Wild Orange Blossom

thank you fiddling for this sample! this one reminds me a lot of tazo’s wild sweet orange (or whatever it’s called), though a little nicer. There is a tartness in this one from the hibiscus that some might find offensive. It’s got that “i am hibiscus” taste but i don’t think it ruins anything in this blend. I need to give it a try cold brewed as i think my other half might enjoy this one with a little sweetner for our bike rides. Overall this is a decent herbal blend that will do nicely in summer.

This was a tea of the month for April on the Classic plan. You can probably tell from the fact that it’s halfway through May and I’m just now getting to this one that I wasn’t overly excited by the sound of it. First three ingredients: Apple bits, hibiscus, rose hips. I’m puckering just reading it. This is already sounding like a job for the two bags of Tazo honeybush.

Then it goes on: beetroot, citrus peels & slices (in case you missed the orange slice the size of Alaska), flavoring, orange petals, sunflower petals, orange juice bits (um, er… I guess this means they freeze dried it? does that mean there is Tang in my Teavana?) pomegranate blossoms, rose petals.

It’s beautiful in its chunkiness as I’ve found all Teavana fruit blends to be and dry, it smells wildly of orange, so in that respect it lives up to its name. The tisane itself smells much more well rounded, almost like a fruit punch but without strong berry or cherry representation.

Now here’s the really interesting part. This cup, at least, IS NOT TOO TART! How can that be? Maybe it’s the “orange juice bits.” Or maybe the “flavoring” is sugar. It tastes like orange, but not in an orange juice or orange drink way, and it has a sweetness to it that is all the more welcome for being unexpected.

I don’t think this is something I’d buy again, but I’ll enjoy drinking my way through it. The reason I wouldn’t buy it again is, apart from lemon and apple, I’m not really in the market for a single note tisane. I may have to eat (or drink) those words at some point, though.

Side note: I got the Breville! We got it at Williams Sonoma tonight, a late mom’s day present. I can’t say I made this with it, though, as after getting the kids new shoes, going out to dinner, coming home and putting them to bed, we were too tired to get it out of the car. Tomorrow. ;-)

I love everything orange. I normally don’t love tart teas, but I found this one to be quite good. Dry, this tea smells like freshly juiced orange pulp. My mouth started watering right as I opened the bag. I don’t find the tea to look particularly appetizing dry because the chunks reminded me of a bread of some kind, but there were a few whole orange wedges. Yum. When steeped this tea loses a lot of the orange smell but still gives off a citrusy scent. I expected the first sip to be tart but you are first hit with a sweet orange cream flavor, that only turns sour when the tea reaches the back of your mouth. Wild orange blossom is a pleasant tea that isn’t too sweet, isn’t too sour, and possesses just the right amount of citrus twist.

Backlog from yesterday:

Wayyyyyy too fruity and flowery. it was decent in flavor as it had a bold citrus flavor but at times where the tea got concentrated it was almost soooo ctirussy that it got to your nose ( does that even make sense?) i dont know but it just over powered everything. didnt really enjoy this one but i heard that it blends really well with blueberry bliss and other fruity rooibos which i dont doubt because it has a nice citrus kick. so mostly a blendable : dont reccomend alone.

I LOVE THIS TEA!!!

I bought this tea cause i wanted something to mix with my Thai mountain oolong. I love hibiscus tea and citrus so i had to give this one a try. Man does this tea taste great. It has a nice hibiscus floral notes with crisp refreshing citrus.

One thing about this tea though is that it taste better when cooler then warmer. It seems like the hotter the tea is the more overpowered the citrus taste and you don’t get to taste the hibiscus undertones.

How I brew it:
Since i put this in after my oolong is done brewing and the water temperature is lower then normal i brew it longer; I don’t like to brew two teas at the same times, especially when i want to reuse the base tea. For the moment I brew my teas in a glass tea press that holds about 28oz of water. Before I put in this tea I measured the water temperature to see how hot it stays at, which is about 155F.

There is one thing though about the flavor that nobody eles has mentioned. Being a Floridian i know my citrus flavors. I would not describe the flavor as orange, but more a grapefruit flavor. Almost like the kind of grapefruit that gets to be about the size of a small (pretty small) soccer ball and has no bitterness to it. So if you are looking for a strong mandarin orange like flavor, you will be disappointed.

Specifics

Water Temp: 150-160F
Steep Time: 10 minuets
Tea Base: Thai Moutain Oolong (Teavana)
Sweetener: 1/2 TBL of light Agave OR preferably Orange Blossom honey.

P.S. I have not brewed this tea on it’s own yet. I have ordered some more and will give another review of this tea when steeped with no other base teas.

A friend gave me a sample of this. I have developed a jaundiced view of Teavana based almost wholly on some comments about their merchandising style in the shops. Ditto for tea with hibiscus in it, based mainly on the Zinger family.

What a pleasant surprise this stuff was! I am not overwhelmed by hibiscus at all and definitely taste the orange/fruity flavors. The red color is very deep, probably because of the beetroot as much as the hibiscus. My friend said “it tastes just like it smells” and it actually does.

I too assume the “orange juice bits” must be freeze-dried orange juice, but it doesn’t bother me. I think this would be very nice as an iced tea or the basis of a summer punch mixed with ginger ale. The flavor actually reminded me a bit of some Sangrias I used to enjoy.

The aroma is kinda floral, and very orangey.

I used to really like this tea. It still has an orange flavour that I like, but I have other orange teas I prefer now.

I love, no adore the smell of most citrus, especially oranges! I tried this tea combined with the Youthberry at the closest Teavana store, and wow! was blown away. Unfortunately, the Youthberry alone was more then I wanted to spend on tea, let alone with the Wild Orange Blossom, so I just got the Orange. Even though it was a blisteringly hot day when I got home, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist trying it out.
Sighs
Sadly, as great as it smells, the taste is quite boring. I even tried it combined with some other teas that I got, hoping that would perk it up some…..meh. It was drinkable, but not beyond that. (And yes the other teas that I used was Teavana.)

This is such a beautiful tea. This is more of an every day , or every night drinking tea. My mom and I fell in love with this when we saw the rose petals and how orange and citrus(y) it tasted. Steep time was good, about 4 minutes. The orange is so tasty.

(Backlogging) Fourth tea served at my Murder Mystery Tea Party. This was served iced to go along with the cakes I had prepared. This tea was actually prepared by my roomie and it was quite delicious and fruity. She added quite a bit of rock sugar to it as well.

Oh my… this is grapefruit-y… You’d think that for a tea that has mostly orange and very little grapefruit that you wouldn’t taste it the same way. But holy moly.
It’s not my cup of tea at all… too tart…

My throat is starting to hurt. I think I am getting sick. meh :( Nothing better than a pot of hot tea with some honey to make me feel better!

Dry Smell: Orange. Like, ORANGE orange. but not orange juice or orange candy. This smells more tart, like orange zest.

Steeped Smell: This smells almost identical to Wild Sweet Orange by Tazo. Tart orange with a hint of sweetness, and hibiscus.

Taste: Tart. Almost excessively so. Reducing the steeping time would most likely fix this problem. I had to add extra honey to cut the tartness, which I’m not complaining about due to the scratchy throat problem. Other than that, this tastes like a hot orange and hibiscus punch. Tasty. Not something I would stock as a staple in my tea closet, but definitely something I would buy and drink again. I will have to try this iced.

OMG— all the things i ordered from TEAVANA taste like a tea from DAVIDs, which sucks, because I waited 2.5 weeks :(

Anyway- it tastes very similar to MID SUMMER NIGHTS DREAM (from DAVIDs TEA)

The taste: Very fruity (ORANGey – is that a word :P??) Nice iced- have yet to try it hot but will soon

I think I will wait until I get the youthberry tea- and blend it with this one. :D

The color – orange – “duh”

The smell: Nice- refreshing- orangey :)

Mac

This is a lovely straightforward cup of fruit tea – very fruity, with a taste of sweet grapefruit and orange juice, not too tart, not too sweet, just the right amount of tang. It is peppy and invigorating. I can taste the rose, but it is subtle and blends well with the orange top notes and there is a hint of orange blossom there too in the finish. It’s direct, but not aggressive. Where it really shines for me is in a blend, it has quite a straightforward fruity favor that goes really well with lots of other flavours, I especially like it 50/50 with Teavana’s Peach Tranquility.

BIG citrus aroma coming through as this tea steeps…even my husband liked the smell! There is a beautiful orange color to the tea when it’s ready to drink. The flavor/taste is very much citrus, but I like it.

Thursday Dec. 16, 2010
1st Steep of the day.
This was a IN SHOP SAMPLE at Teavana in Lancaster.
Blended with Teavana’s Youthberry White Tea
It Made a GREAT 1st Steep of My Day.
Could not get away with out buying 2oz’s for home.
This is a Light White Blend with Super Fruit Flavor
including South American Acai Palm.
Looking to future Pots of this here at Home.
Keep on Steepin

Drinking this in a blend with Ceylon Black – iced. I’ve given the Ceylon emphasis, so this isn’t bad. I doubt I’d drink it alone, though – too strong.

This one is like sunshine in a mug! It makes me think of summertime… I find that I like to steep it a bit longer than required to make the flavour stronger, but it is definitely one of my favorites!

I was really impressed with this tea. I had two 20oz cups in an hour. It was just the perfect level of sweet with out adding any sweetner.

I’m not a big fan of Teavana’s agressive selling techniques, but I and my daughter both like this tea a lot. I steeled myself to brave the local mall just after Christmas and to my delight found it on sale for 75% off :)

It has the perfect notes of sweetness and astringency and is well balanced in flavor with lots of yummy orange in both flavor and aroma. It’s my favorite orange tea.