Pickwick

This is the last of the teas that I picked up on vacay to Seattle. I am a sucker for anything Fruits of the Forest, Fruits de Alsace, etc. lol.
The dry teabag smells like strawberry the most and also has some other berry scents to it.
I usually cut the tea contents out of teabags and use my own infuser but maybe I shouldn’t have done that with this one bc it is very bitter. I taste the fruits but the tea base is pretty yuccky tasting. Oh well, the package sure is cute so that’s one good thing lol.
I will try this again another day, maybe I will brew it way less time and that will help it.

Picked two bags of this up from a cruddy little London hotel I stayed at a few months ago. I prepared it the same way as I do any new bagged black: boiling water, 3-4 minutes, 1 tsp sugar, splash of soymilk.

It had quite a malty aroma while steeping. I was a little dismayed when the liquor turned a muddy brown after adding the milk, rather than the usual warm coppery color, but that’s just cosmetic.

The taste isn’t much better – it’s definitely black tea, but a weird mishmash of flavors I’m unaccustomed to (is that lemon I’m picking up?), and way too much sugar for the strength of the blend. It was okay when I was sipping it along with my morning toast, but I’m not a fan of it by itself. I’ll try the other bag lightly steeped & plain to start with. Apparently this brand is based in the Netherlands, so maybe they take it differently there?

Got a box last week very nice tea enjoyed this. Box is now almost half full now and will re-buy this.It is not too spicy.

Tried this yesterday for the first time, and I can already say I’ll be buying at least 5-6 more packs to have for when Christmas is not around!
The spices just make the orange feeling more christmas-y that you would ever expect!

extremeley sweet.

I am not into honeybush at all, but it’s dark outside, I am tired and haven’t had a proper sleep in days, so when I saw this in a discount store, I just tossed it into my basket and never gave it a second thought. Expected a warm vanilla black tea smell. Mehh. very sweet honeybush and no vanilla at all.

It tastes o.k. Will finish the 15 bags and won’t be buying again. Maybe use the rest up in the evening during flu season.

Nicely balanced with lots of liquorice, anise and some peppermint. Very popular in The Netherlands and one of my favourites.

A random tea bag I had around… it’s a bit old but it isn’t bad! It isn’t a strong tasting tea if it’s a black tea (after 3 minutes), but the flavors of the southern fruits are surprisingly pretty tasty. The tea package shows pear, peach, apricot and apple (I think). I’m getting mostly pear and apple. It’s very nice! I wouldn’t mind having more of these around.

My first thought was it isn’t exactly real orange but it isn’t candy either but at least it’s not Tang. Then I read Brett’s description of it tasting like Tang. So either way Tang came to both our minds. I also only caught the black tea in the aftertaste. The orange flavor is strong and sweet but I thought innocuous fun for an early morning, I don’t want to wake up too fast, tea. Thanks Brett where ever you went.

I have never seen this locally but an online search suggests if you can pick it up at your grocer it is a Cheapster Steepster. Very natural strawberry flavor though a bit light, and I can taste the black tea in the late sip and aftertaste. A decent cup.

This is a single teabag that my ooldest daughter brought to me. I believe she bought this in Ireland, though it may have been from Budapest. She wanted me to try it because she said it is her favorite green tea so far. She isn’t a tea fan, she drinks it for her health and just started a few months ago.

I had no directions, so I used rather cool water, about 175 F, and steeped it for two minutes. The tea surprised me in several ways. First, when I tried to drink green tea for the first time years ago I purchased seem grocery store tea and had no idea how to steep it. It came out pretty much as a cup of hot water to me. That is what I expected from this, especially since I figured newbie tea drinking daughter probably wouldn’t like strong flavor, particularly since she doesn’t like black tea at all. This is not just a cup of ot water. It has a lot of flavor.

The second surprise is that oldest daughter says it is her favorite green so far. Really? This changes everything! There are similarities between this and Chun Mee. It has the palate clearing astringency with a little sourness, in the good way, but it lacks the sweet aftertaste of Chun Mee. I have no desire to rush out and buy a box, which is good since I would had to fly to Europe or order six boxes at a time on Amazon, but I don’t mind finishing this. Now I want Chun Mee. Badly. So I guess I will go place another Teavivre order. :)

Oh, and I love the name! Pickwick was the pet Dodo owned by Thursday Next! And gmathis, did you see that Republic of Tea is making a series of teas for #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency? Or is that old news?

First found it in South Africa by accident and loved it. Strange how in the morning it wakes you up but in the evening can relax you. Full of antioxidants and vitamin c but decaffeinated!

Smells similar to candy peach-O’s while still tasting like standard black tea.

http://instagram.com/p/YKWy_Loc8T/

http://instagram.com/p/YKW2IMIc8W/

Delicious cherry smell, the taste isn’t as intense but you can still taste the cherries. I’m usually not into fruity flavoured black teas, but this one is nice :)

This really does smell like Peach-Os, which isn’t really what I want my tea to smell like. It did say on the package that it was naturally and artificially flavored, but I didn’t really taste the peach all that much. I would probably let this steep for another minute if I had another bag, it was a bit on the weak side, but the problem may have been that I used 8oz of water and I should have used 6. The bag was lacking in instructions other than steep time.

It’s interesting, Brett tasted pineapple and banana in this. I tasted mango and passion fruit. The banana I kind of caught after the cup cooled but honestly, had I not seen the ingredient list I would have missed it. I didn’t taste pineapple at all which is fine by me.

Pickwick teas are pleasant teas where the flavors seem natural for the most part. With this one the flavors are natural tasting but subdued. It is not a big fake cup of candy. Not bad for a simple bagged tea.

I am not sure why this is called Forest Fruit. The ingredient list includes blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry. To my way of thinking that makes Field Fruit but what do I know. I have never seen this brand in the store. It is imported from Holland. If it is available in your area and cheap it is worthy of a try. A simple bagged tea with pretty natural tasting fruit flavors. I taste raspberry and strawberry. I can’t single out the tea base. A pleasant cup.

Good strawberry flavor. I oversteeped this, so it was a little astringent (It is so easy to get distracted). Nice with a littlel half and half – strawberry and cream – Mmm!