Disney Wonderland Tea

I had a Halloween tea party and someone brought this at a hostess gift(how sweet :D). I love the tin. It seemed appropriate because I was the Cheshire Cat for my costume. Anyways… The tea is nice. Just a simple bergamot and orange. Yum :)

okay black tea. I can taste the other flavors in there but still kind of an overall mediocre tea.

First cup of the day. I was so excited to try this tea that I actually made a cup a few days ago, but did not like it at all. I’m trying it again and hoping that I enjoy this cup more. It smells very fruity – of peach and apricot, and there is a strong gingery aroma noticeable from the steeped tea. The flavor is mostly ginger – I can only taste a tiny amount of the fruitiness in the aftertaste. This tea isn’t terrible, and it would probably be good if I liked ginger more or if the peach or apricot flavors were a little stronger, but it’s a little too gingery for me. I’m glad that I got to try it though (thanks, Nicole!) and I will take the rest of this to my mom, who will probably love it.

I am officially on fall break! Yesterday was actually the first real day of my break, but I spent the day reading and napping. I think that I am just so worn out from my crazy day at the hospital on Thursday and my whole clinic group actually felt pretty poorly, so I think we’re all fighting off some kind of sickness.

Our little parakeet also passed away yesterday. I’ve had him for 5 years, and he came from the shelter as an adult, so we think he was probably older when we got him. He hadn’t had any outward signs of illness, just gradually was getting a little more quiet and losing a few more feathers than normal. He started chirping really strange yesterday and when my fiancee and I ran in there, he was on the bottom of his cage. We tried to pick him and sit him back on his perch, but he went right back to the bottom. Thankfully it was very quick and he didn’t seem to suffer terribly. Yesterday was the first day in weeks that my fiancee and I were both home at the same time, so I can’t help but feel like he was waiting for us all to be there with him. The dogs, cats, and my fiancee and I sat next to his cage so he wasn’t alone at the end. The house is unusually quiet this morning, and I’m missing his cheerful chirping already.

Today I have a nice and clean house to myself, so I plan to spend the day with my pups/kitties and read and drink tea. I also need to get half of my paperwork done for clinic so that I don’t have to worry about it on my actual days off (Monday and Tuesday). I’m going to savor every minute of this fall break!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs with small petals and small pieces of dried fruits.
-Dry leaves smell like fruity apricot and peach. Tea liquor aroma is of juicy peaches with a strong hint of ginger.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark brown color.
-Overwhelming ginger flavor and finish. Faint fruity aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. Flavor is overwhelmingly ginger.

DO NOT DRINK THIS COLD. lol. First off, I made my morning tea and totally forgot about it. Second, I forgot about the steeping. So this is strong! It tastes like medicine. ick. anyway, I will change my review when I finally drink it like normal tea. haha.

Let it be known to everyone who doesn’t know, I love Alice in Wonderland and all things Lewis Carroll, and I have since as long as I can remember. I fancy myself a bit of a Mad Hatter (tons of hats, a little crazy, no mercury poisoning though) and also have a serious love of Disney. Though I have no shame in admitting that the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland was never really ‘big’ with me, I still was super excite to try a Mad Tea Party!

So if that introduction didn’t do it, allow me to properly introduce today’s tea: Mad Tea Party Blend by Disney Wonderland. A blend of Indian Black Teas, Safflowers, Calendula Petals, Ginger Bits, Apricot Bits, Peach and Apricot flavors. I just love it when ingredients include the word ‘bits’ it just makes me smile. Anyway, this tea is very pretty with the different flower petals mixed in with the tea leaves, I love pretty teas.

The aroma of the leaves is very fruity and tart! You mostly get the aroma of apricots, so much apricot that it drowns out all the other things at first, but if you keep sniffing around you get to experience a mild floral scent and just a touch of spice. It is a very potent aroma, almost a little too strong and makes me feel a bit topsy turvy.

After brewing the aroma just kicks up the intensity, the smell reminds me of an apricot liqueur with heavy citrus notes. Where the citrus is coming from is beyond me, but oranges are definitely there and poking me in the face. I am slightly worried I am going to get sloshed from this tea. The brewed liquid has more of the ginger aroma to it but it also has an artificial ‘perfume’ smell.

The taste is intensely tart, like eating unripe cherries tart. I should point out that it is not bitter, just intensely tart. I need to add some sugar to this tea (much like I need sugar with store grade strawberries, their tartness is not enjoyable to me either) to make it a little more tolerable so I can actually see what flavors are there under the tart. Well, it actually does taste a but like liqueur or maybe the flavoring has alcohol in it, but it also tastes like peaches and apricots. I decided after seeing a lot of other people on Steepster say that this tea is great iced to turn it into an iced tea, and you know what, it works that way. It still has that ‘fake’ taste that a lot of flavored bottled teas have but it is no longer tart and I can taste the earthiness of the tea mixed with peaches and apricots, and at the end a zing of spice from the ginger. Sadly I am not overwhelmed and doubt I will be seeking out more of this tea, it is just too tart for a hot tea and too artificial for an iced.

Made this one as a cold brew. Brewed for about 12 hours. It was ok. Not as good as the hot brew. Initially the tastes were pretty blunted, so I added some white sugar to bring out the fruit taste a bit. This brought out more peach flavours, but it was almost like way too overripe fruit taste. The ginger is still spicey but it is almost bitter as well. Definitely drinkable but better tasting when hot.

This tea was blended just for me. That is what I assume anyway because it is delicious! I was quite surprised because I did not have the highest of hopes for a Disney blend.

Thanks to Nicole for generously sending this to me from her recent stash reduction.

The dry tea smells deliciously candy like. I can smell candied peach and apricot. There is also a very nice sweet spice to it from the ginger.

The brewed tea tastes just like it smells. The apricot is artificial but it is still delicious. One of the better apricot teas I have tried, and I have tried many. The ginger gives it a very nice spice that blends well with the sweetness. I find the black tea base to be fairly light. I am tasting more the flavour and not so much the tea.

I am hopefully going to have to try more of the Disney blends.

I’m usually not one for herbal teas, but this tea doesn’t make me point my nose in the other direction. Not anything spectacular, but it does seem to calm me down and soothe my tired throat. Might buy some more if I run out.

Hm.

Hm.

This was gifted to me about a year after it was purchased (yeah, in my family we sometimes lose track of things…) so I don’t know if that has anything to do with the flavor I’m getting.

First sip was floral for some reason. Second sip was fruity. After that, it now tastes like Smarties. Not the chocolate Smarties you get in countries other than the US, but the US Smarties – the chalky, vaguely fruit flavored discs that come wrapped in a tube. Everyone gets them on Halloween and most kids don’t eat them. Not that they are bad, they just aren’t that mother load of Halloween – chocolate! Now they have all kinds of brands and flavors, even SweeTart ones. But the ones this tea reminds me of are the original Smarties.

As it cools I get some of the ginger peach flavors back. Not a bad black base – mild and unintrusive. Might be quite good cold. Not sure how fast I’ll work my way through this tin with all the other options available to me. :) I have plenty of it, though, so if anyone wants any, speak up! (just like with any of my cupboard teas…I’m always up for swap or flat out reducing my stash through giving!)

This tea smells lovely, however it has a somewhat bitter taste. Definitely needs milk and honey or sugar.

I’m here! Really I am! I haven’t had much time for Steepster because we drove down to San Diego last weekend for a wedding, and then I was just exhausted. The trip back was pretty much a nightmare. Now that I’ve recovered some, I’m back!

While we were down there, we stopped at Downtown Disney to have lunch with a friend, and guess what I got? Alice in Wonderland tea ware! So cute! I got a teapot and two cups with saucers. I was hesitating because I’m pretty frugal, but my husband convinced me. He’s a good husband. ;)

I was going to pick up a tin of loose leaf, but the tea ware came with a ton of bagged tea…the same flavors as the loose leaf, so I didn’t, although the loose leaf might be better. So, my review here is of the bagged version.

This tea turned out to be a pretty good, balanced blend. I definitely tasted the peach, apricot and ginger. I was happy that the ginger wasn’t overpowering. Not amazing, but not bad. And may I say, freaking CUTE packaging!!

Btw, I’ve re-watched the mad tea party scene from the movie on Netflix twice now. :D

We had this as the final tea of tea party today. My guest commented that the aroma cleared her sinuses. Haha! I was surprised that I had only remembered peach and apricot with this one. When I gave it a good sniff today, she was right. It really was powerful, and at first I couldn’t place what I was smelling, and then I realized it was ginger.

The tea is actually a marvelous strength, not overpowering at all. Apricot and peach are in the forefront, but the ginger is a nice highlight and lingers a bit. It doesn’t burn as ginger can, but it isn’t shy. This is much nicer than I remembered. It was a really stressful time when I tried it last, right before working the election, so I guess I wasn’t paying as much attention!

I am going to need a Mad Tea Party today…but I won’t get one. I couldn’t sleep, as usually happens before a major election. I fell asleep just after two and woke up at four and I have a fifteen to sixteen hour workday ahead of me.

My daughter brought this tea to me as a gift from her Disney trip. It is very similar to Madame Butterfly or Fuzzy Navel, but with a black tea base instead of green. We drank it sans additions and it was very good. I bet it is fantastic iced, too!

I won’t be making any tea today. It will be far too hectic. Hopefully the activity will keep me from feeling sleepy or tired. Before I know it, it will be time to have a cuppa at home and get in bed. I can hardly wait.

Say a prayer for us all if you think of it, please! We need it!

Last sips of this

After a couple hours of traveling, a cup or four of this is perfect.

When I woke up this morning, I thought this tea would be a good way to start the day. Now, several hours after actually getting up, I am finally getting the opportunity to enjoy it!

My actual drinking tea for the morning.