Wheee, our teas came today!
“Unlimited staff drinks,” right? So I took a cup’s worth of leaves of all the new ones home in little snack baggies to taste and review, and marked them all off as staff drinks. (So now it looks like me and the other three people who worked today drank 20-some drinks on our shifts. Yep, that’s all we did today – drank tea and peed. Also sold about $1200 worth of tea and merch, but mostly just drank tea. And peed. Hey, nobody gave me a limit on “unlimited”!) I mean, there was no way that I’m buying 50g of 17 new teas when I’m already so full up on teas at home!
I’m starting with this one – a white which is considered part of the “top 6” out of the new teas. (I’m honestly not entirely sure what that even means yet.)
I will admit that I didn’t have high hopes for this one at all. Not sure why, but I was having trouble imagining this flavour combination being done well. I will also admit that I was wrong, because out of the couple I’ve tried so far, this one is the best!
A co-worker and I first sampled a few sips of this hot the other day in the store, and agreed (and were surprised) at how good we thought it was. “Watermelon is a tough taste to achieve in a tea,” she said, but we also agreed that the melon taste here is pretty legit, and that it seemed like it would be amazing iced. This is especially interesting because it is a white, and isn’t getting much of a lengthy steep, so you’d think the melon flavour would be a bit of a letdown, but I didn’t feel particularly let or down after trying this one.
Also, we noted that it was pretty passable without sugar. Okay, “pretty passable” may not be the highest praise, but it’s usually the most I can bestow on even the best flavoured blends. And it’s rather surprising to note this about a Teavana blend, because even the staff have to admit that many of our teas need sugar (which might be considered inept blending, but which just as often seems like it might actually be a German-rock-sugar-selling tactic). It’s so much better with sugar (if you ask me), but I didn’t mind it at all unsweetened.
So of course I was actually pretty excited to get this one home and ice it. And wouldn’t you know, I botched it! I’m not entirely sure how I messed up the proportions, but I ended up with ice cubes and watery tea all over my counter. Siiiigh. Long past week, okay?
It’s still pretty good though, and really refreshing. Not as good as it was in the store, but that’s probably because I screwed it up! I notice more mint coming through in this cup, it’s got this nice chilling bite to it at the back of the sip that I really like. Makes me think of some sort of summery mixed drink! Actually, it’s weird that this tea is coming out now, because it clearly seems like some sort of “summer collection”-type tea. Still, if you tend to miss summer in December (I don’t, but you know, that’s because I despise summer), this would be a good summer-in-December tea to remind you of sun and fruit!
If you aren’t personally boycotting Teavana for…one reason or another…this one is a must-try.
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Any chance you can sneak your staff discount onto a student in the US? I really don’t want to have to buy 2oz of all of these teas… but I do want to try them! haha
Watermelon tea? That’s interesting.
Glad your teas came in. I would have done the same. Wish Teavana did seasonal releases instead of just once a year. This was a favorite of my friend Rob, he gave me a piece of candies melon to taste but I ended up going with the truffle. Interesting that the 12 Teas of Christmas are Teopia teas, I didn’t realize that when I first saw them, but makes sense.
@Autumn – I’m pretty sure they’re not Teaopia teas, actually – I asked around, and none of my coworkers who previously worked under Teaopia recognize them. Kinda weird to come out with 12 entirely new teas just for a gift set; maybe some of them are repackaged?
Any chance you can sneak your staff discount onto a student in the US? I really don’t want to have to buy 2oz of all of these teas… but I do want to try them! haha
Watermelon tea? That’s interesting.
Glad your teas came in. I would have done the same. Wish Teavana did seasonal releases instead of just once a year. This was a favorite of my friend Rob, he gave me a piece of candies melon to taste but I ended up going with the truffle. Interesting that the 12 Teas of Christmas are Teopia teas, I didn’t realize that when I first saw them, but makes sense.
@Autumn – I’m pretty sure they’re not Teaopia teas, actually – I asked around, and none of my coworkers who previously worked under Teaopia recognize them. Kinda weird to come out with 12 entirely new teas just for a gift set; maybe some of them are repackaged?