Blazing Strawberries

Thanks to kittenna for this sample.

All i have to say is seriously? People drink this? UGH i’m not sure if it’s the sample i have or what but it pretty much smells like a dog’s butt and doesn’t taste all that great either. Maybe bamboo teas just aren’t my thing. ick. Ah well, at least it’s another one off the list! woot woot!

Another sample from Kittenna I am finally getting to! Really, it’s shameful how behind I am. I made this one hot, and used the entire sample since I know DT blends can be a little weak. But wow, was it flavorful! Not at all the flavors I was expecting, but tasty.

I got a hint of sweet strawberry, but mostly what I presume was the bamboo. Earthy, rich, and almost… caramel-y? It certainly reminded me of a dessert! I got a little bit of a tingle from the peppercorns, but it reminded me more of eucalyptus than anything spicy. It was a good tea, but very unusual—I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

Hurricane Sandy came and went and oh, we made out like bandits! The power only flickered on and off a couple times. We’ve had no damage at all. Very lucky indeed. My in-laws-to-be, on the other hand, lost several trees that took out their shed and are blocking their driveway. So, they’re stuck until further notice! :/ But we’ve got power so I’m having some tea! ;)

Oh dear Lord!! The aroma of this tea is potent to say the least. I don’t think this is going to be a winner with me. I let my fiancé sniff the cup and he said, “It doesn’t smell good.” LOL! I’m afraid I concur with his assessment. I also set the cup down across the room so I didn’t have to smell it as I wrote my initial thoughts down. Phew! I better gather my courage and take a sip already!

At first, I thought, “Hmm, it’s not as bad as it smells.” Then the aftertaste overwhelmed me and I thought, “Oh yes, actually it is.” Yuck! I am not a fan of bamboo tea. Oh no! I’m so sorry to write such an awful review, but I just can’t take this tea. I suppose I’m more of a traditionalist who favors blacks, greens, and whites. Herbals have never been my first choice.

But hey, life is all about new experiences. Maybe I would have loved bamboo tea! You never know till you try. Thanks to Kittenna for the sample. I’ll leave the rest for you to enjoy. :P

So let me see how “in a nutshell” I can make this before I wind up rambling on and on in this tasting note.

I bought this really because of my obsession with the “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, and the catch phrase of this tea is “fire and ice” so I decided to give it a shot. And I really love DT’s Bamboozled. I bought it to be an ice tea and really have no plans of trying it hot.

First of all, you get A LOT of tea for 50g. Like, one of DT’s tins was overflowing when I filled it up with this, usually 50g only takes up about a third of the tin. So it is a very spacious tea. I doubled the amount of tea suggested and doubled the steep time as well. Mixed in two teaspoons of rock sugar while it was still hot and let it cool to about room temperature before pouring it over ice. I used ice from my parents ice machine as opposed to ice cubes I made myself, so the flavor was a bit artificial but I really attribute that to a batch of fridge made ice that added that slight chemical note. Blah. Good to know for next time though.

Flavor-wise it was a bit.. strange. A warm feeling for sure, but a somewhat lack of flavor.. mid conversation with my mother about something, I reached into a candy jar on the table and ate a Dove Dark Chocolate, then proceeded to absent-mindedly take another sip of this iced Blazing Strawberry tea. And… BAM absolute total perfection. That is what this tea is lacking… chocolate!!! For some reason, the hint of dark chocolate really brings out the strawberry flavor and melts in nicely with the subtle sweet spice.

So… since then I have blended in a handful of dark chocolate chips to the rest of my 40g or so of tea and ever brew since then has been spectacular! Go figure!!

This is…interesting. I definitely do not like it as much as Bamboozled, that’s for sure. Some sips it tastes oddly of cilantro.

When it does taste like strawberry, it’s pretty tasty. But there is nothing blazing about this. Although I wonder if it’s the peppercorns in combination with the strawberry that are giving me the soapy taste I associate with cilantro?

Definitely do not like this one. I thought I would! Oh well.

Thanks, Kittenna!

Hmmmm. Tea of last evening after a few glasses of wine….

And that is where the comedy of errors started. I steeped it way too long, and as I was looking into the infuser, I saw this thing that reminded me of some kind of worm. I say reminded, because on closer inspection, it was some kind of seed. Weird. I did not see any others (I have two samples, one from Uniquity and one from DaisyChubb. Thank you, Ladies!) The bamboo was light, but I really did not get any of the blazing or strawberry…but then I could have killed those tastes in my epically long steep. Moral of the story…don’t drink and make tea…..

Oh man…Oh MAN! This is fantastic. These strawberries really are blazing (but not in a spicy way!)…I get a totally authentic strawberry tastes, complete with the occasional tinge of bitterness that strawberries have. I don’t know where that’s coming from – the bamboo, maybe? Either way, I am extremely impressed. My disclaimer is that I got this in store, and they used the proper amount of tea by their standards. I try to stretch out my tea, so I usually use one perfect teaspoon to two big mugs, but this tea would not work that way, I don’t think. Definitely use at least one solid teaspoon to a mug. I think I will be buying some of this, because when I decide I want a real strawberry flavour, (but no berries are to be found) this will be where I turn. Hoping it’s as light as it looks, because I definitely want this in my repertoire.

I think a five minute steep is on the light side of things as my cup tasted a little bit weak. It was quite an intriguing tea (or tisane, I guess), lightly grassy with fruity strawberry flavours and a smooth, almost creamy feel in the mouth. I’m not getting any heat from the peppercorns so the ‘blazing’ part isn’t really happening at the moment – but at least the ‘strawberry’ is!

On a side note, I’m glad I finished my tea before reading the horror stories about finiding snail and worms in this tea – now I’m afraid to look at the spent leaves. 0_o

I received this in a swap – thanks so much! (at first I thought it was Jess but now I am thinking it was DaisyChubb…so sorry! Thanks regardless!)

I hate to say this because it seems everyone is digging this one fine and dandy but I didn’t find it all that impressive. I mean…it wasn’t BAD…it just didn’t have much flavor at all. The strawberry was barely-there and I got even less to no peppery kick. It resembled more like hot water than anything.

This one just didn’t work for me…perhaps it’s that I just didn’t understand it or perhaps I was left wanting…I look for fairly intense strawberry in my strawberry themed teas, I suppose. Again, it wasn’t bad – it just didn’t really taste like much to me. Glad I got to try it tho!

I’ve only ever had bamboo in savory applications so a sweet fruity bamboo should be interesting. Since everyone is saying that this tea is light, I was wondering how much leaf to put in, but I didn’t have to wonder long since I accidentally spilled some onto the floor and was left with what seemed like a little more than I’d want to use for one mug. Cool!

The liquid is lightly colored and it smelled a bit earthy and strawberry-y. I didn’t find the flavor too light, but I like light teas. There’s a hint of peppercorn and a strawberry finish. Very nice. There’s a character to the taste that I can’t describe. It reminds me of earth, not because it tastes like earth but because it is solid and grounding. I wouldn’t describe it as refreshing, but it is complex and tasty.

Strawberries always win.

Thanks for another great sample DaisyChubb.

Mehh. So. My story with this tea.. And why I can’t give it a numerical rating…

I had first read the review about a snail in someone’s Blazing Strawberry tea. Which made me wonder.. if I had the same batch that had been snail infested. Or a different batch and snails just took a liking to this tea and decided to make it their home.
So I have to say I already had a bit weary apprehension before steeping this up.
Very cool looking dry leaves, smelled of yummy strawberry candy with buttery vegetal notes as it was steeping. But when I went to remove the leaves when the steeping time was up, I noticed something strange looking floating in my cup.
It looked like a translucent worm or mucousy tubey something or another….. and it appeared to have a weird opening on one end that looked like a mouth with teeth. So I fished it out and put it on a plate to dissect. I slit it lengthwise and I was already grossed out but I’m quite the curious person. I noticed something that appeared to look like veins and scraped out what appeared to look like purplish blood. So at this point I was still on the fence of whether this was some strange plant or weird insect or snail larvae or something. :/
Then I looked up the ingredients and googled mallow blossoms. It’s very possible that it was an unopened mallow blossom, the purple being the purple color of the unopened petals… I hope.
So anyways after all of that I still decided to take a reluctant sip…because I’m a brave person, and I did.. but just couldn’t bring myself to drink any more after my dissection and the story of the snail. I was just too grossed out to even drink this whether it be silly or not. So down the drain it went. ._.

Bizarre combinations sometimes completely win me over I’m looking at you Strawberry Ginger and you Exotica..(2 of my absolute faves)I even like Splash!I am not a big fan of ginger but apparently it can actually be nice when balanced off other flavors.

The pouch smells kind of like a very old fruit-rollup with almost a tang of something licorice like.

Once brewed it is totally clear with a slight gold finish..the smell of strawberry is totally there and something else that I can’t place at the moment it’s also got kind of a syrupy or honey vibe.

The taste is very very light wasn’t that flavorful there’s no spice to it..I can see the potential perhaps..I will try again but put way more in then I originally did ..I always heap the perfect spoonful in and steep fully so it amazes me how weak this tastes..it’s like a very very very watered-down impression of a photograph of DT’s Exotica..It’s basically hot water with an aftertaste..

Will try again..but I’m still rating it if it improves I will do my duty..I wanted to do a “if you like this then you’ll love this” type of thing but it seems that all I can recommend is Exotica<3.

Cold steep overnight last night (can you tell I’m looking forward to iced tea season already?) This is a tea that most definitely benefits from a long steep and being on ice. The peppercorn pop comes out and really accents the strawberry flavour. I’m actually kind of sad that this didn’t become permanent because it really is a lovely summer tea.

This was… good? I have a question mark because, well, I’m still questioning what I think of it.
I enjoyed the bamboo, it makes a really nice, light, toasty sort of base. I think it lent some sweetness to the brew as well, as I seemed to taste two distinct notes that had a sweet nature to them.
The first, right on the inhale, tastes almost like a flowery honey. Then comes the strawberry, it’s very light, mixed with the bamboo in the background as well, but then all of a sudden, boom! the pepper kicks in. and then on the finish… a succulent strawberry note.
Now, I don’t like peppercorn. In fact, it’s one of two or three foods I name when people ask what flavours I dislike (bacon is the other, and ginger in my food, not so bad in my tea) I wonder if the “pink” makes a difference? hmmm
Iced, I think it would be fun, but I can almost picture how it would taste so I don’t really feel the need.
I’m a tad all over the place cuz this tea was sandwiched between my first day of work and watching the Lion King musical. I had to rush the tea to, they wouldn’t let me in the door with my cuppa :(
(tea discrimination. an outrage I tell ya)
So. I don’t think I’ll buy this one, but I am delighted to have tried it. I feel like I learned something about tea today, with the bamboo and all, and I love that!

I had this iced in-store today, my first of the summer teas! Eeee!

It was very tasty! It tasted a bit weak, but that’s likely due to their practice of brewing the tea “twice as strong” hot and then pouring it over ice, which, I really prefer to brew the tea and then just let it cool overnight in the fridge. I look forward to trying that with this tea.

That said, I really did enjoy this one. The taste was light, but very refreshing. A lot of the flavor came out in the aftertaste, and there were quite a few “tongue tingly” moments.

I think this tea and I are going to have a wonderful summer together.

I actually really like this one. Its very unusual hot. The bamboo makes a light but tasty base, and hot the peppercorns are the prominent flavour. Its not an agressive taste, but its there. I quite like it, which is surprising considering I don’t really like them in food. Iced, its a very soft tea. I like to amp up the flavour by adding actual strawberries. A light, soft tea iced. Have about 25g left, will enjoy finishing it.

What do you mean I’ve never tried Blazing Strawberries but I went out and bought 100grams this afternoon?… that’s how much I love and trust the Steepster community :D
I’ve found a few taste twins and trust their tongue judgement 100%. Also, I needed it before it went away! I missed out on Banana Daquiri :( The girls said that the fall teas are coming next week but we don’t get to try them until the start of Sept! Way to tease me.

Anyways wow. This tea is good. It’s super light, I wasn’t expecting it to be this light at all. I used a generous 2 tsp with lots of peppercorns and strawberry chunks so I could have a proper first cup. The flavour is quite subtle, but I’m so in love. It’s strange, it’s not spicy, but there is a fieriness to it that is quelled by the bamboo. ALSO the bamboo is cooling my throat from my bad acid reflux.

You mean I just found a tea that sooths my heartburn? And it’s name has Blazing in the title? And it’s almost out of stock?!

Well, at least I bought an insane 4 ounces of it :D

This is better than I was expecting. Thankfully, I got a sample with my recent order. I decided my best use of the small sample would be to try it iced. So, I steeped it in just-under-boiling water for a good long while (maybe 15 minutes?), let it cool, and then put it in the fridge.

It’s a nice, light strawberry taste. Not overbearingly sweet, which is a relief. This is making a nice alternative to water, though I’m not sure what I’d think of it hot. It might be too light for that. But, the bamboo makes a nice, slightly nutty and lightly woody base.

Also, I can totally feel the peppercorns in that tingle on my tongue the description mentions! It’s definitely a sensation and not a taste, but it’s interesting. I’m not sure if this is something I would drink a lot of, but I’m glad I got to try it. Perhaps I’ll pick up a small bag.

WOW! Strawberries! A strong summery flavor that actually blazes over the tongue! I’ve never had a bamboo tea before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I need to have a second helping to really seal the deal on this one, and I think I’ll try it iced since everyone is just RAGING about it.

Big thanks to DaisyChubb for the sample!

I’m so sorry but this tea isn’t for me at all.. I made a jug of it and all I could taste was watery sugar.. I literally had a sip and threw the whole pot of it away… I was so disappointed because I really wanted to start getting back into more herbal tea.. turns out I don’t like them still.