Anjou Pear-adise Oolong Tea

This is a LONG overdue thank you to Mercuryhime for providing me with this sample (and others) eons ago. I found it in my basket of muddled aromas and thought it might have survived the onslaught of smells. Steeped, the tea smells tart and is a quite pretty coral shade. I am thinking there must be some rosehip or hibiscus based on the smell and colour, but it’s not too in-your-face about it, which is pleasant.

I’ve googled Anjou pears but I am not sure if I’ve had them before. When I look for pear tastes, I expect a sweetness reminiscent of the pear Jelly Bellies and this actually has that, in a way. The reality of this one is that is very tart though, at least for a pear tea. If we take pear out of the equation it is mildly tart, definitely fruity. More of a crisp sour apple than a pear. I’m not picking up on the oolong, but that’s to be expected with all the additives this has.

While it’s got a generic fruit flavour going on, I actually quite like this one. If this were an offering from a store close to me and was relatively cheap (maybe $5 or 6 for 50 grams) I might pick up some more. Generic, yes, but still tasty and the oolong makes it different than if it had a green or black base. This almost tastes like an herbal, it just has a bit of backbone from the oolong.

Having looked up the ingredients on Teavana’s site, I see this has both hibiscus and rosehips. I am impressed that it is such a light touch though – most hibiscus teas are overpowering. Perhaps Mercuryhime balanced it for me. :)

Anyway, this was my first and only Teavana tea. Nothing to write home about, but nothing objectionable besides the price. Thanks again for sharing, it’s much appreciated!!

I got a fair amount of this tea in my recent swap with brandy3392… thanks again for the swap! I was interested in it because I like the idea of an anjou pear oolong, and also because I enjoy trying a bunch of Teavana teas without ever having to deal with the company. The dry leaf on this was something I have come to expect from some of these big flavored tea companies (not just Teavana) of a high “inclusions” to tea ratio. What’s also interesting is that the oolong seems to be a mix of dark oolong (short, uncurled leaves and some stems) and green oolong (reasonably well rolled balls).

The steeped tea on this one immediately lets me know that the rosehips and hibiscus are not going to be hiding here. It is a lovely “dusky rose” color. While I do get a pretty obvious tart hibiscus aroma from this, I also definitely smell the slightly vegetal, slightly floral oolong base underneath. Overall, I’d have to say that I like this tea ok, but I don’t think it does what it intends to… or at least what it advertises. It definitely has a super tart, hibiscusy taste at the front of the sip, which fades into a sweetish, fruity flavor toward the end. The hibiscus/rosehips kind of overwhelms the rest of it. I used to see teas with hibiscus in them and think that they’d be fine because I love hibiscus, but really I love it cold and highly sweetened, not in hot teas. I will definitely look forward to making this one iced in a big pitcher when the weather warms up.

Hahahaha as usual, something from Teavana with not so good reviews here is something I’m enjoying. We were at the mall and I wanted caffeine, but I didn’t want a lot (you know, just enough to kill a headache because my dumbass mail delivery person stuck two boxes that did not fit in my mailbox into it and I had to spend 10 minutes forcing them out), nor did I want Starbucks. So Teavana it was. I have never until now got a cup to go and I feel silly because of it.

I didn’t know what was even in here, I just picked it because hey, why not continue the pear adventure. I got it iced so I was quite surprised to see it the color of hibiscus.

After the first few sips I am quite enjoying it. I taste both pear and oolong, also papaya and of course the hibiscus, but it’s more in the aftertaste and not OMG HORRIBLE. It’s pretty sweet, but not cloyingly so.

I also love anything that has the ingredient of a fruit crunchy. I don’t know why it cracks me up, this one is passionfruit crunchies but I don’t really taste any passionfruit. Maybe there’s a bit of a citrusy take to it but with those and pineapple I wish there was a pineapple note in here! But the pear is excellent, possibly even better than the one earlier. I don’t want to end up buying this tea though.

Oh who am I kidding I will end up doing it.

My mom tries to tell me to apply there, I had interviewed once but they never called me back. I’d rather do the making the tea part, I think that’s why she said it. I don’t even know what I made for her…a matcha latte maybe, but she was all impressed with me. I would like money but I have two writing intensive classes this semester so meh I don’t know. But I don’t want to go another 16 months off loans, seriously.

I got some more tea from Teavana to try because I really like the papaya oolong. Sadly I am not a real fan of this. I am starting to feel a little meh about Tevana because they seem to be so hit or miss with me. Now onto this tea- the flavor is weak and instead of pear, the hibiscus and apple flavors predominate. I will probably finish it but add in some more plain oolong to make it better.

I am sad. This is my first first flavored oolong and it was only ok. I think the hibiscus ruined it for me. It seemed overpowering and flavor seemed more apple than pear. Though I must say, the fruit flavor was very natural.
The oolong base was woody and darker than I liked.
I’m glad to have sampled it but I’m not sure about future flavored oolongs.

A nice, basic fruity, with a touch of tartness. They could of added just alittle more hibiscus in it though. Not alot…Hmm maybe I’ll see if I can find some fresh hibiscus next time I go shopping.
Being not very experienced with Oolong, I could not tell how much Oolong was present. Would I get this one again? Possibly but not anytime soon…plenty of other teas that I want to try.

What a refreshing tea! I love this hot or iced; although lately I opt for hot teas since it’s winter and freezing outside. I love the medley of flavors – fruity pear and apple, flowery hibiscus and rose petals, plus a light touch of the oolong base tea. However, don’t let it steep too long or you’ll be looking at one bitter tea. (I learned this the hard way and hope to save others from that bitterness!) I have to admit this is the first pear tea I’ve ever tried, and while I don’t like the high price of Teavana, I’ll come back for more of this truly tasty pear-adise! :)

We picked some of this up on a shopping trip with my mother. It was an unnecessary gift, but I’m not going to say no to offerings of tea.

This smells almost like sour lollipops when its dry. I love sour lollipops. So I came home and immediately made some of this in my dad’s fancy clay teapot that no one ever uses but me.

Honestly this is good, but I think I’m more in love with the oolong flavor than with the pear flavor. The pear makes it sweet, but the oolong makes it taste good. Its got this subtle, buttery taste to it. I really need to get my hands on some straight oolong.

Apparently I’m on a pear kick.

This tea is very subtle. It has a blush color when steeped. In the bag, it has a more noticeable pear aroma. I notice more of the oolong in the aroma once it’s steeped.

Oolongs are kind of hit and miss with me. This one I enjoy. I don’t really notice the hibiscus and find the hint of pear to be pleasant.

The last time I had this tea I remembered not caring for it, but today I decided to make a pitcher of iced tea so I’d have something to take with me to work, and of course I had to sneak a taste of it while it was still hot. I was surprised! I liked it a lot more than I remember the last time I had it! Maybe I just didn’t steep it properly…

I added a little sugar to it while it was still hot because I like to sweeten my iced tea a little bit. Mmmm…this stuff is really good iced! I’ll be enjoying this during a long day of work.

Oh Teavana, always too strong or really weak. You describe this tea as subtle, but that isn’t the word I’d use for it. Weak is much closer to the reality.

A friend sent me this one up over the border (she’s awesome and sends me the ones from Teavana that interest me) and I excitedly brewed it up. I’ve yet to find a pear tea that truly captures what a pear tastes like to me, and I was hopeful that this one would be it. My mistake was forgetting that anjous, while sweet, are a really mild pear, and so of course a tea named after them wouldn’t be overly pear-ful. There is definite hints of pear here, but overall the tea isn’t that great. I even tried blending it with a lemon oolong I have to see if that would pop flavours but instead it managed to bland down my lemon! Not one I’ll be asking for a resend on, sadly.

This is definitely not what I expected. The brew is quite dark, both in color and in aroma. The pear is quite prominent in aroma, but is mixed with the floral accents, as well as a deep rose color. This will be interesting.

With much of the fruit, I would have expected a fresher flavor, but it comes more of a darker, floral taste, which I would think would come from the hibiscus and rose petals. The salad of fruit is there, but behind the flowers, which is quite disappointing.

I would have preferred more fruit than flower, and a brighter flavor than dark. Nonetheless, it is a good dark tea.

I brewed the last of my 2 oz. bag this morning, and I was surprised because Anjou Pear-adise hasn’t made much of an impression on me, so I was sure I hadn’t drank it more than once or twice.

It isn’t amazing, but it isn’t terrible. Just a nice, light tea that verges on the generic and unmemorable.

nice light tea.

This is a great, refreshing tea. Good to drink hot, let cool down just a little, or completely iced!

Nice fruity taste. There is a lot going on with it and suprisingly, the second brew is almost as good as the first!

This was one of my first purchases from the Teavana website. I know its buy beware when you purchase things over the internet but I thought I would take a chance, as the reviews were good. I was very disappointed when it arrived. It does not smell or taste of pear. I have had to add quite a bit of sweetener just to bring out any fruity flavour.
Although the tea is palatable, I will not be purchasing it again.

Yum! A nice light fruity breakfasty beverage! If you know me, you know I put a little rock sugar in everything, though I put less in this one because I figured the pear would deliver its own sweetness, and it did in fact deliver. I’m tempted to throw in some cinnamon to make it taste like a pear crumble. Delicious!

This one was a very nice surprise. The fruit flavor is not overwhelming but has a nice presence.

I was not impressed with this tea and I am head over heals for flavored oolongs. It seemed watered down and the taste was not too interesting. Maybe I will try it brewed double-strengthed (then maybe I can use it up twice as quickly and free up a tin for some other tea!)

Good refreshing drink! Note: fruity drink! I liked the composition of flavors, just wish there was more tea leaves then fillings – petals, sugary fruit cubes, etc. I tried it both ways – hot and cold. Have to say, iced version was better due to enormous amount of dried fruits. Overall, it was good!