Day 4!
This tea has a great name and great flavor: Ginger Cola Black Tea. This tea is meant to reference the old timey soda shoppe flavor of ginger cola. Not to be confused with ginger ale, there is plenty of dark caramel cola taste and the sweet buzz of ginger. I think flavor comes from a time where sodas had more spice, like the New England Moxie soda, or even the cherry and spice flavors of Dr. Pepper.
Enough about soda, getting back to tea. I’m not sure what kind of tea is used as the base in this blend, but the leaves are a little longer and more tightly rolled than the typical black tea base, so they were chosen specially for this blend.
This tea smells and tastes remarkably like cola but in such a way that it’s spice still suits the tea. A touch of cloves and the caramel cola taste are balanced with the warm heat of candied ginger. The spices makes this appealing as a hot beverage but the cola flavors do make it promising as an iced tea too if you are so inclined.
As a fan of both ginger tea and ginger cola, this has been one of my favorite blends so far in the set. Hope I get a chance to order more!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
I have a confession. I have been cheating on tea with a cola. Not like all the time – not even every day . . . but every once in a while, I’ll crack open a can of the ginger cola that’s made by one of the 2 big cola giants. I’m not going to name names because I don’t want to get a ‘cease and desist’ order – but it’s in a slender, tall, bright copper-orange can and it’s sold by individual cans rather than by the 6 or 12 pack.
Anyway, I originally only bought one can of this stuff – you know – just to try it. Curiosity. But I was hooked after my first sip. It’s so good – that little touch of ginger cuts through the syrup-y sweetness that usually turns me off when it comes to soda.
I happen to like the cola flavored teas (in most cases, more than I like cola itself) so I decided I should try to craft a ginger cola black tea to get me over my affair with the cola because I like it better when tea is the main beverage in my life.
So I started with a base of black teas from China (Golden Yunnan, Fujian & Assamica grown in the Jing Mai Mountains) and added ginger as well as some candied (sugared) ginger and some cola essence. And WOWZA! I’m loving it! This is tasty as a hot tea but it excels as an iced tea!
