Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: iHeartTeas
Tea Descripton:
Finally after much delay I have created my first blend by hand. It is a sweet and juicy blend of strawberry black tea, a touch of coconut to remind you of the islands and creamy vanilla which helps to bind all the delicious flavors together. This blend can be enjoyed hot or cold making it versatile all year long. I am sure you will find this little concoction of mine very light, fun, and slightly sweet. A great blend to brighten spirits and perhaps put a spring in your step.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea takes me back to when I first started out on my path of blending and flavoring teas. It was a scary, intimidating time, and back then, there were far fewer resources available to me to learn the art … so for me it was very much a case of trial and error – resulting in mostly error!
If I’m interpreting the above description correctly, this is iHeartTeas’ inaugural blend; the very first tea blend that she blended herself. Knowing from experience how difficult it can be to “put yourself (or in this case, your blends) out there” – I commend her for her courage to do so, and I’m excited for her and glad that she has taken her first steps (and the many steps she’s taken since crafting this blend) to get her young business on the right track.
That being said, I just can’t get all that excited about this particular blend. I mean, it’s alright, but it’s not as good as I had hoped it would be.
The black tea base is strong and tastes pleasant. The rich, malty tones of the tea meld quite nicely with the flavors of coconut and vanilla, and I think that that’s my favorite part of this tea.
But the strawberry just tastes a little bit off, a little on the artificial side. The name of this tea – Strawberry Island – suggests to me that the strawberry flavor would be a bit more pronounced than it is.
I notice that as this tea cools, it does taste much better. While the strawberry notes remain dormant, I am not noticing as much of the artificial strawberry notes that I tasted when the tea was warmer. The coconut, on the other hand, has really emerged at this point, creating a delicious creamy coconut flavor.
Because of the way the flavor changes as it cools, I’d say that this tea is best iced. It is tasty hot, but, better iced.
Overall, I find this tea to be decent – not bad, certainly, but not great either – and it IS a really good first blend, and if this is a look at what the future holds for iHeartTeas, I’m very excited for what comes next!
