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A few days back, I was craving a light tea and also something I could gulp as I was super thirsty. My solution was to grab a bottle of ‘tea’ I’d picked up from Marks&Spencer out of curiosity, labelled Watermelon and Coconut White Tea. It was delicious, and I finished it pretty quickly, and was still craving more. It occurred to me that I’d had a pouch of this one lying around for a few months unopened (I bought it just as the weather was turning colder, since it was a limited edition going out of stock, but always just seemed too summery for me to try). I tossed 6tsps of the leaf into my 750ml bottle, filled it with water and left it in the fridge for ~20 hours.

As soon as I poured the water in, the liquid turned a very pale pink, and was quite a dark pink by the time I took it out. Because of this, I was a bit worried that it would be too hibiscusy. I’m not a hibiscus hater like many people on here seem to be, but still, I wanted a sweet drink not a tart one. Happily, though, the hibiscus doesn’t come through in the flavour. Cold-brewed, this is amazing! I plan on re-steeping the leaves tomorrow, as I still haven’t tried it hot.

I might have brewed it a couple hours too long, ‘cause I’m detecting a very mild astringency from the base. Nothing I can’t deal with, though. It’s pretty much exactly what I wanted. The watermelon is sweet, but not too sweet, and I could taste coconut too, which I was pleasantly surprised with – I didn’t read the ingredients list. The tea lends some grassy notes, but stays very much in the background when cold brewed. Part way through the bottle I started to notice a floral note to the background, reminiscent of jasmine though not as strong. I have no idea whether it’s an ingredient or an element of the green or white base teas, but I think it goes quite well. The only downside to this tea is that my cold brewing used up almost all of my sample pouch, and I probably only have enough left for one or two hot cups, and definitely not enough to indulge in another cold brew! Yet another reason to resteep my leaves tomorrow. I hope this is brought out again in the summer (not that there’s much chance of me being post-hiatus by then).

Hmm, I really thought I’d reviewed this one. As in, I actually remember writing up my note… What did you do to it, Steepster?!

I drank this because there was a ‘splosion in the TTB, and I couldn’t save the rest of the sample. If I could have, it probably would have been a keep, because I remember this being very nice. It smelled delicious and tasted equally yummy. I got both strawberries and cream, and remember the strawberry being quite natural.

I can’t believe there are no tasting notes for this one yet!

The scent of this tea is just intoxicating, I had to make a cup as soon as I smelled it. It’s like a home-baked apple crumble with a twist. Taking small sips, the pecan note is most prominent, melding with the dark oolong really naturally. It leaves a roasty, nutty aftertaste for quite a while which reminds me quite a lot of my beloved maple pecan oolong, which I got quite excited about. I wonder what this would be like with maple syrup added – I might have to try a touch next time. I feel it would amp up the apple and boozy elements too. As it cooled, and when I had bigger mouthfuls, the taste was spot on Apple and brandy, with a pecan note peeking through. I managed to get two western steeps out of this, but didn’t attempt a third as the second cup was more just an apple oolong, with slight hints of brandy and pecans. Overall, I am very impressed! Another hit from Stacy.

EU TTB Round 2!

Spicy and a little fruity. 62, no keep.

That’s the extent of my original note on this tea. Unfortunately I don’t remember enough to add any more to that.

Yet another from the EU TTB! Man I was bad at logging those. Apparently I wasn’t so keen – all I have written about it is ‘52. No keep.’ Haha so not for me! I remember thinking it was a little odd and sour, but that’s about it. I’ve read the other notes on it, and I don’t remember tasting anything that the other girls did. Maybe the sample was funked up by something else in the box?

Another tea from the EU TTB round 2. I remember this a little better, but still not well. It was quite malty and almost bready, and I remember being quite impressed. I didn’t keep it as I was more into trying flavoured teas at the time, but I think if I happened across it again I’d give it another shot.

I tried this during the EU TTB Round 2 an age back, and only looking through my tries just now noticed that I never write up a note on it. I don’t remember a great deal about it, only that it wasn’t that memorable. Which I guess is self-explanatory seeing as I don’t remember it lol. It was nice enough, green, mild, and a little perfume-y.

Sipdown! (25/312)

This one came from KittyLovesTea, though I don’t know if it was from our regular swap or the Secret Pumpkin. Anyway, thanks Kayleigh!

I’ve had this for a while, and always just expected it to be ‘meh’ so never really got excited to drink it. I put it in my ‘to drink’ box as part of my sipdown challenge, though, and decided to have a cup a few days back. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it! To which I owe the tea, company and Kitty an apology. I’ve been drinking it ever since, and just had my final cup now. The oolong is fairly dark, and slightly nutty, and the flavours kind of meld together so that it seems quite natural. It’s definitely juicy, and fruity, but I’m not sure I’d be able to identify which fruits exactly are involved if I didn’t already know. The rose comes up as a vaguely floral aftertaste. This is a nice summery tea, and if I had more I would probably try cold steeping in the summer. But I don’t, so I won’t – it’s good, but I have others I’d be more likely to restock.

I know I’m kinda of bucking the trend here, but I really can’t get behind this tea.

The dry mix smelled really good, so I was pretty hopeful, but as soon as I poured the water it went really sour. Plain, all I taste is sour, with a mild aftertaste of coconut. I added a sweetener to see if that helped it out any, and it ended up WAY too sweet, but I think I tasted the pineapple a little more. Finally I added a splash of milk, which I prefer not t do with honey bush usually, and it actually helped a bit. As it started to cool, I still got sour honeybush as the main flavour, but it was followed up by creamy coconut and pineapple. I’m not sure why, but even then I couldn’t enjoy it. I could tell that it was sort of like a piña colada, and I could tell that the flavours were there. There is just something about it which made me dislike it, and I can’t put my finger on what. I’ve disliked nearly every pineapple tea I’ve ever tried, despite loving the fruit, so maybe it’s that. It might just be time to officially add ‘pineapple’ to the ‘never in tea’ list.

Frank finished off my cup, since I couldn’t stomach it. I’m thinking I’ll probably either give him the rest of the pouch or cold brew it.

First tea from my last proper Butiki order! I have two mystery boxes on the way, so there’s still that to look forward to.

This is tasty. But it’s more ‘strawberries and cream’ than ‘strawberry Irish cream’. The strawberry scent in the bag is very strong. It tempers down after brewing, but the taste is prominently strawberry, too. The cream comes through in the aftertaste to round it out, along with a light vegetal note from the base. It’s a very smooth cup. I added a sweetener part way through, and honestly I prefered it without. The base comes out a little more and the strawberry fades a bit, but it’s sweet enough on its own. I don’t get any of the ‘Irish’ either way.