Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu’erh & Black Tea
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
Something magical happens when you combine rich, earthy pu’erh with sweet, juicy orange. Somehow the result is so much more than the sum of its parts – deliciously fresh and fruity, yet undeniably good for you. Whether you sip it hot or over ice, it’s super-soothing and addictively refreshing. With a tea this happy in your arsenal, who knows what else might go your way? Things are looking cup…
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a relatively new offering from DAVIDsTEA and it appears to be a part of their regular line up of teas, and not a limited edition seasonal blend or from one of their constant limited edition collections. It’s nice to see the company expanding their Pu’Erh offerings, though I was skeptical about this one even before seeing other people review it; it seems relatively similar to their Garcinia Goodness blend.
Reviews on this one seem to be fairly polar, and I was actually relatively sure I’d land on the side of people who dislike this blend. This smells very juicy, and tangerine-like dry though. Enough so that I didn’t let my prejudice get the better of me and I picked up a small sample in store to try.
Steeped up this actually isn’t anything like I thought it’d taste. Which I suppose is good because, like I’ve already expressed, I was doubtful this would be that good. There’s a sparkling effervescence to this blend. Right off the bat it comes through clear as crystal in the smell and is capture very well in the taste as well. I can see it making a phenomenal tea soda!
I’m really, really tasting the tangerine in the blend which is so lovely and different from a lot of citrus heavy blends. The regular orange flavour is quite strong too and has a wonderful, fresh taste but it’s not nearly as interesting as the tangerine. Overall the flavour reminds me loosely of orange tic tacs? Sweet, candy orange with a little bit of tang to it. Surprisingly I don’t really taste anything that particularly reminds me of hibiscus? That’s certainly a relief. Maybe there’s not a lot of it in the blend, or it just blends into the tangerine really well.
As for the base; it’s hard for me to believe this is pu’erh or black tea (the blend uses both). It’s just really light overall and the flavourings are really the focus here. I suppose I do taste the pu’erh just a little though; there’s a rawness to the fruit that tastes a little earthy in the finish. The mouthfeel of this one is nice too; kind of thick with that sparkling quality.
I’m pleasantly surprised by the blend. I didn’t buy a lot but I’ll be able to have a few more cups and if they’re like this one at all I could, in fact, see this as a blend I’d buy more of! It seems like it’d work as an iced tea as well, so it could be a wonderful spring or summer companion.
