Sandy Stith Send Message

When this tea arrived, I was really looking forward to drinking it. It smells spectacular. You can easily smell the cranberry and the blackberry. I also love rooibos, so I thought this was a no-brainer.

Alas, it isn’t. It still smells good after it’s brewed, however, it’s very, very weak. At first, you get a hint of blackberry in the aftertaste. Then, it’s more like lightly flavored water.

The lingering aftertaste is not good at all.

This is an unfortunate tea.

I know Missy and Dylan love this stuff. Me? It tastes like hay. I can’t get myself all that enthusiastic about tea that tastes like hay. I mixed it with lemonade and a little German Rock Sugar. That made me feel a little less like i was out on the range. I didn’t hate it and I wouldn’t make a second pot.

Thanks, Dylan and Missy for sharing the love. Should you ever feel compelled to order a large crate of this stuff again, please count me in. This tea has lovely citrus notes and is full bodied enough to stand up to that. This tea is very smooth. I’m fairly certain I could drink this all day. The specific gravity of this tea is slightly higher than other similar teas which gives it an interestingly soft denseness. This tea is entirely drinkable.

This tea smells lovely, but after steeping, it doesn’t hold up to the lovely smell. It ran a tad bitter without tasting all that fruity. Then, I did something else after it cooled down. I reboiled the tea (without the leaves). I did this several times throughout the day and I feel almost blasphemous in saying it. Each reboiling improved its flavor. It made it richer and notably more robust. I toned it down with a little German Rock Sugar from Teavana. This is one of those teas that I prefer the second, reheated cup to the first freshly steeped one….which is the case as well with other Tropical Tea Company teas I own.

This is an amazingly inoffensive variety of Earl Grey. It’s pretty light on the bergamot, which suits my purposes perfectly. I never drink this particular variety hot. I always make iced tea with it. It’s hearty enough to stand a little sweetening with Teavana’s German Rock Sugar. It’s also not too floral to mix with lemonade, if you’re a big Arnold Palmer fan like I am.