Tropical Tea Company

Backlogging a few cups of this, too, I have been starting many days with this – just because it’s handy and hardy!

Backlogging this one as well…see other notes :)

I actually started my day with this one…Oops! Almost forgot to log! Eeeek!
See previous notes!

Forgot to log two cups from earlier today…see previous notes…

OMG! This week has certainly been a Tea Christmas!!!! Amanda heard I was a Monk’s Blend Fan and sent me some more of this and I am sipping on it now. Upping the rating slightly. Thanks Amanda! Your package you sent to me is super awesome!

See previous notes on this one :)

Thank you so much to Emilie for this sample. It’s a mellower-medium sort of black tea but I can pick up on some fruity notes – probably the grenadine – and the vanilla notes which are lovely. The other Monks Blends I have had – I remember tasting very similar. This one is just as good with maybe a little less of the grenadine. Regardless it’s pretty tasty. Both hot and cold! I’m so happy I was able to try this Monks Blend from this company thanks to Emilie.

I’ve been drinking pretty much exclusively flavored teas iced (aside from my daily pitcher of Genmaicha!) so I decided to go a different way today and cold brewed a simple sencha. Greens are my favorite tea to drink “straight” iced, so refreshing and the flavors really shine. This is buttery, nutty, and grassy—in fact, there’s a roasted flavor so pronounced that I might have guessed this was a mild genmaicha. A womderful flavor combo, though I don’t know if it’s a particularly special sencha. Drinkable for sure, but nothing that really screams “buy me again!” So it’s an in-between tea: I’ll enjoy finishing off my bag, but probably won’t restock. I try to keep my “must have” teas pretty low so my cupboard isn’t always constantly overflowing… though really, I’m not that successful at it!

As Blake mentioned below, this is a pretty in your face tea. And, it’s super yummy.

As Dylan well knows, I don’t care for cinnamon. I didn’t notice it. I get the clove in full force and a nice undertone of clementine.

This is very good hot. I’m delighted to try it cold as well.

Very, very (VERY) cheap tea. I should call it inexpensive, but it was $1 per ounce. Doesn’t matter. It’s delicious.

Good job, Tropical Tea Company.

We got this tea as a sample from the always wonderful Sandy!

I remember trying this some time ago hot, and while it was enjoyable, it didn’t really strike my fancy.

Iced though, this thing is a sparkly, sparkly gem.

The cinnamon and clove are the dominant flavors, definitely the stars of the show. The orange flavor is sweet and very natural tasting, melding in with the very, very smooth ceylon tea.

This thing I find most remarkable about this is it doesn’t make me think of Christmas, at all. I don’t get it, it should. The description and flavor combination screams Christmas like a heavy metal rendition of Here Comes Santa Claus. But the way the flavors blend together comes off a lot more distinct than I expected. Or, maybe it’s just because it’s iced, and I’m crazy. Both are distinct possibilities.

Anyway… this is still magically sitting in TropicalTeaCo’s $1.00/oz sale selection, and it’s a beaut of an iced tea. Probably one of their best. Double plus good, at least.

This is one of the better teas I’ve tried from Tropical Tea Company. Cinnamon and clove are the first to catch my attention. The orange flavor is sweet like those tiny little oranges you catch in the supermarket once a while. Those are so hit and miss for me, but this is like the good batch. The flavoring seems to be pretty well balanced and feels more on the natural side. Ceylon compliments the spices well, seeming to be on the brighter side. There is a bit of astringency but it’s not unbearable. Not a bad cup in the morning.

Sipdown! 85/365

Not a bad rooibos. I had remarked previously that it was minty; I stand by that now, although it’s more of just a cooling sensation, which is interesting. It’s also creamy with a hint of chocolate, and a bit of a stale aftertaste, but we’ll chalk up that last bit to its advanced age.

Liked this then, liked it now. Flavour probably somewhat diminished, but it’s still a decadent, creamy/chocolatey cup of rooibos. One more cup to go!

Still smells/tastes pretty minty, not getting ‘white swiss truffle’, but again, it works as a minty evening drink. I clearly don’t find it to be quite as bad as others do, although it’s not my top choice for an uncaffeinated beverage. (It actually tastes much like a weak chocolate mint to me, which really isn’t so bad, especially considering my dislike of mint).

And now for the very brief attempt at drinking down all my samples (hahaha), it’s time for one of the last teas I haven’t tried out of my first box from Azzrian! Yep, I know what was sent when, it’s all on my spreadsheet :D Although straight teas were clearly calling to me tonight, I was in the mood for a sweet rooibos, and luckily remembered that I hadn’t tried this one yet! Here’s hoping it’s tasty.

I can’t recall exactly what the dry rooibos smelled like, but steeped, there’s a distinct but not unpleasant rooibos smell along with a familiar, tantalizing sweetness.

Definitely interesting! I’m getting a sweet and creamy perhaps white chocolatey flavour with a definite mintiness – there’s a cool sensation lingering in my mouth post-swallow. Not what I expected, but it’s tasty! No medicinal flavour, although my throat is feeling a bit scratchy after a few sips (but I am in cold limbo, as in the place where I’ve had the aches and sore throat and perma-headache, but haven’t yet quite left those behind and fully progressed to the all-day sneezing and constantly runny nose). So basically what I"m saying is that my throat was already sore, so it’s hard to blame the rooibos for anything.

Anyhow, this is a pretty nice dessert rooibos; I’m impressed! I feel like minty is not a flavour I was supposed to be getting, but it’s unmistakeable. It’s also not really a peppermint tea sort of flavour, just a mintiness like most chewing gums have, so it’s not bothersome to me. Thanks for the sample, Azzrian!

Another tea I’ve had and forgot to review. I did brew it up a bit longer than I normally do. Normally I only leave it for a minute, so it’s a bit stronger. I think I prefer it this way though. It’s much easier to discern different flavors. There is a peppery, hay like taste in here. It sounds bad put that way but this is pleasant. I feel like the hay was stacked near some flowers but I can’t put my finger on what sort. It’s hard for me to label this as vegetal since I feel it’s too dry for that. I have also found a fruity like sweetness in here. Not a bad tea but I think I like black teas better for now.

I’ve not had much experience with breakfast blends or straight blacks, but I really like this one so far. It’s a full bodied tea with a malty bite to it. I assume that’s due to the different types of tea in there. I feel there is some thing a bit sweet hanging around the edges. There is a bit of astringency at the end but not bad.

I typically don’t use milk in my tea, just a bit of sugar in the raw. This one is smooth enough I don’t feel like I need to add milk or creamer. I could see this as an afternoon tea or breakfast tea. Although waking up might call for some thing a bit more aggressive some days.

I’ve forgotten to post a review of this tea so I made some up this morning. It’s one of my favorites from Tropical Tea Company. Well it probably is my favorite tea from them. It’s some thing I can enjoy at nearly any point in the day. My faithful, comfortable companion.

I really love vanilla and this is what I find the most of in this cup. I have my purple monstrosity mug out and the aroma is just lovely. For being as strong as it is in the flavor profile the vanilla does not taste artificial. I feel like I put a tad bit of green tea into an infuser stuffed with vanilla beans. The green tea peaks through the vanilla goodness. I found a buttery, creamy taste. I haven’t decided if its the vanilla that makes it a buttery cream or the tea. I recently tried a green tea that had that quality, so it may be the green tea. This is definitely a keeper for me.

Apparently I forgot to review this tea when I drank it normal (hot). I do think its better iced. As a hot tea I found it to be peachy but not very gingery. There tea base is pretty good, not too bitter or astringent. It’s definitely not mellow but not too strong either. Since this tea was particularly fruity I thought I’d like it better. I think I like fruity teas better iced than hot.

As an iced tea I still find it to be really peachy. The peach is just better cold. It’s almost like fruit juice or a popsicle. Very refreshing. I think I actually get a bit more ginger now that it’s cold. It finishes the peach flavor up really well before you get to the actual tea. Glad I decided to ice it, as I find I enjoy it more this way.

This is my first pure white tea I am trying. I have had Pia Mu Tan before, however with pomegranate oil, which somehow reminded me of some non-sugary clear soda. But this isn’t a review about Pomegranate Pai Mu Tan.

I am doing this gong fu style, that makes me sound so badass, so I will try multiple infusions.

First impression, clean, light, nutty, and slightly sweet. I can definitely see this as a good tea to relax with in the evening when the day is winding down.

On an interesting note, I just looked at the Tropical Tea Company packaging and apparently I have Pia Mu Tan, not Pai Mu Tan, I wonder what the difference would be in Chinese. Haha. Also I think it is good to bring up that I have needed to replace the ziploc tea pouches for all of the tea I have bought from Tropical Tea Company, since it is weird, every time I open the package, half of the ziploc seal comes away from the bag, so I can’t reseal the bag. Did anyone else have this issue?

Sipdown! 289/365!

Enjoyed my last cup of this one. Not as sweet and creamy as it once was, but still tasty, and still no objectionable flavours from the rooibos.

Sipdown! Of the batch from momo, anyhow. I don’t recall if I still have some from Azzrian sitting around too.

Anyhow, I still quite like this one. Sweet and caramelly and pretty delicious. I’m likely to keep some version of this in my cupboard most of the time, but as I have numerous ones right now, definitely no need to get any more of this!

A sample of this one from Azzrian this time! A bit of a burnt/toasted aroma upon brewing, and in the flavour as well… but I like it! Definitely caramelly too, so just what I was looking for tonight. Perfect! I think I like the DavidsTea version better, but this works just great right now. Thanks Azz!

First to review this in spite of being sent it from not one, but two people?? Ok…!

Steeped, the smell is definitely reminiscent of DavidsTea’s Creme Caramel Rooibos. Not surprising. Sweet and caramelly and delicious, but not nearly as strong (DT’s is rather overpoweringly sweet).

Taste-wise, this is definitely a bit different. I can taste the rooibos, but it’s secondary to a light caramelly flavour, which is actually quite tasty. Tasty enough for me to have almost gulped down my whole mug already. I think I could have used an extra 1/2 tsp or so of the dry tisane (I used three heaping 1/2 tsps already in my regular-sized mug) just to make it a little stronger, since I like my teas flavourful.

I can’t recall if I steeped this one for four or five minutes the first time, but the second infusion was for quite a while (i.e. I forgot about it). The second infusion has less flavour overall, but the rooibos is even more in the background compared to the caramelly notes. Probably worth the second infusion, but perhaps in half the amount of water to concentrate the flavour a little more.

Thanks for the sample, Amanda!! I think I’ve almost gone through my whole package from you now :D

Thank you Azzrian for this sample!! this was a great experience :)

When I saw it in the package, I got really excited about comparing it to the Strawberry pancake.
Surprisingly they are very different teas. This one is more floral. I felt as if it was a strawberry perfume scent and taste, whereas the pancake tea had a texture of cake in it somehow.
As it cooled though, I got some strong underlying jasmine notes. Eeeeeek, not my thing! even steeped at under three minutes, it was far too strong in the scent for my liking and I wasn’t able to finish the cup.
Oh well, it was fun trying it out! I really enjoyed the experience!! thanks again Azzrian :)