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I would have never EVER bought a tea called “green and fruity”. But since someone generously put a bag of this in the cupboard at work, well, why not?

I drank it hot and then lukewarm. Basically I was busy and couldn’t finish a cup while it was still hot. It was surprisingly good! I got papaya at the beginning and then as it cooled off I got more peach than other stuff. Maybe mango. It should only matter to you if you dislike one of the two (peach or mango)" otherwise you won’t care. It’s a nice, ripe fruit taste. Really, really good. As in, I’m going to buy this for an iced drink instead of Coco Lemon Thai good. I couldn’t believe this is Rooibos.

Oh darling magical cupboard at work, what shall we have today? Oh, jungle ju ju, you say?

It promises to get me swinging from the vines. Dunno about that but it’s not putting me to sleep which is great!

So now that I’m a seasoned mate drinker not! I can tell you I like this one in comparison to others. This is largely due to the papaya flavour. I’m a sucker for tropical fruit, especially if it’s covering something I am not entirely fond of yet. You do get good papaya flavour in this. Enough so that you don’t have to dig too deep to figure it out. I would make a second cup actually except I finished the bag, there was only enough for 1 cup. Might have to settle for 2nd steep. Hope it gives me more than flavoured water.

I had no steeping parameters and it tastes a little weak using 1 perfect scoop, 4 minutes and near boiling water. I couldn’t find any info on the website. Why? Although it is fun to get cheeky with the description of the tea perhaps the powers that be should also bother to give some sort of steeping suggestions. After all, you are catering to the new tea drinker perhaps more so than the experienced one. End of rant.

Having said all that the tea itself is tasty. I’m sitting here drinking it instead of getting ready for work tasty. If I find enough 52teas appealing to me I could place an order and then yes, I would include this. Although, I don’t know how I feel about the “once it’s gone, it’s gone so don’t fall in love” part.

Thank you Sil for this sample!

I’m reading “the secret daughter” by Shilpi Somaya Gowda and oh my gosh, they’re in India and well, it’s chai this and chai that until I couldn’t take it anymore and went to the stash from Dexter3657 and killed the sample! I must do two things a) buy more of this and b) try other companies’ chai to see what’s out there. Although, why look for better when you have the best, right?

Although, note to self, this doesn’t go very well with the raw shallots from my quinoa Greek salad. I have to have a few tiny sips to cleanse the palate.

Great chai, the best I’ve had so far. I still need to buy almond milk.

Well, I wondered about this tea for long enough. thanks to Sil it’s in my cup and I can stop wondering. Turns out I wasn’t missing much.

Sometimes I feel like I’m deficient somehow and can’t get flavour out of these teas. But then some teas come along and give me confidence again that I can taste flavours and I can make a yummy cup. No, there’s no happy ending here. This tea makes me doubt my taste buds yet again. Who are these people raving about peach? (And why does my iPad want to correct “peach” to "preschool?)

I’ve made it hot and tried. I added sugar and tried. Poured it over ice and tried. Someone is trying to pull the wool over my eye with this one. I had fantasies about ripe, flavourful, juicy peaches. I’m getting instead that disappointment you get from eyeing a gorgeous piece of fruit only to bite in it and find it mealy and cardboard-y. Waaaah!

I really don’t mean to be harsh but I’m getting mostly black tea. I can’t even smell the peach. It’s not awful or anything, it’s just not peachy.

It turns out the new HR manager at work has a daughter who works for DAVIDs. When I first met her, in the staff room, I had no idea who she was, what she did or anything at all. She caught me looking at a box a bagged tea in the cupboard and she started a conversation with me based on that. Next thing I know we’re in there talking about tea for 30 minutes. She ends the conversation by saying “anyway, I have more tea than I can drink, I’ll have to bring it in”. True to her word, this morning there are several bags of DT in there, some of then unopened.

This here is one of the teas. Not overly flavourful or aromatic but one could tell that there is, indeed, lychee in the tea. I wonder what this would be cold steeped. Maybe it would surprise in the flavour department, just like the Blueberry Jam did?!?

1.5 tsp, near boiling water (no thermometer at work), 3 minutes. I put a hefty amount of sugar in there to bring out some flavour and now I have some really sweet lightly flavoured black tea. The base is not too strong, not astringent at all but not much of anything going on.

Maybe I’ll pinch a teaspoon worth and cold steep at home in a tiny jar.

My second go at this tea. When I first drank this it had been my very first honeybush. I am now a few teas older and I’m enjoying this more, probably because I know what to expect. In my original tasting note I said this tea could be one that grows on me and I was right. I made it nice and sweet, steeped it twice and it turned out to be a great choice for my last tea of the evening.

Sample from Sil, thanks Sil!

This one got away from me for a minute and it is strong. I’m not getting too much chocolate flavour in the first steep, only in the aftertaste and in the aroma of the liquor. The aftertaste is really quite nice, chocolate and orange.

Really strong base. If it weren’t for the aftertaste I’d think I’m drinking a strong cup or Orange Pekoe. I know that sounds like maybe I have amazing taste memory. I don’t. It’s just that I used to drink a lot of Orange Pekoe. Ok, I used to drink only Orange Pekoe. I never bothered to try other teas, to me tea was tea so just pick up the giant box of Tetley Orange Pekoe and I was set. Ignorant fool, huh?

2nd steep is much nicer. Still no chocolate but easier to drink, lot less strong.

Parameters: 1 perfect measure, 8 oz water just off boiling. 3 minutes. Same temp. and time for 2nd steep.

You know those “How’d they do that?” shows? I would like to see one on THIS tea. How someone can put cinnamon and completely kill a tea (for me, anyway) and someone else — say, sTEAp Shoppe — can do amazing things with cinammon, like this here tea.

Now this is what I would call delicately spiced. There’s cinnamon in here, duh!, but it doesn’t bludgeon the rest of the stuff to the point that you just feel you’re sucking on a cinnamon stick. I’m interested in also knowing how they get the bread taste. In wine, you know they use yeast, for example in Chardonnay. I doubt they use yeast in tea so … how?

In any event, delicious tea. I was worried maybe cinnamon in tea is not for me. Clearly this proves it wrong. As for the tasting note, you don’t need one from me. Just remember your last Cinnabon. That’s what your tea will taste like.
The End.

PS. Thank you to the amazing Sil for sharing this. Awesome choice.

Delicately spiced my arse. This tastes like apple cider to me, probably because of all the cinnamon. And wow, is it ever taaaart!!

I really really wanted to like this one. You feel guilty not liking it, what with all the propaganda about helping Haiti and stuff. Who would write bad reviews on this tea? So I won’t. I’ll just say that I can see the coconut but I can’t taste it. As for banana… Where??

Good thing I seem to be in minority.

Dexter3657 darling, you were right. You and I will make the best tea swapping partners, our tastes our almost polar opposites. Hahaha. It’s unbelievable.

Oh and a by the way, my partner seems to like this tea also so I really am the lone wo/man out!