Canadian Ice Wine

I am glad that I have enough of this tea to brew for iced tea tomorrow. I suspect it will make a delightful iced tea. It is tasty hot too.

It has a very pleasant grape-y taste. I am not one who generally likes grape flavors. I like grapes, but, as for grape flavored things, not so much. What I like about this, though, is that this doesn’t taste like some artificial, sweet grape taste. This actually reminds me of the grapes that my gramma used to grow on her vine in the backyard. Crisp, a little on the tart side, and not cloyingly sweet.

Decided I’d compare the two ice wine teas I have tonight. Should have thrown 52teas Sweet Merlot in the mix too, but I didn’t think about it and probably have enough teas on the go right now anyhow. This one is courtesy of Azzrian!

Dry, this one smells sweet and a bit tangy. Steeped, it smells sweet and perfumey and OMG I’m such an idiot, I was swirling it around and dumped a bunch on my computer. Ok, all better, luckily I missed the actual keys part of the keyboard, just got some next to the trackpad. Funnily enough this is not even the first time I’ve spilled on my keyboard today… I’m usually better, I swear!

So back to the tea. Definitely surprisingly perfumey given the relative lack of aroma from the dry tea!

First infusion (boiling-ish/4min):
The taste is perfumey. Definitely reminiscent of an ice wine. Rather mild, which is ok. I can’t pick out the black tea base specifically, but can feel that it’s there. There’s also a touch of astringency, but not bad, just a bit mouth-drying.

Second infusion (boiling-ish/5-6min):
Less perfumey in aroma, but almost more perfumey in taste, perhaps because there’s less black tea base there to disguise it? Actually – it’s reminding me an awful lot of some sort of similarly-scented soap. That’s not to say it tastes soapy, but I swear I’ve had a soap in the past that smell/tasted VERY similar. Or bubble bath or something… some bath product. Perhaps even shampoo/conditioner. To my knowledge though, I don’t think I’ve ever had an ice wine or even grape-scented bath product (unless it’s one of those little plasticky bubble bath thingers that I’m thinking of, in which case it could be grape). I didn’t get this association really until the second cup (and even went back and it’s just not quite the same in the first infusion).

Overall, an interesting tea, but I don’t think I’d choose it for myself. I’ll have to see what the next version is like! And perhaps at some point give the Design-a-Tea version a try, since that was Azzrian’s favourite.

My first experience with Ice Wine tea was a Design a Tea Sample.
I got this because I LOVED the Design a Tea Iced Wine and well I was giving Culinary Teas a sample go around.
I am at that stage of deciding my favorite teas but also which vendors I like best.
I must say Culinary has some wonderful teas but I feel they are a bit hit and miss at times.
This is a very good tea.
Fruity, Sweet but not overly so, and I get the ice wine flavor I was hoping for … but … I do prefer Design a Tea’s ice wine over this one.
There was just a bit more flavor to it. I got far more of the wine flavor.
Now I will say the grape flavor in this is very very good – absolute NO artificial flavor at all and no astringency! There is nothing wrong with this tea at all so if you are going to make an order with Culinary Teas and want an iced wine go for it!
It smells very good – grapey but not fake grape like most soft drinks and juices!
Now I did end up adding a touch of sugar to this and it did help bring out the flavors nicely which they suggest.
I did not however have to add any sugar to Design A Tea’s Ice Wine.
Its all a matter of what one likes though. If you prefer a little less BAM in your tea I would suggest this one.

Takes me back to the FALLS!!!! This is – in every sense – the tea equiv to Ice Wine! Intensely scented and flavored and true to the name! Quite Grape-E and VERY Sweet! Sugar-Wine-Like! Two thumbs up!

Very strong grape/wine flavor. Hardly taste the tea though. It’s a good tea for when you want wine but can’t/shouldn’t have it!

Tried this after a night of social drinking. Nothing like a “hair of the dog” tea to brighten your day. This stuff – unlike other flavored teas – actually doesn’t dilute very much after the initial dry whiff. The flavoring holds up after a good steep. As an added bonus, some of the natural floral characteristics of the Ceylon base also show through.

Full Review: Pending on www.teaviews.com

I very much enjoy this tea. It has a nice sweet berry scent. A bit more flavor on the base’s part and I would have liked a bit more of the fruit. Overall a nice tea with a smooth taste. One of my favorites.

Really digging how floral and sweet perfume-y, not just grape-y, the dry leaves smell, indeed like a lovely chilled wine. Brewing and in the cup the sweet floral quality turns a bit musky in a good way, continuing the perfume element. Impressed and pleased this isn’t more astringent.

Funny enough, I seem to have a conditioned mental block to drinking more than a cup of this in one sitting—I guess I inevitably connect it to drinking a lot of wine really fast, and how my body doesn’t like the idea of that.

It’s a shame this isn’t less caffeinated, because it’d be a lovely way to have a nightcap sort of relaxation beverage without, you know, the icky dehydration and mouthfeel when you wake up the next morning. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with any herbal/tisane wine “teas”—New Mexico Tea Company’s, Joy’s Teaspoon’s, and Red Leaf Tea’s all have tea leaf bases as well. I do reckon it would be refreshing iced in hot weather and possibly blended with other flavors, sort of like a wine tea summer spritzer “cocktail” thing, which might be good for a party on the patio in that it’d pick you up (instead of make you sleepy, which wine does to me) and be less dehydrating.

Now I’m wondering if it’d make a good partner with certain foods. Hm…

I love fruity teas that are not sharp or tart; this one fits quite nicely. I like the grapey flavor.