Wild Orange Blossom

So I’m currently drinking more Muharajah/Samurai Chai from Teavana, but I don’t want to log it two days in a row – it’s just great for getting past my sinues and this stupid cold.

Because of Steepster issues yesterday I couldn’t log this tea from VariaTEA. It’s a good thing I like it because she sent me A LOT of it. But with just a tiny dash of sugar to mellow out the hibiscus, this is really nice. Also soothing on a poor throat. So thank you!

There’s a friends and family 30% off thingie going on (just mention it in-store, I don’t have a code for online sorry) so I got some of this one to try.

I actually like it. I’m having it unsweetened right now, and it’s quite sweet-tart with a lot of citrus-essential-oil-ness going on and a floral aftertaste. The steeped liquid smells mostly of hibiscus, but the steeped “stuff” smells of floral orange.

I think this would go GREAT with honey, especially if you happen to have orange blossom honey around. Mostly it’s just nice to have something herbal that doesn’t suck all the water out of my mouth because it’s so sour/astringent. I think that Stash’s Meyer Lemon is a similar idea, and I like that one too. I just keep forgetting to reach for the bags.

This tea also has natural flavours, not artificial ones. So that’s good.

thank you fiddling for this sample! this one reminds me a lot of tazo’s wild sweet orange (or whatever it’s called), though a little nicer. There is a tartness in this one from the hibiscus that some might find offensive. It’s got that “i am hibiscus” taste but i don’t think it ruins anything in this blend. I need to give it a try cold brewed as i think my other half might enjoy this one with a little sweetner for our bike rides. Overall this is a decent herbal blend that will do nicely in summer.

This was a tea of the month for April on the Classic plan. You can probably tell from the fact that it’s halfway through May and I’m just now getting to this one that I wasn’t overly excited by the sound of it. First three ingredients: Apple bits, hibiscus, rose hips. I’m puckering just reading it. This is already sounding like a job for the two bags of Tazo honeybush.

Then it goes on: beetroot, citrus peels & slices (in case you missed the orange slice the size of Alaska), flavoring, orange petals, sunflower petals, orange juice bits (um, er… I guess this means they freeze dried it? does that mean there is Tang in my Teavana?) pomegranate blossoms, rose petals.

It’s beautiful in its chunkiness as I’ve found all Teavana fruit blends to be and dry, it smells wildly of orange, so in that respect it lives up to its name. The tisane itself smells much more well rounded, almost like a fruit punch but without strong berry or cherry representation.

Now here’s the really interesting part. This cup, at least, IS NOT TOO TART! How can that be? Maybe it’s the “orange juice bits.” Or maybe the “flavoring” is sugar. It tastes like orange, but not in an orange juice or orange drink way, and it has a sweetness to it that is all the more welcome for being unexpected.

I don’t think this is something I’d buy again, but I’ll enjoy drinking my way through it. The reason I wouldn’t buy it again is, apart from lemon and apple, I’m not really in the market for a single note tisane. I may have to eat (or drink) those words at some point, though.

Side note: I got the Breville! We got it at Williams Sonoma tonight, a late mom’s day present. I can’t say I made this with it, though, as after getting the kids new shoes, going out to dinner, coming home and putting them to bed, we were too tired to get it out of the car. Tomorrow. ;-)

Alright, a little more leaf, less water, and a bit more steep time and we have ourselves a workable tea. The orange has picked up, as has the tartness I assume is at least partly due to the hibiscus. However, the fruity notes of the orange are starting to really help this tea and the beetroot has led to a lovely pink colour. Overall, I am impressed thus far. It is not the best orange herbal I have ever had, but it is a solid contender. I like that it is tart, but not too bitter and the orange flavour is enjoyable.

I love everything orange. I normally don’t love tart teas, but I found this one to be quite good. Dry, this tea smells like freshly juiced orange pulp. My mouth started watering right as I opened the bag. I don’t find the tea to look particularly appetizing dry because the chunks reminded me of a bread of some kind, but there were a few whole orange wedges. Yum. When steeped this tea loses a lot of the orange smell but still gives off a citrusy scent. I expected the first sip to be tart but you are first hit with a sweet orange cream flavor, that only turns sour when the tea reaches the back of your mouth. Wild orange blossom is a pleasant tea that isn’t too sweet, isn’t too sour, and possesses just the right amount of citrus twist.

Enjoyed a cup this afternoon at lunch. Thankfully I was smart enough to ask for a cup of boiling water or else I would have “enjoyed” Lipton tea. I was however, smart enough to bring my own tea with me. I enjoyed this and had the attention of all the other tea drinkers who ended up with Lipton.

This served to calm me as I was in a bit of a mood over the events of the day.. So I pretty much drank this one down as quickly as I could. It did the trick, I was a bit more relaxed for the rest of the afternoon – always nice when a tea can do that for you.

I decided to cold brew the last of this tea. I was planning on having it at supper time, so I put it in the fridge before I went to work in the morning. But I got storm stayed out of town so it ended up brewing for about 32 hours. I was a bit worried when I took the strainer out becuase the liquor was a deep, dark, maroon colour. It was quite bitter, but I added extra sugar, about 1/3 cup, and it turned out to be delicious. I would not normally cold brew for this long, but in the end it turned out good.

Backlog from yesterday:

Wayyyyyy too fruity and flowery. it was decent in flavor as it had a bold citrus flavor but at times where the tea got concentrated it was almost soooo ctirussy that it got to your nose ( does that even make sense?) i dont know but it just over powered everything. didnt really enjoy this one but i heard that it blends really well with blueberry bliss and other fruity rooibos which i dont doubt because it has a nice citrus kick. so mostly a blendable : dont reccomend alone.

I LOVE THIS TEA!!!

I bought this tea cause i wanted something to mix with my Thai mountain oolong. I love hibiscus tea and citrus so i had to give this one a try. Man does this tea taste great. It has a nice hibiscus floral notes with crisp refreshing citrus.

One thing about this tea though is that it taste better when cooler then warmer. It seems like the hotter the tea is the more overpowered the citrus taste and you don’t get to taste the hibiscus undertones.

How I brew it:
Since i put this in after my oolong is done brewing and the water temperature is lower then normal i brew it longer; I don’t like to brew two teas at the same times, especially when i want to reuse the base tea. For the moment I brew my teas in a glass tea press that holds about 28oz of water. Before I put in this tea I measured the water temperature to see how hot it stays at, which is about 155F.

There is one thing though about the flavor that nobody eles has mentioned. Being a Floridian i know my citrus flavors. I would not describe the flavor as orange, but more a grapefruit flavor. Almost like the kind of grapefruit that gets to be about the size of a small (pretty small) soccer ball and has no bitterness to it. So if you are looking for a strong mandarin orange like flavor, you will be disappointed.

Specifics

Water Temp: 150-160F
Steep Time: 10 minuets
Tea Base: Thai Moutain Oolong (Teavana)
Sweetener: 1/2 TBL of light Agave OR preferably Orange Blossom honey.

P.S. I have not brewed this tea on it’s own yet. I have ordered some more and will give another review of this tea when steeped with no other base teas.