Strawberry Lemonade/Blueberry Bliss

Backlogging:

Made this the “real” way to make iced tea (with ice instead of cold brew). I made this before Swampwater and I gotta say, when comparing it with that one, I had to drop the rating a bit. It seemed too tart for me; I ended up adding some Splenda, which I hate to do, but it was either sacrifice my tea principles or dump it…and I couldn’t bear to dump the little pistol-shaped ice cubes. Turns out the only tea I can drink multiple cups of from Teavana and not lose total respect for the company is the chai blend.

Thanks KeenTeaThyme
I cold brewed this. It smells WONDERFUL. It even tastes Great, too!
I can taste all of the elements – here – Strawberry, Blueberry. Lemonade! YUM! I don’t think I would like it as much HOT but cold brewed is certainly the way to go with this one! It also has a mysterious tingle to it…almost like bubbly – sparkling grape juice type tingle. It’s unusual but neat!

This came to be via a “Mystery Swap” with Allie. Thank you!

I am not sure what to think about this one. The mix of berries is a bit overwhelming and very tart hot. I think this would be better as an ice tea as it is mellowing out as it cools. I will brew some up tonight to try with lunch tomorrow iced.

This is one of my favorite summer teas. I always drink this one over ice. The blueberry and strawberry flavors mix really well together and make for a burst of flavor with each sip. I hope Teavana keeps these two teas around for a long time.

Another tea puzzle! Strawberry Lemonade was a nice tea, and I adore Blueberry Bliss. So then why does this tea come out generic and bland to me? Honestly it didn’t stand out at all. I made it iced, cold steeped with agave. I know this was a fresh bag, too, so I have no idea why it futzed out. Next time I’ll stick with straight Bliss.

This almost overtakes Pineapple Kona Bliss as my favorite summer time tea. In a cup, it’s a vibrant shade of pink/red, and at first sip, it’s pleasant. This is a tea that’s obviously meant to be iced and sweetened. Plain and hot, it’s a downer of a drink but still tasty. All I can taste is blueberry and the tang of lemon.

Sweetened with ice, the interplay of lemon and strawberry is more noticeable, the blueberry flavor is less cloying, and all around, it’s a sweet and fun drink in the summer.

This the first tea I tasted at Teavana and it was what got me hooked on fruit tea infusions. It opened up a whole ’nother world of doors for me… Anyways, back to the tea. I like it sweetened and served over ice. I made this for a dinner party with friends and she absolutely loved it.
I steep it a lot longer, a little hotter, and with more tea than the recommended amount. Adding german rock sugar during the steeping gives it a lightly sweet flavor.

I have made this many times both hot and iced. It always tastes good hot (without any sugar, and you can steep forever. In fact, the longer it steeps, the better), but I’ve had trouble making it taste as delicious iced as Teavana makes it when they give out free iced samples in their store. (This was actually the first loose leaf tea I ever bought because I enjoyed the sample so much.)

It seems I finally stumbled upon the right balance of leaves and sugar when making it iced for this to taste the way I want it to. Per 16oz of water I used 4 teaspoons of tea (2 each of Strawberry Lemonade and Blueberry Bliss) and 2 teaspoons of rock sugar. I’m already forgetting how long I steeped it for, but I think it was around 10-14 minutes. I left it in the fridge overnight and it tasted AWESOME.

After the initial steep, I put all of the used leaves (about 12 teaspoons total because I made two pitchers worth of tea) in one pitcher, adding just 2-3 teaspoons of sugar, and poured about ~30oz of boiling water over the leaves. This second steep lasted around 20 minutes. This also tasted EXCELLENT the next day. This tea is great for re-steeping.

So, basically, 4 teaspoons leaves + 2 teaspoons rock sugar + lengthy steeping + chill overnight = Delicious iced tea! Assuming I can replicate this recipe in the future and it continues to taste delicious, this will probably be my only update about this tea. (Although if I try it another way—I’m thinking about cold-brewing it—I’ll update with that.)

delicious. It took me many frustrating tries to get the combination down perfectly but now that I’ve got it I’ve had to brew a whole pot’s worth nearly every day since I’ve been drinking it like water.

This is probably my favorite tea! I always have it on hand and force myself to drink one of the other 65 teas in my collection! I can’t seem to get it as strong as they do in the store, no matter how much I use, but I still LOVE it!!