Tropical Black

Any time I pop by Wegman’s, even for “just a few snacks”, I can’t help but drop through the loose leaf tea aisle…especially when visiting with my parents! The Wegman’s nearest to their house is stocked with 3-4 times the tea of mine (my guess is due to the large Asian population there?).

Anyway, on my most recent trip, I stocked up on some delicious Blueberry Green, added a little Earl Grey to my collection (as I pretty often crave it in the mornings and evenings now)…and of course, couldn’t resist the new seasonal teas they had out. I thought it was kind of odd that they’d just now offer a tropical flavor when summer is at its tail end, but had no complaints and decided to give Tropical Black a try! A little over 50 cents got me enough tea for 2-3 small steepings in my yixing, and I left pleased.

The dry leaves smell tantalizing; not so much ‘tropical’, but very fruity with a soft citrus scent, underlined with the earthy smell of the black tea. 3 minutes at just-below-boiling water seemed to make the perfect brew, and whereas the fruit was the dominating scent of the dry and wet leaves, the taste took a backseat once brewed. The black tea is slightly acidic (but not unpleasantly), and the fruit is the second flavor detected that leaves behind a trace of tanginess. This would probably be a great tea to serve iced in the summer, or made as sun tea! It’s one of those that I don’t mind taking forever to drink, as its profile seems to change throughout the cooling process.

Overall, I’d consider this as a repeat buy, but probably not in large quantities unless I was making iced tea. It’s a nice, light-hearted treat when taking a break from the (sometimes) seriousness of high quality tea.

Wegman’s had their summer teas out today, so I did what any self respecting tea drinker who has too much tea in her cupboard would do and bought some. This one is nice and fruity – more pineapple than anything else – and I like the Ceylon base tea. It was good hot, but I think I’ll use the rest for iced tea.