So I just have to say, when you’re sweet tooth is crying out for a treat…THIS. TEA. IS. AWESOME!!
DAVIDsTEA offers plenty of dessert flavors from Red Velvet Cake to Birthday Cake to Lime Gelato to Banana Nut Bread and the list goes on and on. They all capture their namesakes to varying degrees though none quite mimic the flavor of their inspiration quite like Cotton Candy.
This tea tastes as if someone just melted down cotton candy in my mug, which in theory should basically taste like someone tossed a bunch of sugar in the cup but this is so much more than that. It’s sweet. It’s sugary. It’s fruity. It’s candy floss.
It is also a pretty versatile tea which makes for a nice hot tea, iced tea, and even a latte. I have even had a few great smoothies using this tea.So, if you want something sweet but don’t want (all) the calories or there is no carnival around, try grabbing a cup of this delectable offering, which I am happy to report is now part of the permanent collection.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTea
Description
This sweet treat is deliciously nostalgic and ridiculously fun.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Festive Garden from Palais des thes
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Palais des thes
Tea Description:
A delicious herbal tea of fruits and plants, Festive garden blends cocoa, orange, and grapes and tastes like a candy store at Christmas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have to say, steeping- this tea has a unique aroma coming from it. The description fits it perfectly. It smells like a candy store where there are a bunch of sweet treats all mixed together. Just from the dry leaf alone I can pick up what smells like bubble gum, cotton candy, and suckers with a grape and orange twist. Very unique indeed!
This is my first experience with Palais des thes. I’ve always wanted to try tea from them in the past but have never really come across it or think about the company when I’m looking for my next tea fix. I was excited to see this offering in my last set of teas to review.
This unique blend consists of 7 different fruits and plants and is just so much fun to look at. This is one of those teas that just put you in a happy mood while you are steeping it. I brewed this up with water prepped at boiling and allowed the herbal tea to brew for about 5 minutes. The tea was a lovely light pink or rose color. This tea just screamed for an afternoon tea time with proper biscuits and cookies. Or even to be served at a little girl’s tea party.
I allowed the tea to cool for a few moments and took a sip. What I am greeted with is a flavor that really reminded me of the aroma I was getting from the dry leaf. I swear this tea tastes like a bubblegum cotton candy mix with a slight hint of a chocolate undertone. A very unique herbal tea. That taste tho doesn’t seem like one that fits a hot tea very well so I tossed in a few iced cubes to see how this tea would play out as iced and also a lemon wedge.
The iced cubes seemed to really intensify the chocolate flavors. Those seem to be the first ones I’m now greeted with instead of the bubblegum cotton candy mix. That being said, the iced tea with lemon didn’t work out so well so I took the lemon wedge out and just enjoyed the unique cuppa I had. I wish this would be a great iced bubble gum cotton candy flavor like I was getting from the hot tea but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Regardless, this is one unique cuppa tea that takes you on a tasting adventure for sure!
Cotton Candy Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/Matcha
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Cotton Candy Matcha’s sugary flavor makes the perfect sweet snack for any dull day. This is because, this supremely sweet flavor is ideal for those who love all sweet things and relish their uplifting quality. The sheer variety of Cotton Candy Matcha makes it an instant favorite for those who want to sample the sweet delights that can be enjoyed by their palates. This is an excellent flavor for occasions of the young and young at heart who want to enliven their taste buds with something pleasurable.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Continuing with the “Choose Your Own Matcha” sampler from Red Leaf Tea, I thought it’d be a cool idea to make some of the five flavors I chose ones I had previously tried to do a comparison and see how my tastes have changed personally. Here are some of the highlights from my old tastings/reviews on Steepster from over a year ago:
“…there’s also a slight vegetal taste in the first part of the sip”, and
“…in the aftertaste you get more of a true cotton candy flavour”.
The first time I tried this was in cold milk, but for this tasting I’ll be using cold cashew milk like I have for all the other flavors so far. Dry, I think this smells pretty rich but in a generically sugary way; it’s hard to capture a smell that’s clearly cotton candy when, realistically, all cotton candy is just hot, spun sugar.
Funnily enough, my initial impression/observation is true to my old review: I think the first thing you taste is a very grassy top note which eventually does lean into a more sweet body flavor. It is very generic for me though; I don’t think if I was trying this blind I’d be able to pinpoint it as cotton candy flavor. That said, I did actually like it and I appreciate the nice balance between the flavor of the matcha and the added flavors. It’s not as accurate as it could be though, so that is a bit disappointing.
I’m happy I revisited this one though! And I look forward to trying out the last sample to see if my observations from a year ago are also accurate for that one.
Southern Boy Teas Pink Lemonade Flavored Black Iced Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Created for National Iced Tea Day 2013! Our take on Pink lemonade incorporates the organic flavors of lemon, red grapefruit, a touch of raspberry and a smidgen of cotton candy for sweetness. blended with our premium organic black tea, this is pure refreshment.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I got this Pink Lemonade Flavored Black Iced Tea of the Southern Boys Teas collection from 52Teas, I thought it was an herbal tisane. That is … until I opened the pouch and smelled the tea and I realized that there was black tea in it. What I expected when I first ordered the tea was a “pinked” version of the Lemon-Aid tisane from 52Teas. But that isn’t what this is at all.
However, this is really very good! It is a very refreshing iced tea. The black tea base is brisk and is pleasantly flavored … it melds nicely with the notes of lemon and raspberry. The grapefruit comes through as I reach the mid-way point through my glass … that’s when I really notice it. It is nicely sweet – and yes, I do taste hints of the cotton candy too. It’s an interesting combination of flavors that come together in a really delicious way. It is sweet, a little bit tart, and very tasty!
The first time I tried this … I cold-brewed it. And of the many iced tea flavors that 52Teas sells under the Southern Boy Teas brand, this is the one tea that I don’t recommend cold brewing. The flavors just don’t come across as well or as deliciously when it’s been cold brewed – it kind of tastes “muddied” … not like mud, of course, but, the flavors aren’t crisp. The flavors are there, but, they aren’t as easily discerned as they are when the tea is hot brewed.
But … when hot brewed, this tea tastes really, really good. In fact, it may just displace the Lime Cola as my favorite iced tea flavor this year. This tea gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me (although it does lose a couple of points because I like cold-brewing!)
Strawberries and Cream Green Tea from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Strawberries and cream. So creamy, so fruity, filled with berry deliciousness! Just like the classic dessert, this green tea will cover your tastebuds in all the classic flavor you know… Delicious!
Ingredients: Green tea, Lung Ching, Pai Mu Tan, strawberry flavor and bits, cream flavor
Suggested brewing tips:
Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving
Water Temp: 158-167°F
Steep Time: 1-3 minutes
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of this Strawberries and Cream Green Tea from Della Terra Teas is best described as Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Both in the steeped and dry form the smell is nothing short of perfection. Not only the strawberry and the cream scents, but the tea leaves themselves smell amazing!
Now I already knew going in that Della Terra has some of the best flavored teas on the market. For me they are right up top with Butiki Teas, and a handful of other places. This tea, is just indulgent, lovely, delightful, and about another twenty or so adjectives all adding up to bliss!
To be honest, I really am not even focusing on this review right now, this cup is that good! I keep getting sidetracked by the cup, sitting back inhaling in the sweet creamy aromas, enjoying the aroma of the tea leaves caressing my senses with their delicate, but attention grabbing nature. If they made a perfume that smelled like this I wold wear it. People may say I am too old to wear a scent that smells like a carnival, but put me in a pink tutu and parade me around the ring, I am all in with this tea! It reminds me of the fair, or a circus, and all of the sticky sweet smells that go along with it from spun sugar cotton candy, to kids blowing giant bubble gum bubbles, or the smell of funnel cake filling the air. Yet, it is not really all that sweet at all! The flavor of this tea is nothing close to sticky sweet! Its so natural, so pleasing with the grassy buttery tones of the tea, that while I may be taken into this sweet intoxicating world in my imagination, I am not putting that junk into my body! What could be better!?
Sorry I must end my review here and really sit back and lavish in the rest of my cup.
