Tiesta Tea

This tea is everything I was hoping it would be and more. If you are craving blueberries, this tea is perfect for you! It’s tart and SO full of blueberry flavour; there are more subtle hints of elderberry, apple, and there is just enough hibiscus. This tea is great to chill out with, and I drink it often because I don’t feel the need to add any sugar.

Despite the odd name, this was on sale in summer and I had to order it along with the Pina Colada oolong I adore.  I LOVE the idea of cocoa shells with black tea and spicy pepper and this is exactly that.  The tin is FULL so even if I’m trying to mix it, for now it seems the larger goodies will remain in the top of the tin.  HUGE cocoa shells and whole tiny peppers.  The flavor is a lovely balance of spicy and chocolate — just what I was hoping.  The black tea is light now, but I’m sure it will get deeper the further down the tin I go, as the black tea is smaller than the cocoa shells or peppers. The second steep was much lighter, sadly, but MUCH more spice was apparent.   I’m very glad I was able to nab this one.  This will not just be a Christmas tea.  
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon (plus one whole pepper) for a full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 minute steep   
2019 Sipdowns: 90 ( Fusion’s Roasted Pumpkin Mate & Kim’s Homemade chai)

This was a free sample from Tiesta Tea with my order a while back!  Thanks so much, Tiesta!  It’s an unusal mix of ingredients:  apple pieces, hibiscus, rose hips, ginger, peppercorns, honeydew melon, rose blossoms, orange blossoms.   The name says spice but I think the only “spicy” ingredient is ginger.  I’m not sure why they include peach in the name when melon is the fruit in the ingredients.  However, neither fruit is noticeable in the flavor.  Sadly, this is a TART cup though the brew isn’t that telling hibiscus scarlet — it actually is the color of a white peach.  I must have steeped too long… the tartness was like drinking lemon juice that tastes like children’s vitamins.  I have enough to keep trying… so next time I will try with a cooler temperature and less steep time.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // just boiled // 5 minute steep

Tiesta Tea sent me a couple samples with my order! Thanks so much, Tiesta Tea! If you are a passion fruit fan, hoping to find a passion fruit tea, LOOK NO FURTHER. Whoa. Upon opening the pouch, I was hit with the definite fragrance of passion fruit. So tasty and satisfying on a hot day. The black tea base is light, but that is fine with me, to showcase the passion fruit. There are other fruits here too, pineapple bits and raspberry bits, but really I can’t taste the other fruits under all this passion fruit. But the passion fruit is the star here, and it’s such a unique flavor to find in any tea! I thought I steeped it perfectly on both steeps. Both steeps had equal passion fruit goodness.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 24 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

From my Tiesta Tea order. I had to grab a sample of a blend called a “bold chocolate black tea”. Probably because I miss so many chocolate teas that are no longer sold. But this isn’t really bold… I was really hoping for a DEEP DARK full chocolate tea but this doesn’t quite meet my expectations. I’d love if this was a murky black cup, but the brew is mahogany. The flavor is definitely chocolate, but with a weak black base, I can’t be too thrilled. The ‘creme’ in the name is also misleading… I wish it was a creamy chocolate tea. I wasn’t seeing too much chocolate in the blend: the description says both “cocoa shells and chocolate chunks”. My sample looks like mostly black tea with coriander. The coriander is interesting… I haven’t seen that in too many blends, but I have no idea how coriander should taste anyway. Wiki says “lemony” so I guess I’m glad I wasn’t tasting lemon with the chocolate. I guess the expectation of anyone can’t be matched with this one…
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

Thanks to AliceG for this favorite. I think this tea is the same at TeBella’s mango melange. The flavor is much more orange than mango, which is too bad since I’ve been unable to find many accurate mango flavors in teas. However, this is one of my favorite fruit teas. It’s sweet, refreshing, and not at all sour. I enjoy it at room temperature best. It has a light orange flavor that is really addicting. Love it.

This is another one from AliceG. I’ve had some pretty great watermelon teas, but this one is a bit weak. Even overleafed, it’s still weak. The flavor is pleasant, if a bit artificial. So I like it, but I would choose a watermelon blend from DavidsTEA instead. Still pleasant enough, though the artificiality is more obvious as it cools. Definitely not my favorite Tiesta flavor.

Despite previous poor reviews (all 2 of them), I’m finding this tea to be pretty interesting and tasty. I sweetened it a bit, and added milk, which may have helped. It’s very fruity with a definite black undertone. I can’t taste the yerba mate that is supposedly in it, thankfully. I wouldn’t say it’s a spectacular tea that I’d buy again (it came in one of my Sips By boxes) but it’s interesting that I’ll keep the rest and drink it down.

Large chunks of dried fruit and flower petals comprise the dry leaf.
Steeps a cheerful yellow-orange color, like an egg yolk.
Perfume on the liquor is very fruity, almost candy-like.
Tastes mostly of oranges and mango— very juicy and sweet.
Yum!

First day back at work after a head cold. Still recovering. Feel lightheaded and congested. Dry office air is exacerbating sinus irritation and coughing.
Planning to down copious amounts of these Immunity teas; my timing on ordering this dry flight sampler pack of them could not have been more perfect.
This is the perfect citrusy, juicy, anti-inflammatory, Vitamin-C loaded brew.
Down the hatch!

Dry leaf is comprised of pleasingly large chunks of dried fruit, pieces of fruit peel, and hibiscus. Very pretty!
Steeps a gorgeous orange-red color.
Smells pleasantly fruity and crisp, as one would expect from citrus.
Liquor is sweet and sour— reminiscent of orange juice.
Tastes mostly of oranges.
Feels very… healthy going down. I can tell that this is loaded with vitamins and minerals and will kick any cold’s butt.
Perfect!

Additional notes: I just love this one and I just happened to visit their website and they have some teas on a 40% discontinued sale. And this tea is one of them! Which is odd because I thought it was already discontinued. But I certainly had to buy some! It was too much of a coincidence to visit the site at such a convenient time. It’s a balanced blend, fruity and creamy and when the oolong shines through in later steeps, it is the most interesting oolong. Unless it’s the soaking coconut and then the pineapple fading to the background, but the later steeps evolve into something interesting. I just want to keep steeping the same leaves. I HOPE the harvest I’m buying now is even remotely similar to the sample pouch I have. Raising the rating from a 94. If anyone wants a $10 referral code for Tiesta, let me know.

Thank you for the sale, Ost! This blend sounded dreamy – oolong, coconut, pineapple. Couldn’t resist trying it. LUCKILY it turned out very similarly to what I was imagining! The coconut isn’t bad yet, which is a great sign. BIG coconut shavings. Chunks of pineapple. The flavor is an even balance of pineapple with hints of coconut. There is a sweetness to it, which is nice. All on a base of oolong which is a great idea. I can tell looking at the leaves in the infuser that the oolong isn’t the best quality, but hey, it’s a blend and the additional ingredients are tasty enough. The third steep is ridiculously creamy and smooth somehow, while still having a ton of pineapple flavor and now I wish I had saved the leaves before tossing them for a fourth cup. It’s a shame – no other tasting notes for this one.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 9 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min

The trick with this one is to drink it when it’s extremely cooled-down. The flavor really develops as the water temp lowers.
Steeps a muddy pinkish red color.
An oily flim forms on top of the liquor.
If you sip it while it’s still hot, it tastes like water with a twinge of hibiscus tartness.
Once it cools, it tastes of raspberry tartness, fruity, and not super chocolatey, which is surprising because there are huge chunks of chocolate in the dry leaf.
It has an oily, thick mouthfeel.
Not my favorite thing in the world as a hot beverage. But it would definitely be good as an iced tea.

Another tea from my “dry flight” Immunity variety pack.
I really, really liked this one!
Liquor is a ruddy, brownish- red color.
Dry leaf and liquor both smell of chocolate and ginger.
Brothlike/ creamy mouthfeel.
Notes of cocoa, wood, wet earth, and ginger.
Lightly spicy and very warming.
Yum!

I got this in a SipsBy box and it was certainly not my favorite. I tried it both hot and iced and while there was a nice enough passion fruit flavor, there was such a fruity sourness and a metallic twang to the base that I just wasn’t into it.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/01/25/passion-berry-jolt-from-tiesta-tea-3/

Sample from VariaTEA!

this tea smells wonderful. Fruity, delicious goodness. I was pretty excited to try it out. And then….bland. the brewed tea taste is just meh. nothing like the aroma…it’s a muted, in the background sort of thing. doesn’t taste BAD but what’s the point? lol

Not as flavorful as some of the other Tiesta Teas (my favorite is Fireberry), but delicious anyway. I made this one in my Primula iced tea press. It was pleasant and mild and didn’t need any added sweetness.

My second tea from the tea box. This one smells and tastes like blueberry muffins, except they’re muffins with almost too many blueberries in them. It’s pretty tart, even with lots of sugar, but I still find it drinkable. I’m not sure which ingredient contributes the muffin-like flavor, or maybe that’s my imagination. So it’s a little too tart for me, but possibly combined with rooibos, this one would be a winner. I may try a second steep like that.

This tea is flavorful and absolutely delicious. It’s a great afternoon tea when you don’t want caffeine but want something to put pep in your step—the flavor is that good. I love this one!

Sipdown!
So this tea is pretty much the same as DAVIDsTEA’s Mango Fruit Punch which happens to be one of my favorite fruit tisanes. This tea just has less ingredients. It was very good prepared as a Tea Pop.