Hawaiian Islands Tea Company

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Brought this tea home from our Hawai’i trip last fall. Good memories. Unfortunately, not good tea ha ha…

This is just quite bland. There’s a subtle pineapple flavor to it, and the tea itself is sort of cardboardy, but also tastes a bit like hay or dry grass. A bit musty, but overall just lacking flavor.

Another sample from the TTB. This is very fruity, but not as special as I was hoping from a passion fruit tea. The fruit doesn’t taste generic, but it does taste a bit perfumey and not super clearly passion fruit. I think the base tea was a bit floral for me too. Overall, it wasn’t a great tea, but it wasn’t terrible either.

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Last one! This has a rooibos base.

I honestly don’t get a lot of the added flavors here. There is a bit of butteriness from the macadamia nut, but almost no coconut to speak of. I can taste mayyyybe a hint of it at the very end of the sip.

Mostly, it’s rooibos. Thankfully it’s quite mild and more woody than medicinal. But overall, a pretty bland cuppa.

The end! Now I really have to pee…

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_3u8lBIy2/

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This was my favorite of the four flavors I tried.

I’ve never had guava, but the fruit flavor here is tart and more distinct than the mango. The ginseng is almost… minty? There’s something a bit menthol-esque about it, which adds an interesting dimension. The green tea is a bit harsh though, and doesn’t have a lot of flavor otherwise.

I probably wouldn’t order this, but it does make me want to try guava if I ever find one!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_3u8lBIy2/

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I got four individually wrapped teabags from this company from a very sweet Instagram friend, so I figured I would steep them all up together and have a nice little tea tasting this afternoon.

They’re all mostly just okay, to be honest. The black base here is very earthy, which detracts a bit from the overall taste. The passion fruit flavor is nice, but a bit too light, so it gets mostly overpowered by the black tea. I do taste it more clearly at the end of the sip, and it’s slightly tart and quite natural.

Not something I would buy though, because of the black base.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP_3u8lBIy2/

I wonder where I get this one. I had hoard of tea, both tea and tea bags from different swaps, tags, I dunno what else. Maybe it was from Australia? If so, then it had really long trip.

They suggest 1-3 minutes steep with freshly boiled water and that was what I actually did. Dry tea bag smelled very fragrant of mango and exotic fruits. That sounds good. In the mug it goes! After about two minutes steep I was scared I have oversteeped it. It turned out quite dark and quite opaque. It was like some used motor oil, or, in terms of tea – shu pu-erh. Interesting!

In aromas it was stil lvery similar – I think I smelled quite nice fresh fruits, mostly exotic as mango is. In backgroud it was strong and bit bitter black tea base.

In taste it was certainly a black tea, little biting and bitter; but still as well fresh due to fruit flavours. Certainly it was not oversteeped, I think it was just right. Good afternoon choice.

Not the best, but not the worst. A coworker of mine gave this to me from when she lived in Hawaii.

My coworker brought this tea , and I don’t usually like mango, but this tea was enjoyableack from Hawaii

I enjoyed the light sweetness to the tea. I’d had multiple passion fruit bubble teas, but this was my first time trying a hot brewed passion fruit tea, and it was an enjoyable experience, though I did miss the litchi jelly I usually pair the cold versions with.

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Thank you Arby for the share. Unfortunately I do not get much more than rooibos from this. It is smooth land every now and again I think I get coconut but rooibos really is what stands out here. Still fun to try something new.

This is a grocery store quality tea, so it isn’t the most amazing green. I picked this up because I love the coconut macadamia rooibos from this company, and I’m always up for Hawaiian grown teas. I’m not 100% sure this was tea grown in Hawaii, but it was packaged by the Hawaii Coffee Company and the back of the box has a map of the islands on it.

This brews up darker than most greens I have had. The dry leaf and brewed liquid smell very green. Vegetal, notes of seaweed and spinach. Slightly astringent in the aftertaste. A bit of umami. It tastes like any other grocery store bagged green (abeit, less awful that a few brands I have tried). I wouldn’t go out of my way to try this, but if you enjoy bagged green teas, you might want to try it if it is offered.

I decently come into half a box of this

Still as delicious as ever. Surprisingly, the coconut is still creamy and smooth. There is a nice muttiness and butteriness that could be either the coconut or the macadamia. The rooibos is a pleasant base (if you like rooibos). I added a touch of soy creamer and it really brought out the dessert notes (butter/cream).