two healthy, happy children!

I haven’t been doing my regular things because I’ve been so busy with a bunch of irregular things. First of all, being pregnant this second time around was no fun. Second, we bought a house! We also put a lot of work into it: all new floors throughout, new paint everywhere (and I mean everywhere, even the ceilings!), all new faux wood blinds, fixed the deck, and took down a knee wall in the living room. We still have more we want to do, but at least the house is livable and in much better condition now than when we moved in. We also had to take two trips down to my mother’s storage units in another state to sort through everything. We brought most of the furniture, dishes, and memorabilia back to our house. The rest was donated or thrown out.

My husband and I also both have new jobs. He still works for the same company but in a different area. I work for a new agency and have a team working for me. Life is very different and I’m really happy. It’s been stressful but overall, life has really improved over the last year.

My mom is still battling stage 4 breast cancer. She’s doing as well as could be expected, I think. At least she’s no longer on chemotherapy. They changed her treatment plan to oral drugs called targeted and hormone therapy. She’s responded well and it gives her a better quality of life.

Anyway, this is a tea review, not my personal journal. ON TO THE TEA!

I made this with 4 tablespoons in 8 cups of boiling water. I would recommend a higher concentration of tea. Next time, I think I’ll go for 5 tablespoons in 7 cups. The instructions say to brew for 4-7 minutes, but since this is an herbal, I steeped it for 10 minutes. I don’t usually add sugar to my teas, but again, this is an herbal! It doesn’t have any tea in it. The dry “leaf” is a lovely bouquet of fruits and flowers. So I tried a sip and decided it would be much improved with some sweetener. I added ¾ tablespoon of Truvia and then stuck the whole pitcher in the fridge to cool.

This one absolutely needs to be enjoyed iced! It is delicious! Fruity and sweet and everything you’d want from a juice or punch without the calories. This is pretty darn fantastic. It reminds me of 52teas’ Southern Boy Teas spin-off brand that closed a while back. I really miss Frank’s mastery of iced teas. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to stock up before he closed shop. I will really miss a lot of his blends. But this tea helps ease the pain of that loss.

I feel like I can taste everything in the blend: apple, mango, pineapple, papaya, hibiscus (but just the right amount), with a hint of rose and blue cornflowers. Yum yum! I even get a little passion fruit. It’s soooo good! I love this just the way it is. The marketing says you can add wine to make it a real sangria. But my favorite part of this is sans alcohol. I tried a sample of Rosé All Day in the store and thought it was pretty tasty too. It’s strongly rose, which I love, but the hint of artificial wine flavoring was what made me get Sparkling Sangria instead. I think I’m going to need more of this because 3 oz will not go far. And I usually take years to finish off 2 oz of tea.

I have to add that the dry leaf really is beautiful. It smells heavenly and is probably the most visually appealing tea I’ve ever seen. Well, now I’m off to take care of the baby!

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 12 tsp 64 OZ / 1892 ML
tea-sipper

It’s nice to see you back on Steepster! I’ll be wishing your mom well but it’s nice to hear all the good things too.

looseTman

Welcome back and congratulations x 4!

Roswell Strange

Welcome back, and congrats on all the new exciting life things!

CHAroma

Thanks, everybody! I miss tea, but I really miss this community. Y’all are so great. :)

Kittenna

Ah, so great to see a life update from you, even if you’re not posting regularly!! :D Congrats on the babies and the house and everything – I’m so happy to hear it!

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Comments

tea-sipper

It’s nice to see you back on Steepster! I’ll be wishing your mom well but it’s nice to hear all the good things too.

looseTman

Welcome back and congratulations x 4!

Roswell Strange

Welcome back, and congrats on all the new exciting life things!

CHAroma

Thanks, everybody! I miss tea, but I really miss this community. Y’all are so great. :)

Kittenna

Ah, so great to see a life update from you, even if you’re not posting regularly!! :D Congrats on the babies and the house and everything – I’m so happy to hear it!

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Bio

Entering the sweet blissful world of tea aromas!

Having discovered this website at the end of July 2011, I’m so excited to share my tea adventures with all of you! I grew up with my grandmother serving Twining’s English Breakfast with cream and sugar.

But on a trip to Seattle in 2010, I stumbled into a Chinese teashop and tried my first oolong tea. I was forever changed! I embarked on a startling new love for green and white teas.

With a world of teas to discover, I was inspired to keep a tea journal to record my thoughts and new favorites. Let’s get brewing!

My ratings are completely subjective and 100% my opinion. All ratings are given in relation to each other (ie. teas are rated in the order of my enjoyment of them). Therefore, my ratings will constantly change as I try more teas.

I love swapping!!! If you see something in my cupboard you’d like to try, just send me a message. If you’d like to trade, anything on my shopping list will do or feel free to send something else entirely. I’m willing to try almost anything (although I’m not really a fan of honeybush, red rooibos, pu’erh, Lapsang Souchong, & banana-flavored teas).

Location

Maryland, USA

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