Strawberry Black Tea

Tea of the morning……

And tea #12 of 24….half-way there! I am not completely certain who sent this one. (It was probably QuiltGuppy, LOL!) One other thing that is interesting about this tea…it looks as if it was a free sample sent out by thepuritea (I am not saying this to infer that I care how the sample was originally obtained….stay with me….) On the label it says it is strawberry black…and under that it says SpecialTeas. It is definitely in a small silver sleeve that says thepuritea. I am now wondering if SpecialTeas was the source of some of the teas at thepuritea. I feel safe mentioning it now, as it is unlikely that this tea will be sourced from SpecialTeas at this point since it is out of stock at thepuritea and SpecialTeas has now been absorbed into Teavana. I just love a tea mystery……

Good basic strawberry tea. The tea base is pleasant enough. And I guess I had better enjoy this as it is not likley that I can get more like it!

Usual mug method….

Well, it’s not bad, but it’s not ‘fresh strawberry’. And why is that? Because they used dried bits of strawberry, instead.

Anybody who has ever eaten a dried strawberry will immediately understand the difference — I’m talking really dried, not just slightly dehydrated and chewy. The flavor of the fruit changes pretty drastically when that process happens, so…you know, the flavor that you get is much different.

Not my must-have cup — I think the dried-strawberry-strawberry-candy-or-possibly-preserves taste could get old in a hurry if sipped often — but it’s going to make for a pretty awesomely tasty pitcher of iced tea, I can tell. It’s nice and naturally sweet, so sweetener won’t be necessary at all.

Steep Information:
Amount: 7.6g, one entire sample bag
Water: 1000ml filtered boiling water 212°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: strong strawberry, natural but not quite
Steeped Tea Smell: strawberry, tea
Flavor: a fake strawberry and tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: sweetness
Liquor: translucent dark brown

I placed a large order of mostly samples so I could experiment with more flavors from thepuriTea, it’s sort of like pokemon, I want to try them all (mostly).

Post-Steep Additives: German rock sugar, surprisingly made no difference

It’s a good black tea, but it’s a fake strawberry flavor so not a favorite.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/thepuritea-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

My boyfriend surprised me with an early 2 year anniversary present of thepuriTea flavored tea gift set which has this tea as well as passion fruit and mango – mmm!

This tea smells very sweet, kind of like strawberry mike and ikes. It tastes pretty much the same as it tastes. That is very sweet and very fruity. I quite liked it but I think I need to try it iced to truly appreciate its flavor!

This tea smells like lovely strawberries when dry. Since I had such great luck with thepuritea’s Mango tea and Passion Fruit tea, I was hoping it would hold for this, too.

205/2 min Now, the strawberry scent is muted a tad. It still smells nice, though. The taste is pleasant, I just wish the strawberry had hung on a little bit stronger. It’s muted, just like it’s aroma. I still really like the tea, but it just doesn’t taste quite as special as I had been hoping it would be. I prefer Mariage Frères’ Marco Polo tea for a great strawberry flavor.

Another gift from QuiltGuppy, thanks soooooo much!
I had a cup of this last night before bed, then tried a second steep this morning.
Solid Strawberry both times, the black tea was richer on the first steep as you would expect. I really like this. It is well balanced, not too much of either flavor.