Strawberry teas are favorites with my crowd and we love how well they pair with chocolate and decadent desserts. Some of the ones we have tried have been very finicky and others forgiving. I think this one might fall in the somewhat finicky category, but I didn’t realize it at first.
This is a Ceylon base, and I usually find Ceylon tea to be still palatable at four minutes steep time, but this one says to only give it three. I do prefer low grown Ceylon to high, as the high elevation tea tends to have strong lemon notes and higher astringency.
When I first tried this tea, it was with cookies. It went very well with them and the strawberry flavor was a good strength. I was pretty shocked to see reviews ALL OVER THE PLACE. Too tart, too dry, too astringent. Not enough strawberry, not enough tea flavor. Then others said it was their perfect strawberry tea, there was plenty of tea flavor, their favorite strawberry tea, so much strawberry aroma.
So what’s up? Lots. Different people may have made it differently. People who called it too astringent may have been drinking it plain while folks saying it was perfect were adding milk and/or sugar. Some batches may have been freshly purchased and other reviews may have come from people who were sent a sample by a friend and the tea was no longer fresh. And opinions differ because people differ.
My take on it was this – it was great with food with no milk or sugar added. The strength of the base and the strawberry flavor helped it to “stand up” to the food and not disappear. When I tried it by itself, I did find it to be very drying and to have a bit of tartness. A tiny splash of milk and a sprinkle of sugar fixed that. If you don’t want to add anything, try dropping the temp just below boiling and keep your steep a little shorter. Or just do like me and eat a cookie.
While I enjoyed it with sweets very much, I would prefer to have it on a Keemun base if I were planning to drink it by itself.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Strawberry black tea combines the succulent taste of sweet strawberries with bright Ceylon black tea. Fresh sweet-floral and berry flavor, smooth and sugary texture. It’s a treat you’ll want to keep for yourself!
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Bonfire Toffee/Bird and Blend Tea Co.
When it’s raining cats and dogs out, the sky is dark, and the lightening is bright, there is nothing quite like a latte made with a warming dessert tea. Normally, that warmth comes from a spice like cinnamon or clove but this time I decided to go a different way and picked out Bonfire Coffee by Bird and Blend Tea Co., a smokey black tea with caramel and apple.
I brewed up the tea rather strongly, steeping 4 perfect teaspoons in 8 ounces of boiling water for 4 minutes. I topped the steeped tea with 8 ounces of frothed 1% milk.
The first thing I noticed when drinking the tea was the smoke from the Lapsang Souchong black tea. No surprise there given that Lapsang is always one strong tea.With that said, the milk sat atop the smokiness making for a smooth and creamy smokey flavor, as opposed to a more harsh smoke, until the end of the sip when the smoke just broke free and lingered in the aftertaste. The aftertaste is also where I most noticed the presence of a caramelized sugar/burnt caramel quality that was intermingled with the milk and Lapsang throughout the sip but came through more clearly in the aftertaste. Apple was missing in the latte but my guess it was drowned out by the more prominent flavors of the milk and the Lapsang.
It’s a nice tea but definitely not for the faint of heart. If you are not one for smoke, stay away from the Bonfire.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bird and Blend Tea Co.
Description
Travelling tea merchants used to carry tea from east to west,all the way across Russia… well, their horses did anyway! It’s said the campfire smoke would infuse into the loose tea leaves at night creating smoked teas. Add some caramel, apple and toasted cinnamon and you get a spectacular Bonfire Night treat!
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Jaffalicious/T2
One of my all-time favorite teas is DavidsTea’s Chocolate Orange. I have a friend who comes over to my house and only drinks that one, decimating my stash. When I was in T2, I found a similar tea, with a base of black tea instead of pu’erh. WAS THIS MY RE-STOCK SOLUTION?
Sort of. It’s pretty close, but not quite the same.
The DT Chocolate Orange is a POW, with the pu’erh being stronger and the chocolate being darker and spikier in flavor. The T2 Jaffalicious is more like the former, but with milk added. It’s sweeter, lighter, creamier, and more delicate. It’s a dessert tea. It’s tea you’d serve your grandmother to make her giggle.
I served this tea to my friend who keeps stealing my Chocolate Orange, and he didn’t really notice the difference. So I guess, in a way, it serves my needs exactly.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: T2
Description
Jaffa lovers will agree, chocolate and orange is one of the greatest combos ever created. Lashings of velvety dark chocolate with a twang of sweet orange will take you to a world of all things heavenly.
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Pirate’s Pleasure Rum Raisin Black Tea/Tea Mistress
What could be better after a trip to the beach than a pirate themed tea? Pirate’s Pleasure is a blend of Ceylon black tea, rooibos, hibiscus, raisins, currants, cocoa nibs, rosehips, coconut, allspice, and natural flavors.
The black tea isn’t getting lost under the additions, and the overall flavor profile is warm and dark-fruity, not the bright “ping” of citrus or apple, but the deep satisfying notes of raisin, currant, and spices. I am not tasting the cocoa nibs specifically but they are no doubt adding the depth of flavor to the cup. The coconut is not in the forefront of this blend, but usually adds a bit of creaminess and so again, may be responsible for the impression of depth I am finding here.
Long after drinking, the warm spices persist and I know already that I will be making more of this today! Even with the fruit and spices giving it deep flavor, I do not find myself associating this tea with cool weather or fall and winter holidays as so often happens.
I tried it hot, both sweetened and unsweetened, and I think I preferred it lightly sweetened. It would make a fabulous iced tea, in my opinion!
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Mistress
Description
Ingredients: Ceylon Black
tea, rooibos, hibiscus, raisins, currants, cocoa nibs, rosehips, coconut, allspice, natural flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Gourmet Root Beer/52Teas. . ..
When I cut open my package of Gourmet Root Beer tea, the first thing I saw was a beautiful, WHOLE star anise. The first thing I smelled was ROOT BEER. That really needed to be in all caps because that is how it smelled. This wasn’t the scent of cheap, off label root beer. This was the rich, full scent of a craft root beer that would be poured from a frosty brown bottle, foaming into a thick and frothy head in your glass, filling the air with the scent of pure vanilla and anise. Perfection.
The blend contains black tea, sarsaparilla root, cloves, star anise, licorice root, vanilla bean, and natural flavors. Licorice root has not only a distinctive aroma but leaves a distinctive flavor and texture in the throat after you swallow. I really didn’t know that there was licorice root in this until I looked at the ingredients, because it was such pure root beer taste that the licorice root individuality didn’t stand out from it. It simply sweetened the tea to the point that a guest, who takes no sugar in any tea or coffee, remarked that this was a very sweet black tea.
I wasn’t satisfied with just trying it hot. The heat index today is 102F. That’s 39C. That’s inhumanly, ridiculously hot. I wanted to see if I could make an ice cold bubbly root beer with this. I put four teaspoons of leaf in seven ounces of water that was 200F then steeped for two and a half minutes and strained it. I poured this over 3/4 cup sugar to make a root beer simple syrup.
Even though it was still hot, I just couldn’t wait to try my experiment. I filled a twelve ounce glass about a third of the way up with ice and poured three tablespoons of the root beer syrup over the ice. Then I filled the glass the rest of the way with pre-chilled Perrier for the bubbles. I pronounce it DELICIOUS.
It was a fun experiment and I can’t wait for hubby to get home and try it. My daughter sniffed it and said she expected it to smell like cream soda but it really did smell like root beer to her. It is really good, and doesn’t have sodium benzoate like most soda. I added the sugar without thinking because that is how you make simple syrup, but if you wanted to cut your sugar intake, I bet this would be still be good with just the sweetness of the licorice root that is already in the blend. Or you could easily make the simple syrup and just add cold water if the carbonation isn’t important to you, but I was trying to replicate actual root beer.
If you love root beer, give this a try. It is not in stock at the time this review was written, but 52teas is all about keeping an ever changing offering of new blends and they do rotate the favorites back around now and then.
Now have fun with your tea and experiment!
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available