St. Dalfour

2020 Advent Swap – Day 7

Another fabulous cold brew ice tea from TJ Maxx!

I was happy to see this one since I really loved the strawberry tea from St. Dalfour that I had a couple of days ago. Another one I shared with my husband, he drank his hot while I decided to take Devon Bartholomew’s advice and drink mine cold. It’s very lightly flavored, and though I can tell it’s meant to be fruity, I can’t say I taste cherry. It’s slightly astringent but also refreshing. It tastes like a solid straight black iced tea that I might have in a local restaurant. So even though I don’t taste cherry, I’m still enjoying the flavor of the base tea. I think perhaps the flavor may be different hot since my husband said he could taste fresh cherries in his cup.

James was making himself some tea this morning, so I took the opportunity to ask for a cup of berry black tea while he was standing near the kettle. He picked the very last bag of this strawberry tea, which I love, and made me an extra large mug of it. He added a lot of cream, so it was ultra decadent, but it did take away from some of the strawberry flavor. Still loved it and drank it really quickly though.

2020 Advent Swap – Day 4

This makes a fabulous cold brew ice tea! I found it at TJ Maxx, randomly. Enjoy!

I was so torn when I read the note from Devon Bartholomew that said this makes a great iced tea. Strawberry teas are my FAVORITE, but I really like them hot and extra creamy. In the end, I decided to have this one hot, but I have a feeling I’ll also be trying it cold at some point because this one’s going straight on my wishlist. As I mentioned, strawberry teas are my favorite, specifically strawberry black teas, and this one is candy-sweet and delicious. Not to mention, quite convenient in bagged form. I did only get half a cup though because my husband also wanted this one and so we f̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶t̶ decided to split it.

Lovely little bagged cinnamon-apple-green tea triad; well-balanced; helped me compose myself after a nerves-raked-over-a-cheese-grater kind of day. My next line was going to be “definitely worth a repeat,” but I hopped over to a new tab to source it and it looks distressingly unavailable. Rats.

Nothing I can add to previous reviews—this is mild and pleasant and nicely balanced. Neither the cinnamon nor the apple nor the tea dominates. St. Dalfour tea is getting hard to find in my area, should I decide to restock. U.S. friends, do you see it on the shelves where you are?

I’ve only reviewed this once, but am well into my second box of this little unassuming office-friendly tea. Nice balance of apple to cinnamon—it doesn’t pretend to be chai or cider. The green tea base just adds a little crispness to it. It’s very forgiving if you neglect or goof on the water temp.

Took a chance; glad I did! Like the other St. Dalfour fruit teas I have tried, the green tea itself is mild and doesn’t have a lot to say for itself, but the cinnamon/apple blend is nicely balanced: apple with a little cinnamon instead of heavy-duty autumnal spiced cider. Bought these bags for work, but may have to take part of them home to chill during hot weather.

Another one from the ggmathis box! Made a thermos of it before braving the crowd at Aldi on Saturday morning in the middle of a pandemic. Steeping time was the equivalent of one straight minute of aggressively dunking the bag up and down into the water until it looked nearly opaque in a tall porcelain vessel. Didn’t get to try it until after I emerged from Aldi with a few bruises from getting hip-checked by shopping carts in the produce aisle, but mmmmm. It’s a very light black base with just the right amount of sweet dark cherry flavor. If I manage to find this anywhere in a store, I’m grabbing a box. Very pleasant for being what appears to be a cheaply produced bagged tea dust. I’m used to those tasting like sorrow and a waste of $2 for the box.

Imagine a bowl full of fresh peeled peaches ready to be made into jam, well that what this tea smells like when you open each packet! My husband doesn’t like hot tea at all but he caught a whiff of this tea and wanted some. I bought several boxes so I wouldn’t run out. This is a truly suberb quality tea!

Here’s Hoping TTB

I’ve never heard of this brand before, but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tea! A nice brisk, flavorful Ceylon with no bitterness or astringency. I enjoyed it plain with no cream or sugar…that’s rare for a bagged black tea! Thumbs up on this one.

St. Dalfour used to be pretty easy to find locally, but the tea selection at our Big Lots and Tuesday Morning stores is currently pitiful! If you can find this, snag it. Inexpensive, gently fruity, and just peach—no extraneous distracting flavors. Responds to abuse well.

I’ve shared St. Dalfour’s Black Cherry with some of you, so you know that the flavor is subtle but authentic. The tea itself is gentle; doesn’t take the lead. It shows off the fruit.

This is the peachy counterpart. The blenders aren’t trying to make peach cobbler, so no ginger, no cinnamon, just sweet fruitiness. This is a good ’un on ice, too.

Perfect for the day. Just “attended” virtual church in the back yard with heavenly sunlight bathing my bare toes. Amen.

St. Dalfour is growing on me, especially as a decent afternooner. As with the Black Cherry I like so much, the fruit flavor in their Golden Peach is pleasantly peachy, but understated. It doesn’t peach you in the face. Mild caffeine rather than wake-up strength.

My big-kid-who’ll-never-grow-up hubby filled an Easter basket for me today, and this was in it. Gentle tea base with peach flavor that tastes real. (Reminds me of the mild white peaches from our backyard tree that’s long gone and I can’t find anywhere around here.) A good cheapster steepster (it came from Big Lots). I’m thinking it’ll be pleasant iced down in warmer weather.

Thanksgiving means a trip up to moms house, and rummaging through her tea collection. This is a pretty good Earl Grey tea. Really good, as far as boxed, bagged, tea goes. Full of flavor, nice balance, and an interesting hint of something I can’t place. I like it!

Still on vacation. Still trolling through my moms tea cabinet. She has a good collection, but most of it is fruit tea and blends. Not super what I am in to.

There are some pretty good catches, and this is one of them.

This is a pretty solid, very basic Earl Grey. Just what I look for. When you have a solid, super tasty tea, you don’t need to spice it up or go for some over the top thing. That is what appreciate about this. It is super solid, very well balanced. Every flavor that should be present in an Earl Grey is there, and nothing stands out.

For a boxed, bagged tea, this is very good.

Thanksgiving means a trip up to moms house, and rummaging through her tea collection. This is a good Breakfast Tea, very good as far as boxed, bagged tea goes. Not bad. Could use more depth in flavor, but I’ll take it.

At my moms for Thanksgiving, which means a new selection of teas. She loves fruit teas and blends, but does have a few goodies like this.

This is a great Breakfast Tea. Good balance, nice, sweet, simple taste, not overdone but certainly flavorful. Good stuff.

This is a new favorite of mine. I’m in love with it! I can’t really taste any rose, but it has a delicious vanilla strawberry taste.

I cold brew it as is, or sometimes mixed with white tea. 1 bag per cup of water and let sit in the fridge overnight. So good!

I’ve tried it hot a few times but I don’t really get the strawberry vanilla flavor that way, and if I brew it got and let it cool then the flavored are weak. I think it’s best cold brewed overnight in the fridge.

I always come back to this tea. I am black tea for the mornings kind of woman, and I like green teas other times of the day (and spearmint if it’s before bed), but I do always come back to this tea as my #1 favorite. It has just enough of a hint of cherry to make a black tea have flavor and hits the spot just right. It’s hard to over-steep this to the point where it becomes bitter. In my experience, if I am using the hot water from the canteen at work (versus hot water that has been near boiling in the teapot at home), steeping time of about 5 minutes is right for me. My grocery store (Woodman’s) carries this for around $3.69 a box. Not bad for 25 packets of ORGANIC tea. And it’s imported from France. I am also happy with the design of the tea bag (not a fan of the ones without tags).

What the???? Is that pepper? Yep. That’s pepper.

I couldn’t even finish the cup. The base itself wasn’t bad – it’s just that weird pepper aftertaste that just lingers far too long. Ingredients say it also has vanilla. Where that be?

I very rarely say I wouldn’t recommend a tea, because everyone is different. But, if you don’t think you’d like pepper in your earl grey, stay away.