Frosty Afternoon

One of the reasons I love Basilur is that their fruit is fruity without a hint of hibiscus tang. Frosty Afternoon (I still think it’s a funny name for these ingredients) is beautifully juicy and citrusy, both hot and iced. The orange side of the flavor balance is redolent of citrus peel. (That’s the fanciest word I’ve used in a week.) The passionfruit side, well, I wouldn’t recognize a passionfruit if you threw one at me, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but it hits some high-end citrusy notes very nicely. Thanks, Martin!

A duplicate spotted!

This is one of the teas I have received as a birthday gift from my co-workers. I have 7 or how many more boxes of Basilur teas and I am slowly drinking them there, as tea bags are perfect for work teas. You know, just a little time for preparations, not much time for contemplation about the tea and such. Convenience of tea bag is the key there.

Prepared hour before lunch as I had absolutely no time before.

It is a great tea — mellow orange flavouring, nice floral notes of passion fruit with nice, smooth base. Easy drinking and not bitter, rather smooth and a touch of creamy. But a little bit complexity it those flavours would be welcomed. Yes, it is distinctly orange and passion fruit, but nothing else. Though, I think this will be finished first.

303/365

One of the last few teas from my Varieteas box. This one is a Ceylon with passion fruit and orange flavouring. For some reason, that combination is one that puts me more in mind of summer, but perhaps that’s just me…

The fruit flavouring is stronger than I expected it to be, and the passion fruit particularly is very clear. It comes across as a little artificial, on the whole; very sweet, with an almost plasticky edge that’s a little off-putting. The aftertaste is a little floral, and a touch powdery, which don’t do much to help redeem it.

The base is nice, though – smooth, and lightly citrussy. It works well with the fruit flavouring, but that’s really all that can be said about this one. I found it disappointing – not awful, but not one I’d seek out again.

I wish I had another tea bag of this to see if making it differently would make it more palatable. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t something I would reach for again.

I like Ceylon tea grown at lower elevations but not particularly the high grown ones. I don’t know what this is, but the base was a little harsh. The orange and passionfruit flavors were somewhat redeeming, but I honestly though the orange flavor Twinings uses was better. And don’t even think about comparing this to the orange flavor in Nina’s Tea!