Strawberry Ginger

I got a cute little sample packet of this from Kittenna. I love how DAVIDs packages their samples, they’re adorable and perfect for taking around in your purse or bag. I brought this one up with me since I didn’t want to be without my daily morning cold brew, and it seems like it’d be good iced. I don’t really like strawberry teas hot (Lady Londonderry being the delicious exception).

I think I steeped this a little under 12 hours, I tend to get up earlier when I am away from home. It’s a lovely color, pale strawberry pink. The hibiscus is nonexistent which I am grateful for, this really just tastes like strawberries. It’s got a nice juicy quality, perhaps not overly strong—I almost would have guessed this was a white blend with a kind of middle of the road base, it’s not very “herb-y.” It does have some soft floral notes and an airy quality which remind me of a white blend… yet it’s definitely tea-free. Weird!

Sadly, I’m not getting a ton of ginger, just a hint towards the end of each sip. I love spicy ginger teas so I was hoping for a strong kick of it, but I’d have to say the taste is almost 100% strawberry with the teeniest ounce of ginger. It’s very refreshing with a nice natural sweetness, though just not at all what I was expecting.

Hmm, this tea seems to be a bit polarizing, judging from the reviews. Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed this one. I would have guessed that I wouldn’t like it due to the hibiscus, but I sort of used a lot more water than recommended so whatever sourness is likely drowned out. I can still detect juicy strawberry and warm ginger though. Very nice. I imagine this would make a good base for lemonade. Strawberry ginger lemonade. Yum. I am brilliant! Too bad I only got a sample and it’s gone now. I’m not willing to order it either. hah! It’s not really that good even if it is enjoyable. For a strawberry tea with a spicy element, I’ll stick with Blazing Strawberry, which I recently got 50g of. yaaay.

I noticed that the summer collection just came out, btw! I’m super curious about Luscious Watermelon but I’m also pretty sure I won’t really like it too much so I’m hesitant to buy it. Anyone want to swap some for Blazing Strawberry or Swampwater? :)

So I got a cup of this to go when stopping in to pick up some of the new teas. I feel a bit like death warmed over, so I thought a cup of this might perk me up.

Um, well…it didn’t. It smells like Goji Pop and I realize now that’s because of the hibiscus in the blend. Blegh. While drinking it, I got absolutely no flavor in the sip, just a touch of berry and ginger and mostly hibiscus in the aftertaste. I thought maybe by tastebuds were off, so I made De try some. Nope. Hot water with an aftertaste of hibiscus.

Okay, maybe the flavor comes out when iced. I’ll let it get cold while I nap. Oh now it has flavor. HIBISCUS with an aftertaste of ginger.

I have 10g waiting for me to try at home, there has to be more to this tea…there just has to. I’ll rate this when I get to try it at home.

On to the next herbal! The aroma is strongly ginger followed by light strawberry. The taste is just like the aroma. Hmm, this one’s not bad. It’s not uber delicious, but that’s because it’s an herbal. :P

It’s not my favorite combination of flavors. But it is nice and calming after my earlier bamboo experience. I think I need something dessert-y though, so I’m off to make another tea! Thanks to Kittenna for the sample. Only 3 teas left from your giant swap package! :D

Dry Leaf Nose: Zesty ginger aroma with sweet strawberry notes, all supported by a background of fresh herbs.

Liquor: Naturally pink strawberry colour with a tangy ginger-strawberry aroma.

Flavour: Ginger notes buffered by a subtle strawberry flavour. A naturally sweet finish follows a somewhat tart and lively first impression.

i was hoping for a nice big, bold BANG of ginger from this one, but it really fell flat.
not much flavour at all, really. just very light and unassuming. like it didn’t care at all.
hahah, i will try blending in a little Ginseng & Ginger from Silk Road, that might up the flavour a bit to more of what i was hoping for. we’ll see!

Was hoping to try this in-store today, but as usual arrived too late. Oh well! Just bought some of it (and all the other new teas) instead… ugggh I didn’t need to spend more money there! (I need to make a space in my budget for ‘tea’ and make sure I don’t exceed that monthly… probably already at nearly $50 and it’s March 7…)

Anyways, onto the tea! First impression smelling the dry tea was ginger. Ginger backed by some fruitiness, and a bit of an odd smell I couldn’t place. Steeped, I’m getting a similar impression. Ginger is definitely the dominant note, at least in this cup. I can smell the strawberry, but would not have picked that out on my own. No strange scent, however, which is good!

Tasting it, I’m having a bit of trouble distinguishing things. It’s not really sweet, and I think there’s ginger, but either it’s too late for me to be drinking tea and my tastebuds are already asleep, or the re-heating (yeah I forgot about it and let it completely cool) did something to it. Unfortunately I am getting a bit of a fakey-strange aftertaste, which I don’t particularly like. Possible that it’s ginger, though.

Anyways, I wasn’t completely dumb and did try the cooled tea before I reheated it, and although I don’t remember specifics, I recall liking it, but was feeling chilly at the time and wanted something warm, not cold. So I will try again, and try it iced, as has been recommended. Perhaps tomorrow will be a good day for iced tea… we’re forecast to hit 12 degrees Celsius, which is ABSURD in my mind, considering that my hometown (Saskatoon) just had a blizzard! I never did end up getting my winter…. huff

Overall I’m pretty sure this will be fairly tasty the next time I drink it, so am looking forward to it! Rating will be reserved until that time, however.

(Side note: this tea smells awful if left to cool and then accidently microwaved to boiling. Like, seriously AWFUL! It goes away once it cools again though.)

The beau and I picked up 10 grams of this last March and promptly forgot about it. Though it smells appetizing, I fear the hibby is strong in this one. So many of Davids blends over the past couple years have been lackluster for me, with the notable exception of Berry Good which I adore.

Steeped, this is a coral liquor which smells very tart, like pink lemonade – that would be the hib, I assume. The taste is a shock of tart with some herby flavour in the middle and then all ginger and hibiscus at the end. I am not really liking it but it isn’t the worst herbal I’ve had. I am not getting any strawberry though, which is a definite problem. Strawberry was the selling point for me but all I have is tart ginger. I will try cold brewing the rest, I think, and see how that goes. If nothing else, the beau likes iced tea.

This one is suprisingly good. I only got 12grams because I am not the biggest fan of ginger, and the hibiscus sounded a little scary.
It isn’t as bitter or ginger-y as I thought. The strawberry and lemon come out more than I was expecting. An unexpected taste for me!
I might have to get some more.

Cold brewed this, and added some sugar and I really like it! It was ok without the sugar, but very enjoyable with.

Received a sample of this in my last order, and it’s been steeping in the fridge for a couple days now (hey, life got in the way!). From memory, the dry leaf smelled refreshingly gingery and fruity. Time to strain the leaves and see what this is all about.

The smell is sure gingery. But the taste is… weird. It’s fresh ginger root mixed with strawberries, but the strawberries still taste like they’re hanging out in the garden; leaves, dirt, and all. Yeah, the combination of flavours even reminds me of a cellar. The only thing I like about this is I am experiencing a little heat from the ginger, otherwise, I’m not appreciating the taste of the dirty strawberries.

Half a glass in and I just need to stop right now. So disappointed that I can’t detect any rose hips. Not my cup of tea, for serious.

hahaha it’s hilarious the amount of herbal teas with hibiscus in them that i never wrote notes for.

i would like to try this one again someday hopefully. i bet i would like it much more now.

first drank 05/28/2012.

This was better than I’d been expecting! Not as gingery as I’d feared, more just a refreshing gingery kick. Upon first sip, I did think it tasted downright bizarre and was worried. Then it grew on me, though not enough to buy more.

I’ve been hankering for iced tea, so I made a big glass of this using 2 sample packs from DT. I like strawberry and ginger, so this sounded good. I cold brewed it for 9 hours.
Dry: Smells fruity and delicious. Yum, can’t wait!
Brewed: Deep reddish colour, from hibiscus probably. Very pretty. Upon it actually hitting your palette though, there’s this initial bitter/tart/burning sort of taste. I think it’s a combination between ginger and rose. Rose is a very predominant flavour in here for me, although reading the reviews no one else seems to think so. The noise that escaped my mouth after the first sip was something like “WLAUUUGHHH”.
Later on I asked the mister to try it. He immediately said “Tastes like grass…and…ROSES?! Ew!” He couldn’t detect any strawberry, although for me there was a nice flavour of sweet strawberry in the aftertaste.
I also had better luck getting this down when I only let it hit the back of my tongue; the initial bitterness was less pronounced that way. Keep in mind that this was also sweetened with a tsp of agave (which helped a bit, but oh man).
Ultimately though, between this being so hard to drink and being a free sample, I’m going to dump the rest and try again.

I am intrigued and yet disappointed all at the same time with this one. I feel like they tried to improve on Blazing Strawberries but just . . . missed. The strawberry smell is lovely but for me when I drink this each sip is either water with a backhint of fruit, or . . . strawberry plant. I felt like I was drinking my perfume I have from Fresh called Strawberry Fields. I don’t think I’ll be stocking up on this one. Which means I’ll be stocking up on the Blazing Strawberries still on my David’s tea wall instead I guess!

Backlogging from yesterday. This came as a free sample when I placed my last order.

I really don’t like it. It’s beautiful to look at – all different colors and shapes and textures. But when it’s brewed, it smells odd. I get the spice from the ginger, but that’s not the whole of it, and it made me a bit sick trying to figure out what it was. I tasted the ginger, but I didn’t taste the strawberry. It tasted fruity and spicy, which are two things, in my opinion, that don’t mix well together. I’m glad it was only a sample, and I didn’t spend money on it.

I was upsold on this tea – dammit! I wasn’t planning on getting this one – I was actually going to pass as I thought “ehhh.. weird combination, and ginger sounds too funky” despite myself being a ginger lover.

But the smell of the tea leaves at the store + the salesgal sold me.

Smell (dry leaves) – fruity with that weird ginger skin smell (very slight). Overall, interestingly appealing.

Steeped – hmm.. Gogi Pop? Very fruity and sweet.. mmm.. very sweet smell. Steeps a pretty light pink.

Taste – fruity – the apple and berries come out, not tart at first. the blackberry really adds a different dimension of fruity that’s quite nice. Of course, the ginger comes out at the end as a little zing and aftertaste and then some tart hits the throat. Not sweet like Gogi pop though. This team is nicely refreshing hot. Might be that theory on stuff with a little zing cools the body? I dunno.

After half the cup.. I’m reminded of strawberry/raspberry ginger ale but without the sweetness. Yes.. that is the best way to describe this tea! Geeze DAVIDsTea.. you could advertise it like that and might scare people off less. The ginger taste is more real ginger, like those good expensive glass bottle local ginger ales vs. fakey stuff.

Overall – this would be nice iced with a bit of sweetner to be an interesting cool drink. Oooh.. or maybe good mixed with some club soda and fake that strawberry ginger ale.

I’m oddly intrigued by this tea. It’s a caffeine free tea (herbal) that doesn’t have Chamomile or Rooibos. That wins points as I’m not a rooibos person and I’m picky about chamomile (and tired of it).

I’m gonna try it with sweetner and iced, see if it adds to it. Maybe play with steeping time to see if the ginger would come out more, and reduce tart with a shorter time.
I really miss Fruity gingerales as I haven’t found them in diet yet.. and hey, this tea has no calories and tastes like ginger ale! But overall, I almost wish it was more sweet, like Gogi Pop’s melony sweet bits. Who’d I recomend too? Well.. before the gingerale connection, I would of said for the brave peeps, especially if you like ginger. Now, with the gingerale connection – hey, if you like that strawberry/raspberry gingerale, give it a shot.

Was not a huge fan of this tea. Tasted bitter. Followed the steeping directions perfectly, and tried it iced. It is TERRIBLE iced, for my palat anyways. I am quite pleased with the spring collection just not this one.

I don’t mind this. It came out pretty weak so I’ll steep for longer next time, but the strawberry and ginger are actually well balanced. It’s fruity and herbal at the same time, but mostly herbal. It has a slightly medicine-y taste to it. And I know there’s hibiscus in it, but it’s not overpowering at all. I wouldn’t guess it was there if I didn’t know.
I would reach for this again if I was in the mood for a ginger tea. I have a feeling it would be good with honey, or iced as people have been suggesting.

I was SO excited about this one before it came out. Whenever I see ginger or chili or peppercorn in a tea I jump at it – I definitely crave some heat (or at least a bite) in my teas. This was tasty, but overall disappointing. There was a tiny hint of heat from the ginger, but the most predominant taste was hibiscus. Sigh. I like hibiscus just fine, but it’s not what I was expecting from this tea. Iced with some agave it is nice and refreshing, but it’s not the favourite I expected it to be.