T2

Wow, I don’t know if it’s because this box was almost at expiry or if DAVIDsTEA is just that much more flavourful, but it was a bad idea to follow an amazing cold brew of DT Superberry with a cold brew of this… which, to be perfectly honest, just tastes like black tea. I can’t get much else at all.

But with today’s hot weather, it’s acceptable!

Had this iced with lunch today. I thought it would be a good choice, since it’s red, it’s strawberry, and, you know, Valentine’s Day. Nice fruity flavor, more of a general berry than specifically strawberry, and I did get a little bit of creaminess at the end of every sip (how on earth do they do that?). Pleasant and very drinkable. Not sure if I would get it again, but I will definitely happily finish this. Still should try it hot, although that’s not necessarily calling to me.

I don’t ever drink these turkish tisanes by themselves, because it’s basically like drinking sugar. Which is a bit weird. However, I love having them to sweeten iced brews, rather than using boring old regular sugar.

I don’t use them a LOT, but I’ve been icing a bit more lately and that reminded me to leave a tasting note. I’ll try to remember to update tasting notes each time they get thrown into a jug with another blend.

After writing yesterday about the blend that inspired me to buy this tisane, I had to drink it today! I learnt very quickly that the candy cane blend (half peppermint, half Turkish cherry) is NOT something I’m a fan of when served hot. But add ice and I love it. I LOVE IT. YUM!

I don’t ever drink these turkish tisanes by themselves, because it’s basically like drinking sugar. Which is a bit weird. However, I love having them to sweeten iced brews, rather than using boring old regular sugar.

I buckled and bought the cherry before Christmas when T2 finally had another tea society event (it had been SO LONG) and they had on a Christmas-themed brew they called “candy cane”, which I THINK was just peppermint and turkish cherry. It was fresh and delicious and I gave in and bought it.

I’ve since used it just recently with Rabbit Hole’s Ruby Zing, which was a bit too zingy and needed to be sweetened out (thanks hibiscus). A couple of scoops of turkish cherry into the 2L jug made it absolutely delicious.

I’ll try to remember to add a tasting note each time I splice it with something!

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #4
Sipped this one yesterday. Now here is a dessert tea! You can hardly tell this one is tea, it’s so sweet. The green tea is hardly noticeable in the both the flavor and the blend (so many goodies). I’m not sure why this mentions ‘blackberries’ in the blend. I’m not sure if it means leaves or the fruit, but I can’t taste either one. No fruitiness or that medicinal bitterness of the blackberry leaf. No chicory taking over either. The main note is like white chocolate or toffee. Very delicious — both steeps. This is why I love teaboxes!

I seem to be fond of non-black-tea chais, and this juicy white chai is no exception. It’s not a traditional chai by any means, but it is a spicy, citrusy, delicious cuppa.

It’s sweet and it tastes like apples. That’s about the extent of the similarity between this and actual Turkish apple tea. This is a very expensive bag of artificially-apple-flavoured sugar. It is literally sugar, you dissolve it in hot water like any other instant fruit drink. Sickly sweet and revolting by itself (in my opinion), this is an essential ingredient in making iced fruit tea that tastes like the iced teas on the counter at T2 – they use it by the cupful in each jug. Great for kids and non-diabetics.

I am a huge fan of T2, and love their limited edition stock. I went in the store one day, and happened to try this one, and right away, I knew I had to buy it.
Absolutely beautiful chilled, just the right amount of sweet, and spice!

This tea is very nice hot, nice and fruity. Great for a cold, because you don’t add milk.
The spices are subtle, but very tasty.
The hibiscus flavour is quite obvious, it’s very good.

I personally like Banana Bake iced, with a splash of vanilla soy milk.
Utterly gorgeous.
Notes of vanilla, and banana through this wonderful tea.

This tea is divine. Absolutely gorgeous when iced. Grapefruit flavour punches through, but isn’t too strong.

The Choc Chip Chai from T2 is absolutely gorgeous, nice amount of spice, and smooth cocoa tones. Absolutely lovely.

brand new to my collection. cant wait to try it out hot or cold

I quite like this one, surprisingly because I’m not normally such a fan of fruity teas. You can see chunks of dry kiwifruit together with the tea leaves. The kiwi adds quite a distinct aroma to the tea, but it is not too overpowering. The tea itself is not very strong through – despite the name, I don’t feel it’s such a ‘wake-up’ tea… I prefer to drink it on weekends.

A sample from Miss B! I’ve enjoyed my T2 samples so far, and I’m hoping this one is going to be another hit. They seem to do dessert teas really well, and chocolate is a classic in that respect. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk. Brewed, this one certainly smells good – rich, chocolatey, and reminiscent of a cup of hot chocolate!

To taste, it’s almost as good. There’s a reasonably strong chocolatey flavour coming through, although it reminds me more of cocoa than actual chocolate. It’s definitely on the sweeter side, too – milk chocolate rather than dark. It’s a little thin tasting, which is to be expected given that it’s not actually chocolate, but I can’t help but think that a different base tea might have helped with that a little. I can see why Keemun, because it can have chocolate notes of its own, but I’m not really picking those up much here. In addition to the cocoa/milk chocolate flavour, there’s also a nuttiness that’s really rather pleasant. The more I drink, the more I’m reminded of nutella – and that’s no bad thing!

I’m enjoying this one. It’s not the most chocolatey tea I’ve ever tasted, but it’s one of the more flavour accurate in terms of having no weird chemical/artificial weirdness kicking around. This makes for a very pleasant dessert tea, with its creamy chocolate nuttiness and intrinsic sweetness. Great stuff!

064/365

I pulled this one out last night, largely because I want to see if I like it before I place another T2 order. It’s pretty good. It comes across initially as very sweet, although there is more depth of flavour than I first thought. It’s super heavy on the vanilla, with lighter hazelnut and caramel flavours emerging towards the end of the sip. I started off without milk, but the base is a little on the astringent/bitter side and becomes overpowering. A splash of milk sorts things out a bit.

It’s a pretty good rendition of creme brulee, if not absolutely spot-on. That could be my fault, though, and some adjustments to my preparation method might help. It needs a longer brew time to stand up to milk adequately, but it’s going to be a fine line to achieve that and keep the bitterness under control. I’d consider honey or sugar, but it’s already really sweet…

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those finicky teas to brew, but when it’s right it’ll probably be amazing. Further experimentation is required!

A sample from Miss B! Continuing the sweet theme this morning, I decided Creme Brulee was the only way to go after Terrific Toffee. What else could compete? I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk, mostly for fairness of comparison. It’s not so dark that I couldn’t drink it without.

To taste, this one is (if that’s possible) even sweeter than Terrific Toffee. It has strong vanilla custard vibes, with just a hint of caramel, and a rounded nuttiness that helps to bring the whole thing together. It is rather like a creme brulee in terms of taste, but it’s walking a fine line for me in terms of sweetness and sickly sweetness. It’s a truly excellent dessert tea, though, and a must-try for anyone with a sweet tooth. So many flavoured teas promise things they don’t deliver, but this one is a rare exception. Delicious, sweet, creamy creme brulee in a cup!