Tiesta Tea

This is another one from AliceG. I’ve had some pretty great watermelon teas, but this one is a bit weak. Even overleafed, it’s still weak. The flavor is pleasant, if a bit artificial. So I like it, but I would choose a watermelon blend from DavidsTEA instead. Still pleasant enough, though the artificiality is more obvious as it cools. Definitely not my favorite Tiesta flavor.

Despite previous poor reviews (all 2 of them), I’m finding this tea to be pretty interesting and tasty. I sweetened it a bit, and added milk, which may have helped. It’s very fruity with a definite black undertone. I can’t taste the yerba mate that is supposedly in it, thankfully. I wouldn’t say it’s a spectacular tea that I’d buy again (it came in one of my Sips By boxes) but it’s interesting that I’ll keep the rest and drink it down.

Large chunks of dried fruit and flower petals comprise the dry leaf.
Steeps a cheerful yellow-orange color, like an egg yolk.
Perfume on the liquor is very fruity, almost candy-like.
Tastes mostly of oranges and mango— very juicy and sweet.
Yum!

First day back at work after a head cold. Still recovering. Feel lightheaded and congested. Dry office air is exacerbating sinus irritation and coughing.
Planning to down copious amounts of these Immunity teas; my timing on ordering this dry flight sampler pack of them could not have been more perfect.
This is the perfect citrusy, juicy, anti-inflammatory, Vitamin-C loaded brew.
Down the hatch!

Dry leaf is comprised of pleasingly large chunks of dried fruit, pieces of fruit peel, and hibiscus. Very pretty!
Steeps a gorgeous orange-red color.
Smells pleasantly fruity and crisp, as one would expect from citrus.
Liquor is sweet and sour— reminiscent of orange juice.
Tastes mostly of oranges.
Feels very… healthy going down. I can tell that this is loaded with vitamins and minerals and will kick any cold’s butt.
Perfect!

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – November 2023 Tea #4 – A tea that makes you feel cozy

A sipdown of a sampler size and yet I’m already panicking as updating my stock list, I see that I’m already down to only SIX sample pouches left! Oh no.  I consider this a cupboard staple as it really does make me feel cozy, especially in summer.  It’s also a very consistently brewed blend.  Tiesta’s current teas really don’t inspire me to buy at this point.  I wish they still had this one available.  It’s a genius blend.  But I’m GRATEFUL I was able to try this blend at all (because of Steepster of course — a swap with Ost) and then doubly grateful when I noticed it was being discontinued soon enough to buy it.
2023 sipdowns: 94

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – September Tea #5 -A coconut tea

Probably the last hot days of the year so I’m steeping up this beloved tea.  Yet another one that isn’t at its prime with the water up here, but I steeped it up a few times here anyway.  And there is definitely coconut in this one to count for the prompt!  I don’t think I would travel with this one again… I don’t want to be wasting this with subpar brews and flavors.  But it was nice to have it around for the hot days. Update on reading tasting notes: I’m now only 30 pages behind. That is much better than I have been doing.

An Ode to Tea challenge #2– I

Out of a handful of teas for ‘I’ there is only ONE tea I’m remotely close to finishing, and this is not that.  So I would rather just have this lovely tea for the hot day and forego actually getting an official sipdown for ‘I’.  This is again, the perfect blend, with the perfect oolong and perfect fruits.  sigh.  I’m glad I stocked up, before it was discontinued.  It was fate!  I had never been on their site before.

Edited to add: oh man, that 20+ minute steep on that last steep is AMAZINGLY tasty.

Additional notes: I just love this one and I just happened to visit their website and they have some teas on a 40% discontinued sale. And this tea is one of them! Which is odd because I thought it was already discontinued. But I certainly had to buy some! It was too much of a coincidence to visit the site at such a convenient time. It’s a balanced blend, fruity and creamy and when the oolong shines through in later steeps, it is the most interesting oolong. Unless it’s the soaking coconut and then the pineapple fading to the background, but the later steeps evolve into something interesting. I just want to keep steeping the same leaves. I HOPE the harvest I’m buying now is even remotely similar to the sample pouch I have. Raising the rating from a 94. If anyone wants a $10 referral code for Tiesta, let me know.

Thank you for the sale, Ost! This blend sounded dreamy – oolong, coconut, pineapple. Couldn’t resist trying it. LUCKILY it turned out very similarly to what I was imagining! The coconut isn’t bad yet, which is a great sign. BIG coconut shavings. Chunks of pineapple. The flavor is an even balance of pineapple with hints of coconut. There is a sweetness to it, which is nice. All on a base of oolong which is a great idea. I can tell looking at the leaves in the infuser that the oolong isn’t the best quality, but hey, it’s a blend and the additional ingredients are tasty enough. The third steep is ridiculously creamy and smooth somehow, while still having a ton of pineapple flavor and now I wish I had saved the leaves before tossing them for a fourth cup. It’s a shame – no other tasting notes for this one.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 9 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min

The trick with this one is to drink it when it’s extremely cooled-down. The flavor really develops as the water temp lowers.
Steeps a muddy pinkish red color.
An oily flim forms on top of the liquor.
If you sip it while it’s still hot, it tastes like water with a twinge of hibiscus tartness.
Once it cools, it tastes of raspberry tartness, fruity, and not super chocolatey, which is surprising because there are huge chunks of chocolate in the dry leaf.
It has an oily, thick mouthfeel.
Not my favorite thing in the world as a hot beverage. But it would definitely be good as an iced tea.

Method: Loose leaf, scooped into a paper sachet
Steep Time: 5 min
Water temp: Boiling
Brew Style: Mug/ Western

Warming, soothing on the throat, sharpness of ginger and turmeric rounded out nicely by sweet cocoa notes. Brothy mouthfeel. Earthy notes from rooibos base. Comforting and perfect for sick days.

Another tea from my “dry flight” Immunity variety pack.
I really, really liked this one!
Liquor is a ruddy, brownish- red color.
Dry leaf and liquor both smell of chocolate and ginger.
Brothlike/ creamy mouthfeel.
Notes of cocoa, wood, wet earth, and ginger.
Lightly spicy and very warming.
Yum!

This came as part of my “dry flight” variety pack of Tiesta’s Immunity line.
Steeps an orangey-reddish color.
Very strong lime perfume on the liquor.
Lemon-lime flavor— strong emphasis on the lime. Not much room for nuance or subtlety.
Sweet, citrusy, smooth aftertaste.
I’ve had two cups so far and like it a little better each time.
A tasty, albeit unsurprising, low-maintenance rooibos blend that will help me through cold and flu season at work!
CAUTION: There are freeze-dried yogurt pieces in this blend, so vegan/ Paleo/ lactose intolerant Steepsterites beware. I was unable to add that to the ingredients list because Steepster doesn’t have it in their database apparently.

I got this in a SipsBy box and it was certainly not my favorite. I tried it both hot and iced and while there was a nice enough passion fruit flavor, there was such a fruity sourness and a metallic twang to the base that I just wasn’t into it.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/01/25/passion-berry-jolt-from-tiesta-tea-3/

Sample from VariaTEA!

this tea smells wonderful. Fruity, delicious goodness. I was pretty excited to try it out. And then….bland. the brewed tea taste is just meh. nothing like the aroma…it’s a muted, in the background sort of thing. doesn’t taste BAD but what’s the point? lol

Not as flavorful as some of the other Tiesta Teas (my favorite is Fireberry), but delicious anyway. I made this one in my Primula iced tea press. It was pleasant and mild and didn’t need any added sweetness.

My second tea from the tea box. This one smells and tastes like blueberry muffins, except they’re muffins with almost too many blueberries in them. It’s pretty tart, even with lots of sugar, but I still find it drinkable. I’m not sure which ingredient contributes the muffin-like flavor, or maybe that’s my imagination. So it’s a little too tart for me, but possibly combined with rooibos, this one would be a winner. I may try a second steep like that.

This tea is flavorful and absolutely delicious. It’s a great afternoon tea when you don’t want caffeine but want something to put pep in your step—the flavor is that good. I love this one!

Sipdown!
So this tea is pretty much the same as DAVIDsTEA’s Mango Fruit Punch which happens to be one of my favorite fruit tisanes. This tea just has less ingredients. It was very good prepared as a Tea Pop.

Don’t do what I did and brew it with less water than what it says on the bag – it’ll end up tart. Pretty good and fruity, but tart. I actually quite enjoy this tea and would recommend it to just about anyone.