558 Tasting Notes
3 bags, 8oz hot 12oz icewater.
I’m down to my last serving of this tea :’( I think this calls for a short road trip this week up to World Market or Whole Foods. Does anyone have any recommendations for teas that can be found at either of those two stores? I want to find a good hot green tea (any type of flavor loose or bagged) and another herbal/fruit tea.
Last week I ordered a medley of sample sized herbal fruit teas from Upton Tea Imports. I loved all the fruit tisanes I’ve had iced over the summer, and am looking for a more affordable option than Teavana. This is the first tisane of seven I am trying.
I used 7tsp of tea to 42oz of water. Brewed it as 7tsp/16oz and added the rest cold to the tea. It’s pretty light in color, a light pink, and smells of strawberry. I think I will need to cut the water down to 21 ounces to make a better flavored tea. I wish I had more of this to experiment with, but alas, I do not. I won’t rate it as I am the one who butchered it.
Preparation
That’s the way to make iced tea! Instead of reducing the water volume, you could increase the steeping time to 10 min next time. I don’t do my fruit tisanes for any less than 10 min in boiling water. But then again I don’t drink them because of personal preference, just to rate them so go right ahead and throw my advice out the window if you wish lol. (Except I was surprised the blood orange you have me was decent hot though!).
The part that was hotbrewed was a really deep crimson color, but I think I added too much water. On the package they suggested 1tsp/8oz water, but I think for iced tea I should half the water…I’ll play around more with the next sampler.
I’m glad the blood orange was tasty hot, I was a bit scared of that tea and never gave it a chance. I don’t know why I was scared of it when I enjoyed Teavana’s wild orange blossom and Taracco Ruby Orange….but I couldn’t bring myself to drink it!
Hmm… I don’t feel the need ever reduce water (or increase leaf if you look at it that way) for iced, but I’ve heard that. I guess I’m just blessed w/ tastes that lets me conserve money:) Haha- based on their sour apple (which I know is just comparing same companies, and not like teas), I know exactly why you were concerned lol.
My recommendation is to never steep anything with Hibiscus longer than 8 minutes (I usually stop at 6) because otherwise you’ll just have HIBISCUS and very little else.
The small cafe that is only open on weekends at my mall had this tea. I asked to try it iced. They used ONE BAG for 24oz of ice water. It tasted like cinnamon hibiscus water. Inshould have gotten a small hot cup. Now I know. I wonder how old these bags were?
Made a gallon of this iced using the hot brew method:1TBSP to 16oz hot water and then chilled it overnight. I’ve been trying to “use up” this tea, as it was the first I bought, and I’ve found much better teas I enjoy and still have 4oz to work thorugh.
This makes a smoother iced tea than I remember. I love the sweet bergamot flavor from the “creme”. I will have to try this with a plain Earl to see how it compares.Only 1TB/gal steeped in 16z water then 112oz cold water added? Or 1TB/16oz for a total of 8TB?
2nd one: 8TB to 1 Gallon, but I used my perfect tea maker that is 16oz so it was 1TB/16oz and then I’d empty it and start over. I think I need to cave and get the larger iced tea size Perfect Tea maker or Bodum’s Iced tea pitcher that Rishi and others seem to carry.
Meghann M- quicker easier solution would be all 8TB steeped in 16oz then adding 112oz cold water. Then you can have a gallon ready in the same amount of time it’d take to make a cup:)
I think I let this steep too long this morning, or used too much leaf. It was pretty astringent and tannin tasting. I could still smell the sweet sticky caramel, but the aftertaste was all tannins. I’ll have to watch it more closely, or throw in a spoonful of honey next time!
How long did you let it steep? Because this has Assam in it, I recommend only steeping for 2 1/2 minutes… 3 max, because it does get pretty tannic otherwise.
It was totally user error. I let it go longer than 2 1/2 minutes, more like 4 as I was rushing around this morning. It made my car smell really good, and it was good at waking me up this morning, I just liked the first cup I made accurately much much better!
This tea smells lovely. It brews up to a nice amber honey color. Lighter than I excpected, but since I’ve never had a darjeeling before, I wasn’t sure much what to expect. The taste is creamy orange sherbert with a nice underlying tea base. The darjeeling really blends well with this flavor. Another winner from Frank @ 52teas. I may have to try a second steep of this iced. I’m so glad Jillian was able to send me a sample!
This made a perfect iced tea for today. I’ve never had it by itself before, and it is really good. I sweetened 2 quarts with 2 tablespoons of rock sugar and it is perfection. I thought this tea would be more pink than it turned out, but it is more a yellow tea color. I’m so glad I remembered to pick some of this up last time I went to the mall. It is really refreshing on this 85F day!
Wow, this really is as good as they say it is! Jillian, thanks for sparing me some. It is soooooo good. I definitely have to get some of this soon. I like it plain and I really like it with sugar and a spash of cream. It really does taste like a creamy coconut pie. This was the best dessert tea!
I think my next cup will be this blended with either chocolate cheesecake chai or chai with chocolate. The creamy sweetness could really make them perfect chais.
Hmmmm…. Coconut Cream Pie Chai…
Frank, something tells me Cofftea may enjoy that combo. :-) Me too maybe :-)
Coconut Cream Pie Chai…Mmmm! The name rolls nicely off the tongue.
The gunpowder being mixed with orange and strawberry flavors really intrigued me. I like it-enough. I like that the strawberry isn’t overpowering the flavors. My husband stole this cup from me, I think he liked it:)
It is better to have a cup of tea stolen from you than to have no one to drink it with.
So true Cofftea :-)
Very good point. I secretly love when I find antea he can enjoy too. I just wish we liked more of the same teas.
I guess it doesn’t matter if we share the same tea or not, I just like having someone special to drink tea at the same time w/. Although same tea is easier:)
Whoa does this smell spicy! I used a lot of leaf for my first cup of this:1TBSP. I taste a light chocolate and a heavy spice. I don’t get much cheesecake flavor but maybe some cream or sugar would help bring this out. This is different from the chai with chocolate in that it is a stronger ,more ginger flavored chai with less of a chocolate creaminess to it. I like it, I may have to have chai with chocolate after it to compare more
I’ve been told (here!) that WF carries DoMatcha:)
My local Whole Foods carries loose Rishi teas and Shang Tea.
I prefer Whole Foods to World Market. My Whole Foods carries DoMatcha, as well as a wide selection of Tazo (which is a local company for me) and Republic of tea. They even have a few Two Leaves and a Bud selections as well as some from Tea Spot. And some good local companies (Townshend’s & The Jasmine Pearl are a couple that come to mind).
Sigh..oh for a Whole Foods that wasn’t 100 miles away….
I’m w/ a gmathis- WF and Trader Joes are 2 hrs away from me! (and Teavana, but from what people are sayin I don’t wanna go there anyway lol)
Ohhh, I forgot about the Rishi teas. And Two Leaves and a Bud had some good ones. I’m still not sold on Matcha, I am not ready for it yet.
Gmathis and Cofftea, I’m driving 54 miles each way to visit whole foods…the Pineapple Lychee being empty is worth the trip. And I need something fun to do on my 3 days off this week (well one of the 3 days).
WF here has more of a variety than WM does, but WM has those exclusives with Republic of Tea and Zhena’s that I love. I can recommend Zhena’s Vanilla Mandarin and Rainforest Berry rooibos (I think that’s the name…), both are WM exclusives and yummy!