Mango Madness

Yesterday was crazy. I got paid $125 to use a “perception analyzer” while listening to all NASCAR announcers on three networks, and then talk about them for an hour. Did I mention I really don’t like NASCAR? At least I was paid for it. But man, I was starving and drained when I got out of there.

So then today I got a bunch of stuff done in about an hour. Deposited the checks from last night, picked up tea, sent some off, and ..bought 25 pounds of peaches. I don’t know what I was thinking other than “oh my god, a box of peaches for $17.76? hauls away” Now I have less than 4 hours to write at least 2 more pages of a paper on Lyndon B Johnson so I’m finishing up my pitcher of this tea.

Since this has been sitting in my fridge a couple days now, it seems like a more floral flavor has come out in it. Of course that might also have to do with it getting a bit closer to room temperature, since my apartment is now 23 degrees cooler than it is outside. Gross! This seems extra refreshing because of the temperature now. Definitely glad I didn’t just judge this tea by how it tasted hot. It’s a cold steeping winner!

Eight months later, here I am trying to finish up my sample of this tea. I do have a fondness for some aspects of this tea, but it is just so sweet. I am getting a very strong juice flavour here, with no tea peeking out anywhere. If there were no cost to factor in, this would be high 70s for fruity drinkability. When you factor in the cost, though….this tea just doesn’t deliver. I’ve learned the hard way about most of the DT ‘white tea’ blends, it just took a while for the lesson to sink in. One more cuppa this and we’re through! It;s good to make room, my tea shelf needs serious turnover!

ps – This reminds me quite a bit of the new Spring tea: Daydreamer, which I just tried the other day. I use the term “new” quite loosely though, a lot of the recent blends seem to just be re-creations or gimicks. I think I’m falling way out of love with DT ! : ( Anyway, the faux mango flavouring really makes the two almost indistinguishable. Accordingly, I get a hint of Tim Horton’s peach juice in this one too. Plus, it has pineapple built right in! (my theory being that pineapple juice is what pushes Daydreamer over the edge into peach juice territory).

I just finished the last of these leaves. I still think it tastes more like a tea version of an orange punch with just a whisper of mango. It’s tasty though.

So I’m quite pleased with myself for cold-steeping five different teas last night. Not only do I now have a bunch of delicious iced tea, but I finished off three different packages! Hooray!

This is the first. I don’t think I was particularly fond of it hot. If nothing else, the fact that it was sold as a white tea was irritating given the utter lack thereof.

This cold-steeps up to a bright yellow-ish liquor with a nice mangoey aroma.

Other than being a bit weak (consequence of just using whatever tea I had left), it’s not bad at all. Kind of sweet, kind of mangoey. Almost a touch of bitterness for whatever reason. I do wish it was stronger and am kicking myself a bit for that (I thought I had used little enough water but apparently not; in retrospect 250mL water to the ~1.5tsp I had left really wasn’t enough). There’s a nice lingering mangoey-white tea flavour.

I think had this been a straight herbal, I might have bought it again for icing, but the high price for it being a white means this is likely the last I’ll ever see of it. Oh well! Knocking it up just a couple points, but that’s all.

Had this iced in-store yesterday. Yum! I have high hopes for this tea and I can’t wait to brew it properly and see how the taste gets even better. I really need to stop getting anything but herbals and iced in-store. I like to only steep my whites for 30 seconds on the first steep, this was steeped for at least 30 minutes.

It was very juicy and fruity, so very refreshing, which is exactly what I needed after four hours of wandering around the pride street fair. The mango was nice and strong, but so was the orange peel, in a not good way. I think a shorter steep time will help with that.

After the NYC Coffee and Tea Festival this weekend, the boyfriend and I went down to the Bleecker Street area to go to some record stores. And since we were so nearby… heh. My poor, long-suffering, non-tea-drinking boyfriend got dragged into the shop with me. My first time in the new NYC DavidsTeas! The sales people were almost absurdly chipper and friendly, greeting us the moment we walked in the door with samples. I looked around some but I’m still really on a tea-buying moratorium. Since I didn’t buy many teas at the festival I allowed myself to buy some of the prepackaged sample pouches since they were 3 for $5. This is one I picked up.

Upon opening the pouch there’s no doubt that this is mango tea, though the aroma is decidedly mango candy rather than fresh mango. I was surprised to see the steeping directions of 200°F for 5-7min because of the white tea base. I rarely steep any tea for 5 minutes unless it’s an herbal or I’m adding milk and sugar, but I took a deep breath and set the timer for 5 minutes. Steeped, it smells mango-y but also pretty orange-y, as well as some other nondescript fruits in there.

This is a super fruity tea. I wouldn’t say straight up mango as much as a tropical fruit salad. It’s sweet, it’s tart, it’s hard to tell there’s tea in it. It’s just getting tarter and tarter as it cools, and it’s a little tart for me for a non-sweetened, non-iced tea. It’s not bad really, it’s just not something I’m enjoying drinking much. Oh well, at least it was a small sample!

Another sample from Jenn, thankyou!!
Wow! This is the first white tea that I’ve really enjoyed. I’m also rarely a lover a hot fruity teas and this one’s got me sold. I’m really falling for David. Again. (My boyfriend’s name is David.) My biological father’s name is David. Davids everywhere. haha

I steeped the recommended 2 teaspoons, at 200 degrees for 7 minutes. Brews to a golden liquor. I expected this to not have much flavor, as most whites I’ve tried were very light and frankly unsatisfying. But woah was I surprised! (As I have been with every David’s tea I’ve tried.) This is definitely not lacking in flavor. And it smells wonderful! Tropical paradise. Mango is hardly ever mimicked believably. And I had a delicious mango this morning, so it’s fresh in my mind and that makes me all the tougher critic of mango flavor. But hats off to David; this is great. It does taste a bit more tart than a mango, more like mangos and apples, (I’m noticing a lot of David’s teas contain apple.) I’m also loving the quite apparent tangerine flavor, and I hint a bit of plum and the taste of real strawberries, and probably a couple other tropical fruits I can’t put my finger on right now, but they all combine to produce a lovely cuppa. I added brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit since I like my mangos really ripe and sweet. This has be to quite refreshing iced. I’ve got to start trying more whites and fruity teas.

Edit
As this cools it just keeps getting yummier! I’m definitely going to have to order some of this.

YUM!!!! This tastes like fruit juice, but less sugary-sweet. There’s so much fruity-sweetness going on that I’m contemplating making a little room in my cupboard for a small permanent stash of this! Actually, I might alternate between this and Tropicalia. (Checking out DT’s site…) This is a lot more expensive than Tropicalia though. Hmmmm….

For those who want more tea flavor in their… um, tea – I’d advise to not look for it here. The fruit flavors are totally masking what little tea there is in this offering. But the tangerine and pineapple chunks in this mix are HUGE!

I cold steeped this awesome bonus sample from Sil for 2 days. Thanks, Sil!!!

Thanks to Sil, I now have more of this in stock. I don’t think it’ll be around for much longer since it’s so damn delicious when iced. Combine the first two steeps, add honey, refrigerate, and you’re good to go. The results taste like a juicy mango with slight citrusy tartness. The white base is quite light, and honestly doesn’t add much flavor, but I still love this tea.

I’m normally a huge mango fan but mango seems like one of those flavours that’s difficult for a tea company to get right. This one is…okay, though it doesn’t quite meet the mark. This one at least actually tastes like mango, although it’s a bit too tart for my liking. I was a bit surprised to see that there isn’t any hibiscus in the ingredients – it almost tastes like there is. I don’t normally sweetened white teas but I might try it with some honey or agave nectar next time to balance out the sourness.