Utopia Tea

ok, wow… i was not expecting to need to dump this one out, but it was extremely bitter. The kind of bitter that no amount of sugar or additional water is going to cure.

I really think there is a packaging mistake here. My package states 1 tablespoon for 4-5 minutes and the website states 1 teaspoon for 3-5 minutes. I went with 1 tablespoon for 4 minutes @ 210 degrees.

I should have followed my gut when I saw the 1 tablespoon and reduced it, but no, i forged on ahead and followed the instructions on the package. Keep this in mind if you’ve got this one and I’ll post a real tasting note once I hear back from Utopia. I sent them an email to see what the directions are suppose to be.

Update:
Utopia responded quickly to help me out with my problem, there was indeed a mistake on my package. I see many orders in my future, I love it when companies have such awesome customer service, Jason emailed me at 8:20pm (well after normal business hours).

When you first open the package it smells overwhelmingly like almond extract, which for me isn’t a bad thing, I use almond extract in most of my baking because I really love it. This does taste like almond cookies and it amazes me that you can blend a tea to taste so closely to the Chinese almond cookies I love. This was exactly what I needed yesterday to help curb my sweet tooth, it really hit the spot.

Hot this was a little bitter, but that dissipated once the tea cooled. This is a tea you’ll want to keep an eye on because if you over steep it it will get really bitter fast. If you find yourself with a bitter cup of this tea just add a little water, toss it in the fridge to cool, add a hint of sugar and it mellows right out. I wasn’t paying attention to my timer last night and let one of my cups go for nearly 8 minutes. Whoops! I ended up drinking my over steeped cup with breakfast and it turned out just fine with the adjustments.

I really liked this one cold with a hint of sugar I think that the sugar made the flavors pop just a little bit more. This is another one that won’t be an every day drinker, but will go great with Chinese food or for an after dinner treat. I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar so dessert teas are a great way for me to get a little something sweet without all the sugar of an actual dessert.

Now I can’t wait to try some more teas from Utopia. Good thing they sent me samples with my order because I’m officially cut off from ordering any more tea this month.

I ordered this when Utopia tea had their free tea promotion and was not disappointed with the sheer quantity of free tea I received. This is the first tea I tried and the one I was most excited for.

The only thing I can really say is, dishsoap. I’m drinking hot dishsoap. And the dishsoap flavor is SOOOOOO strong. I thought maybe I had some soap remaining in my cup or something so I dumped it. Rinsed a bunch, sniffed my cup to make sure there was no more dishsoap in there and made some more.

DISHSOAP!

This tea is really quite bad. I’m sorry. It pains me to say that as I like to help small business, but there’s something wrong with this tea. Maybe my batch got tainted by something. I hope so, cause I can’t imagine anyone tasting this and thinking, yes, I’ll sell it. And dumb, over eager me bought 2 bags of it.

I felt spoiled just reading this list of ingredients! Toffee, chocolate, hazelnut! yum yum. This is such an amazingly sweet cup. The first sips were a bit weird for some reason, but then is smoothed out to such a delicious flavor. I think the toffee, chocolate, and hazelnut were equally represented, even though there were plenty of huge toffee pieces in the infuser. Maybe that is why there were less black tea leaves in the infuser. I wish I had tasted the black tea better, since I had a lovely ceylon from Utopia a while ago, so I know they have amazing black teas. But the flavors here are worth it! thanks so much, Crow Kettle!

thanks so much, Azzrian for including a sample of this in that generous package I’m still amazed that you sent a while back. :D This was EXACTLY the tea I was looking for this morning. At this point, I assume ceylon is much different than this: brisker and more straightforward. But this one seem to have all of the elements that the best black teas have. The leaves smelled like a sunny late summer field of dry grass and the first sips tasted of it too. Then there is a lovely malty chocolatiness to it. And even a bit of smoke, which I love. I almost had a russian caravan this morning… but since it is rare (I’m the only one to write a tasting note for it!) I’m really only going to reach for that caravan when I am most craving it. This tea had a very complex and lovely flavor. A bit bread like. No astringency at all. I really like this one! I’d consider buying some if I’m in need of a nice black tea!

Utopia Tea threw this one in as a sample and I’m glad they did because the aroma alone is amazing (for me)! It’s red fruity with a backdrop of spice. Dried and sweetened strawberries seem to blend with ginger and spice just as well as any self-respecting peach or pear taste, it seems.

The flavour is pleasantly surprising in that I can taste the creamy white base. Flavoured tea is not too appealing as of late, and I’m grateful for that presence. There’s a toasty strawberry jam pastry note that lingers as an aftertaste, although the fruitiness isn’t as present during the main sip as the dry leaf smell had me believe. Pepper and freshening ginger are subtly present in the corners, but I’ve a hard time discerning where one ends and the other begins.

The Utopia teas I received consist of some very interesting ingredient combinations, which I think I may need some time to warm up to. This one, however, I like right away. Strawberries are some of my least favourite berries too… Maybe it’s the sweet fruit jam, or the prickly zest of the spices, or the smoothness in mid sip- it’s definitely not the drying, puckering sensation it leaves in my mouth. Once I empty out my cupboards I’ll pick up a tiny amount of this.

Backlog from last night: I received this as a free sample from Utopia Tea. Thank you! I’ve never had anything labelled “decaffeinated” before. I feel… all grown up, like I’ve progressed to the next extremity of “caffeine” consumption! ;)

The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me of those pineapple flavoured Koala’s March I used to gobble up as a child when visiting the Hawaiian Islands; airy cookie, candied pineapple filling… Not until this very moment did I realize my ambition to never be without a good pineapple tea, macadamia nuts, and Koala March cookies. I need to get cracking on that!

The actual taste of this one is very similar to the smell. It’s watery, floral, and is heavy with sugary fruit near the end of the sip. The green tea is pretty subdued. It’s not terribly exciting but it’s relaxing in a pinch.

Nutella tea. Fleshy hazelnuts and vanilla toffee. So much flavorful sweetness. So much. This is smooth except for a bitter nut note. I bet this would rock my socks off as a latte. It already tastes like a flavoured coffee creamer.

Unlike the rose mango from Utopia Tea, which I’m saving for iced summer sessions, I feel this one would be better suited for the autumn and early winter seasons. It would’ve been useful to keep my chocolate cravings in check when I was gifted all those Purdy boxes. Still feeling the ramifications for that two months later..

Only complaints are this may be a little too rich for me and the tea base itself is not overly noticeable.

Sometimes I rush into things without thinking. I just wish for once I could write something or get the words right the first time around without making a silly fool of myself. I need to remind myself to take it slow- that includes tea.

Backlog from yesterday: this is the iced batch and I think I can say I enjoyed it more. It really tastes like the smell of crisp yellow roses. It’s delicious, it calls up old memories of going to beautiful gardens (Butchart), but I don’t know if I enjoy this all too much. The candied fruit finish starts where the floral roses end, creating a bitter tangy sweetness that makes me pause. That fruitiness is not wholly like sweet mango, although that can be surmised up from it. There’s cutting, nippy lemon, and maybe even some tart pineapple too.

It’s still disappointing on the mango front but it sure delivers with roses. Floral yellow fans shouldn’t be disappointed. What a strange, intriguing tea. Also, I’m getting more green than any other tea base.

Mother’s reaction: “I don’t like it, but it’s nice” (huh?), and “it’s very delicate.”

Besides the yellow rosy floral taste, this tea makes me sad. They should have put in real, big mango bits, grrrr!!! As it is, the fruity flavour, which is yet more “yellowness”, comes off as somewhat insincere. A little tangy, like pineapple or lemon. I hadn’t realized yellow was a taste before this tea so it gets cool points for that.

I should try this iced before passing final judgment on it though. I don’t think this tea was meant to thrive as a hot cup and it definitely wasn’t meant to ever bear witness to the addition of milk.. it came out tasting a little like pledge polisher after that. Nope.

The dry loose leaves smell like citrus jello, which is lovely but, you know, I want mangoes!

Edit: on closer inspection, this bag looks like it contains a handful of yellow and white fruit pieces, so there is hope. I’ll make a more “analytical” note when I make some iced tea.

This is a nice basic Ceylon. I love that it’s organic!
As Momo said it has some honey notes to it and is slightly cocoaish.
A little bit of a malty note.
Its nothing that will blow your mind with flavors but it is a rock solid morning black tea that I appreciate greatly! It has just enough flavor to make it special, without being overdone.
I will try this iced as well as suggested by Momo as I can in fact see this being excellent that way!
Thank you Utopia for this sample!

I was fortunate enough to try Utopia’s rich and tasteful blend of Chocolate Strawberry Saffron tea. It’s loose Indian black tea leaves are the perfect match for the dark chocolate, luscious strawberries, white chocolate chips and aromatic saffron.

The moment I opened the package I began to smell the sweet, and beautiful aroma of the exquisite blend. Combining the succulent taste of sweet strawberries and rich, creamy dark & white chocolate helps the tea release it’s calming sensation to the indulger.

I prepared the tea with no milk and no sugar because of it’s fresh sweet-floral, berry flavor, smooth and sugary texture; I found it didn’t need anything added to it. The tea already has “the taste of perfection!”

The tea leaves were arranged in paper tea bag that was nice prepared by Utopia Tea. Irish Breakfast is an organic tea that some coffee lovers may enjoy. If you’re into a tea that is a bit stronger than usual and enjoy a nice wakening then I would suggest this one. I was iffy at trying it at first because I never had good experiences with Irish flavoured products, but to my surprise, it was actually a smooth, and refreshing tea. I prepared the tea with milk and a hint of sugar because of the bold taste it contains. The bold taste helps enrich the flavour and is a great way to start off an early morning. Also, because of the bold taste with the hint of strong flavours I was able to reuse my tea bag for a second time and enjoy another warm cup. It’s usually not my “cup of tea” to reuse a tea bag or any tea leaves but this tea is worth the bargain!

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

Yikes! Hibiscus!

Actually, the hibiscus is not too terrible in this. It does look VERY hibiscus-y once it’s brewed, but after six minutes of steeping, it doesn’t come off as too syrupy. It is a wee bit tart, but, it’s not too tart for me.

This has a tasty citrus taste, with notes of berry. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing I’m going to get terribly excited over either. Just OK.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

This is really quite nice. Warm and zesty without being overbearing on the spice notes. The strawberry is sweet and has just a touch of berry tartness. A really interesting blend of flavors, I like the way this one plays out. Nice!

It does smell like Sangria!

It’s a mellower fruity taste…which I do appreciate! The lemon and berry/fruit flavors are mild and delightful! I can pick up on the apple, too! It’s soft and pleasant

Elderberries, tart hibiscus, citrus, lemongrass, apple, orange, rosehips, carrots, raspberries, natural flavors are the ingredients and this is another fruity tisane that Utopia did that seems to work really well with the hibiscus! Again!!!! Other companies should take note! These guys don’t overdo it with the tarty-Hibiscus and it makes the whole cuppa quite enjoyable! I had half a cup hot and the other half cold. Both are soothing and tasty but I do like the cold version a bit more! Thumbs up!

If you like caffeine free rooibos, this is a fun one. It’s vanilla up front followed by sassafras root and rooibos. I used half the sample and steeped it twice. Enjoyed hot.

Then I used the rest of the sample, steeped, then chilled. I poured this over ice cream. The rooibos flavor is more prominant and darker when done this way. It did make a fun drink that did not last long.