Blazing Strawberries

Ohhhh man. This is pretty much the best iced tea I have ever made. Brewed this one strong (4, possibly 5 generous tsp to 8 oz.) with boiling water, and then diluted up to probably 14 oz. with cool water after about ~4 min. It went into the fridge maybe 10 hours ago, and the result is seriously amazing. It’s creamy and “vegetal”, but not in any way that tea has ever come across to me. It’s almost more like cucumber, except there’s some sweetness from the strawberry. When I was brewing this up, I fully admit that I was regretting that I had so much left of my 50g bag…. yeah, no longer. And I’m now hoarding the rest of it, because nobody I’ve sent it off to likes it, so now it’s all mine! :D So there! Haha.

Anyways, this was a very pleasant surprise this evening (er, is 4:30am still evening?) while I’m working on project stats. I’m far more interested in drinking this than the 3 hot teas I just made… oh well.

Thanks to kittenna for this sample.

All i have to say is seriously? People drink this? UGH i’m not sure if it’s the sample i have or what but it pretty much smells like a dog’s butt and doesn’t taste all that great either. Maybe bamboo teas just aren’t my thing. ick. Ah well, at least it’s another one off the list! woot woot!

I’m sorry that people have had bad experiences with this tea, because it is just the taste bomb!! [Is that what the kids are saying these days? Bomb diggity.]

I cold brewed it for today with the last bit of Luscious Watermelon and Swamp Water which were hiding away from me in plain sight. A perfect mix! All this fruity goodness and no hibiscus in sight!

Actually, it tastes like bubble gum! Which makes me think anything is possible. So I’m going to the gym after work today.

:D

Oh man…Oh MAN! This is fantastic. These strawberries really are blazing (but not in a spicy way!)…I get a totally authentic strawberry tastes, complete with the occasional tinge of bitterness that strawberries have. I don’t know where that’s coming from – the bamboo, maybe? Either way, I am extremely impressed. My disclaimer is that I got this in store, and they used the proper amount of tea by their standards. I try to stretch out my tea, so I usually use one perfect teaspoon to two big mugs, but this tea would not work that way, I don’t think. Definitely use at least one solid teaspoon to a mug. I think I will be buying some of this, because when I decide I want a real strawberry flavour, (but no berries are to be found) this will be where I turn. Hoping it’s as light as it looks, because I definitely want this in my repertoire.

Another sample from Kittenna I am finally getting to! Really, it’s shameful how behind I am. I made this one hot, and used the entire sample since I know DT blends can be a little weak. But wow, was it flavorful! Not at all the flavors I was expecting, but tasty.

I got a hint of sweet strawberry, but mostly what I presume was the bamboo. Earthy, rich, and almost… caramel-y? It certainly reminded me of a dessert! I got a little bit of a tingle from the peppercorns, but it reminded me more of eucalyptus than anything spicy. It was a good tea, but very unusual—I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

So let me see how “in a nutshell” I can make this before I wind up rambling on and on in this tasting note.

I bought this really because of my obsession with the “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, and the catch phrase of this tea is “fire and ice” so I decided to give it a shot. And I really love DT’s Bamboozled. I bought it to be an ice tea and really have no plans of trying it hot.

First of all, you get A LOT of tea for 50g. Like, one of DT’s tins was overflowing when I filled it up with this, usually 50g only takes up about a third of the tin. So it is a very spacious tea. I doubled the amount of tea suggested and doubled the steep time as well. Mixed in two teaspoons of rock sugar while it was still hot and let it cool to about room temperature before pouring it over ice. I used ice from my parents ice machine as opposed to ice cubes I made myself, so the flavor was a bit artificial but I really attribute that to a batch of fridge made ice that added that slight chemical note. Blah. Good to know for next time though.

Flavor-wise it was a bit.. strange. A warm feeling for sure, but a somewhat lack of flavor.. mid conversation with my mother about something, I reached into a candy jar on the table and ate a Dove Dark Chocolate, then proceeded to absent-mindedly take another sip of this iced Blazing Strawberry tea. And… BAM absolute total perfection. That is what this tea is lacking… chocolate!!! For some reason, the hint of dark chocolate really brings out the strawberry flavor and melts in nicely with the subtle sweet spice.

So… since then I have blended in a handful of dark chocolate chips to the rest of my 40g or so of tea and ever brew since then has been spectacular! Go figure!!

Hurricane Sandy came and went and oh, we made out like bandits! The power only flickered on and off a couple times. We’ve had no damage at all. Very lucky indeed. My in-laws-to-be, on the other hand, lost several trees that took out their shed and are blocking their driveway. So, they’re stuck until further notice! :/ But we’ve got power so I’m having some tea! ;)

Oh dear Lord!! The aroma of this tea is potent to say the least. I don’t think this is going to be a winner with me. I let my fiancé sniff the cup and he said, “It doesn’t smell good.” LOL! I’m afraid I concur with his assessment. I also set the cup down across the room so I didn’t have to smell it as I wrote my initial thoughts down. Phew! I better gather my courage and take a sip already!

At first, I thought, “Hmm, it’s not as bad as it smells.” Then the aftertaste overwhelmed me and I thought, “Oh yes, actually it is.” Yuck! I am not a fan of bamboo tea. Oh no! I’m so sorry to write such an awful review, but I just can’t take this tea. I suppose I’m more of a traditionalist who favors blacks, greens, and whites. Herbals have never been my first choice.

But hey, life is all about new experiences. Maybe I would have loved bamboo tea! You never know till you try. Thanks to Kittenna for the sample. I’ll leave the rest for you to enjoy. :P

Mmmm, MMM!

Did not drink this today, I steeped 4 heaping (perfect scoops) in a 2cup measure of hot water, let cool and used it to make pancakes this morning. WOW! This really added to the Sunday Brunch affair! I topped the pancakes with a reduction of strawberries and honey and got RAVE reveiws!

This tea really BROUGHT-IT!

I had this iced in-store today, my first of the summer teas! Eeee!

It was very tasty! It tasted a bit weak, but that’s likely due to their practice of brewing the tea “twice as strong” hot and then pouring it over ice, which, I really prefer to brew the tea and then just let it cool overnight in the fridge. I look forward to trying that with this tea.

That said, I really did enjoy this one. The taste was light, but very refreshing. A lot of the flavor came out in the aftertaste, and there were quite a few “tongue tingly” moments.

I think this tea and I are going to have a wonderful summer together.

This is…interesting. I definitely do not like it as much as Bamboozled, that’s for sure. Some sips it tastes oddly of cilantro.

When it does taste like strawberry, it’s pretty tasty. But there is nothing blazing about this. Although I wonder if it’s the peppercorns in combination with the strawberry that are giving me the soapy taste I associate with cilantro?

Definitely do not like this one. I thought I would! Oh well.

Thanks, Kittenna!