So I think I need to call this entry, “The First Time Tea Really DID Taste Like Juice To Dan.”
Some of you guys may remember how disappointing the DAVIDsTEA Spring Collection was last year. It was mostly just…flat, taste-wise. I think I still have a cup or two’s worth of Tangerine Dream in my cupboard which I meant to drink up but didn’t because meh.
But I secretly loved this one, and got a whole tin of it full before it was gone from stores. Then proceeded to pretty much forget about it entirely.
I re-discovered it on my shelf the other day when I was looking for tea that I could keep down with norovirus in my system. I disregarded this as a possible choice, but vowed to keep it in mind as something to drink later.
I pulled it out this morning, and popped the lid off – it’s still full, I’ve basically had none of it since I bought it. Great investment, huh? I had to wince at how much this looks like an old Teaopia tea: a whole tin of cheap sencha with some fruit chunks in it. I’m increasingly biased towards teas with a sencha base, as fewer and fewer of them hold up for me as time goes by.
Uniquity has a review for this tea stating that she(? correct me if I’m wrong) thinks it tastes like – or the taste reminds her of – Tim Horton’s peach juice. I scoffed when I first read that, because juice is so obviously a much stronger-tasting substance, and I always used to be vaguely annoyed/subconsciously envious of people who seemed to have much more developed taste buds than me.
But now… No, she’s right, I tasted it this morning. Never mind the description of it as a green tea that’s mildly fruity, it darn well tasted like juice! That could be largely blamed on the amount of sugar I had in it, but I’ve used that amount of sugar before and never thought tea tasted like juice.
Then again, my tastes are definitely changing/developing in ways I never expected: I recently tried a cup of Fruitopia, something which I used to think of as refreshing, but which I haven’t had in at least a year. When I did, I was shocked to my core at how much sugar I can now taste in it; it’s literally so sweet that it coats my mouth and makes it sticky. There’s no way that shit is “refreshing” or hydrating.
Anyway. There was definitely a strong peach flavour that came through, despite the fact that this tea is meant to be mango and guava flavoured. I’ve been trying more guava-themed stuff lately, so I think I’d recognize that, but I just didn’t taste it. It’s peach and mango. There also seems to be some citus notes underneath…I was thinking it’s not sharp enough to be lemon, so orange or tangerine.
Maybe my thoughts are now biased because of sencha, but the base did not hold up like I remember. It was a little queasy-making because it was so sweet and the base apparently collapses when you add sugar (there’s a mental image), so pretty much for the first time ever with a flavoured tea, I steeped another cup clear. (New leaves, mind you, because I have way too much stuff to justify re-steeping much of anything. Plus, that’s not a fair comparison.)
And…yeah. Part of me is missing that level of sweetness, but the flavour seems better now. Of the fruit, at least – it’s not as sickly. The base does not improve, though, and it’s more obvious that I do not like it.
Oh well. It might be nice iced, and 100g isn’t much when you are making 700mL of it at a time in little pitchers. I’m sure I will find a use for it.
