Victoria's Teas and Coffees

Thank you Lala for this sample.

In raw form this tea had a delicious sweet strawberry scent, juicy but somewhat artificial. I decided to cold steep this one and have left it in the fridge for roughly 16 hours. My previous cold steep worked nicely so hopefully my second one will be just as nice…

The tea is a fairly dark yellow/green colour and it has the same yummy strawberry scent. Ooohh that’s lovely! It’s light and refreshing with sweet fruity tones and a gentle grassy green after taste. I was worried that the green tea would be steeped too long but it’s just right, not bitter or harsh in anyway but thick enough to be noticeable.

This would make a delicious cocktail if mixed with fresh strawberry pieces, a bit of mint and a splash of vodka over ice. :)

I decided to try cold dripped tea. Cold dripped tea is when ice melts and drips over tea, making a brew. There are a few different set ups you can use, and I wanted to try it before buying an expensive cold dripping apparatus.

Ok so I started my experiment this morning. I had two experiments going. I used Long Island Strawberry green tea by Victoria’s Teas and Coffees because I have cold brewed before and it was good. So I wanted to have something to compare this to.

I did two different experiments:
1. Tea leaves in a pot, and put ice cubes directly on top of the tea.
2. A set up involving ice in a metal strainer, dripping onto tea in a metal strainer, dripping into a mug. The ice does not touch the tea.

1 hour in:
For experiment 1 with the ice directly on the tea, there was a very small amount of tea liquor produced. Not quite enough for a sip. I tried it anyway. I cringed. It was super strong and thick. Very strong, vegetal green tea. I felt like I was chewing the tea leaves.

Experiment 2, there was some ice melting but no tea liquor produced, almost like the tea leaves were just absorbing the water.

2 hours in:
There was more tea liquor produced in experiment 1. This time it smelled like delicious strawberries. Similar to the cold brewed version. There was just more than 1 sip of liquor. I stated it and still cringed. Not quite as strong but still thick. Very strongly green tea. The vegetal component is quite exaggerated. No strawberry or fruity flavour.

Experiment 2, there was just enough for a sip. Tasted exactly like experiment 1.

Still letting the ice melt at this point.

Lessons learned: It takes a long time; very little tea liquor is produced; experiment 1 and 2 produce the exact same tasting tea; I don’t like it.

I tried this one cold brewed. Brewed for about 12 hours overnight. It was so delicious and juicy strawberry hot that I figured it would make a good cold brew.

Its just OK. I found that the green tea was very strong and has an astringent aftertaste. There was very minimal strawberry or fruity flavour. Once I added some sweetener, white sugar, it brought some of the strawberry taste out. Moreso tastes like slight strawberry candy, on a green tea base, with an astringent aftertaste.

It is drinkable but I think I prefer hot. May have to try cold brewing for less time or brewing hot then icing.

This to me, seems like just a generic flavoured black tea.

The dry tea smell is very vaguely fruity smelling black tea.

The taste of the brewed tea is a strong black base with a faint fruit flavour. Knowing it is called Niagara peach apricot, I can guess that is what the flavour is. But really is just seems more like a generic stone fruit flavour.

Overall not a bad tea. If I was looking for a slightly sweetened black tea, this is what I would go for. I just don’t think it really lives up to its name.

This tea smells AMAZING! Its one of those teas that can double as pot pourri. It smells like candy strawberries. So good. There is green tea leaf with chunks of papaya and strawberry. I am assuming the papaya gives it the candy scent.

The brewed tea smells very close to real strawberries. Almost like fresh homemade strawberry jam.

The taste of the brewed tea is a cross between real strawberry and candy strawberry flavour. It is the closest to real strawberry tasting tea I have tried. This was an impulse purchase, so I am super happy it is delicious!

I could have added some sweetener but chose not to for the first tasting. Will probably add it next time depending on my mood.

This tea smells far more floral before steeping, so much so that it might be mistaken for a purely herb-and-fruit-based tea. There’s just enough maple to give it a sweetly woodsy scent (more sugar bush than sugar), and the black and green teas keep the blackberry from overpowering the taste. A nice interesting blend that’s a bit out of the ordinary.

In a few other of my tasting notes, I told a really long story about why I have a cupboard dedicated solely to apricot tea. I have been trying to get rid of some of this tea, so I decided to start cold brewing the decaf teas. That way I can drink it at any time of the day, and start sipping down some of my teas.
This one is a bit of a surprise. The smell of the dry tea bags is very soapy. I can’t quite decide why it smells soapy. I have cold brewed this a few times and it turned out ok, but nothing to write a tasting note about.
Today I cut back on how much tea I used. Im using a 64 oz pitcher, instead of using 6 tea bags, I used 3. This actually turned out really well. I didn’t even need to add any sweetener to it. There is a sweet apricot taste. It is a bit artificial though. You can still taste the black tea base.
I think I can cold brew this until the tea is gone. And then move onto the next one.