When The Teaguy offered to send me some free samples to review earlier in the year, I was rather excited. I usually jump at the chance to review free samples because, well, who doesn’t love more or less free stuff? Unfortunately, after receiving the samples my enthusiasm soon waned. At the time, I was working my way through a lot of other teas I had bought and wanted to finish those first. Also, the folks at The Teaguy mostly sent me flavored and standard blends. I don’t drink a ton of such blends, and at the time, I was sticking exclusively to straight teas. I then set all of the samples I received aside and went about my business, forgetting about them entirely over time. Flash forward to yesterday night. I was bored and having trouble sleeping, so I occupied myself by doing laundry and watching a Rocky marathon on IFC. My attention eventually turned to straightening up my kitchen, which soon brought my attention to one of my tea cabinets. Lo and behold, I rediscovered the samples I had received several months ago. Feeling bad about ignoring them, especially as I had promised reviews of each, I decided to cold steep a big pot of this blend in the fridge. I drank it this morning before finishing the rest, which I, of course, brewed hot. Even though flavored blends are most likely never going to be one of my primary foci when it comes to tea, I could at least appreciate what this one brought to the table.
For the cold brew, I steeped 17 grams of this loose blend overnight (just shy of 12 hours) in a 39-40 fluid ounce glass pitcher filled with bottled spring water that was placed in my refrigerator. For the hot brews, I steeped one teaspoon of loose material in approximately 8 ounces of 180 F water for 2 minutes. I then conducted a second and final 3 minute infusion.
I have to say the cold brew was really nice. The aroma of the tea liquor offered delicate hints of safflower, grass, seaweed, pineapple, cedar, mango, citrus, and pine needles underneath a dominant ripe peach scent. The peach, of course, dominated the mouth. As indicated, there was a powerful rosehip note as well. I could also pick up notes of grass, seaweed, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, safflower, pine needles, lemon zest, tangerine zest, bergamot, and cedar.
The hot brews, on the other hand, were slightly more balanced and offered a bit more of a green tea presence. On the nose, I found a balance of peach, pine needles, safflower, pineapple, mango, lemon zest, grass, and seaweed. I also caught a subtle hay-like scent at a couple of points. The mouth offered strong top notes of peach and rosehips that were quickly balanced by grass, hay, seaweed, pineapple, mango, lemon zest, bergamot, tangerine zest, passion fruit, safflower, pine needles, and cedar. The secondary infusions were very mild, mostly presenting mild grass, hay, and seaweed notes from the green tea framed against a backdrop of peach, mango, rosehips, lemon zest, safflower, and pineapple.
As flavored green tea blends go, this one was rock solid and very likable on several levels. Again, things like this will likely never be for me, but I could appreciate the blend’s pronounced fruitiness. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit stronger of a green tea base, but honestly, that’s just the straight tea purist in me making itself known. If you are a big fan of peach tea or a fan of fruity, sweet flavored blends, you may very well enjoy this one.
Flavors: Bergamot, Cedar, Citrus, Floral, Grass, Hay, Lemon Zest, Mango, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pine, Pineapple, Rosehips, Seaweed
As lovely as it is to receive samples to review, it is nice to be able to go with your range of expertise and preference. But hey. People will do what people do.