Utopia Tea

I just bought a big bag of this after a while of going without. I remembered how much I enjoyed my sample and grabbed some while shopping Utopia Tea.

Again, I can’t get over how rich and berry the smell is. It grabs you from a couple feet away and is yummy.

Tasting: Ut oh. The tartness is overwhelming in this cup. Not at all like the sample’s taste. I’m hoping it’s my tastebuds or that I need to mix up the dry tisane some or something and not that I’m not going to like this bag.

Cold-brewed this, but not sure how long it spent in the fridge so it’s not a very good experiment haha.

What I can say of how it turned out: It is more tart with just a touch of the berry flavor in the finish. The taste is pretty weak except for the tartness… that’s about all there is in flavor.

I might cold-brew it again when I can do so for a set time, basing it off one of the suggestions in the cold-brew thread. Until then, not impressed.

The unsteeped tea fits its name: rich berry flavor. It is a mix of purples that looked dried-juicy… you know, when dried fruit retains a bit of juiciness and isn’t completely dried out.

The scent is, likewise, describable as juicy. It’s rich, full, and strong of purple berries, especially blackcurrant. It smells delicious.

The instructions say 2 tbsp to 12oz of water, I thought it only said 1 so that’s how I made it.

I can’t imagine how strong it would be at 2 tbsp. The flavor is very strong berry, not at all watery or weak. It’s sweet in the way that fresh or dried berries are, not in a sugar or honey sweet. It’s true to it’s name.

Blackcurrant is the strongest flavor, just like the smell, but the other berries mix and add a full round flavor. It wraps around the sides of the tongue, off of the center. There’s a faint tartness that completes the taste and make for a tiny bit of mouth pucker.

I like this one and will probably be experimenting with ice tea/sweet-tea and cold-brews. I’m not big on fruit, flavored or herb teas but this is a winner. I can see myself buying some of this after the sample is done.

On a second steep, the jasmine flavor is too overwhelming. It’s unpleasantly strong and I’m not finishing the cup.

The scent is very much jasmine, very pretty.

The flavor is very jasmine-floral, fills most of the mouth -all except the back of the tongue and throat. The jasmine overwhelms the green tea quite a bit and the tea is quite astringent.

Is not unpleasantly jasmine, like some I’ve had, but it is mostly a jasmine flavor. However, with a bit of food it was quite refreshing. So I would say that this is not a sit-and-sip tea, but rather an eat-and-drink tea.

I prefer sit-and-sips so I’ll not be buying more after this sample is up.

Cold-brewed this.

NOT a good idea. It’s, frankly, nasty. The vanilla takes on a huge, overwhelming, and sickening flavor.

The steeped scent is very much a mix of chamomile and vanilla. It’s not cloying; it’s well balanced in smell. Smells darn good, actually.

The flavor is very vanilla with chamomile as the backbone of the tisane. It’s not a sweet vanilla, it’s unsweet vanilla. Just the natural flavor itself.

I’m finding I’m truly not one for herbal or fruity teas, flavored teas or tisanes… but this is another I’d give a thumbs-up on for those that are into them.

I need a few more cups to make a real opinion for myself, as seems to be the case with these fruities and herbies… but so far I like it but wouldn’t buy it (I got it as part of a sample pack).

It would probably be good for a before-bed drink, with the restful qualities of chamomile and the pleasant vanilla mixed in. If nothing else, get a sample of it; it’s worthwhile.

The scent hits you about 2 feet away. Very seed-scented, sweet and toasted.

The flavor is very round, toasted bread, a bit of that slight seed taste that’s present in the scent, not much front-of-tongue action here. Medium length finish with slight sweetness.

It’s a good but not great Oolong. Something to drink if you just want a general Oolong with no particularly special notes to it. A safe solid Oolong, but without any real flare.

The aroma is really strong, not in a bad way but in a fill-the-room way… Spicy, a little sweet, with dark undertones.

The flavor also has the dark tones to it like an Assam does, with a bit of green at the tip of the tongue. Little bit of a burnt taste. Strong and lasting finish. Would probably be good for those that like milk and sweets in their tea, it would hold up well to them.

It’s a good tea, but not for me. I’ll rate it high on its clear quality, even though it rates low for me personal-taste-wise.

I bought a bag of this recently due to liking the sample I had.

It’s as good as I remember it. Peppery without being overwhelming, a bit of ginger mouth-feel, just enough strawberry to balance it out. It’s a good casual drinker, especially with a tiny bit of agave nectar.

I’m not one for flavored tea or for putting additives into mine, but this one works. Cold it’s a good post-gym guzzle lol.

Am now trying this as iced tea, the last little bit of the sample I had.

I was right, it’s very good as an iced tea. On its own and would probably make great sweet-tea, but I’ve only this last bit to experiment with. I think I’ll be buying more for ice tea usage.

Added agave nectar to the last half of cup. Awesome.

On a second cup I used more tea and a little more time. Much better.

Since this cools well, I think I’ll try some of this as iced tea. I’m betting that’ll be quite nice.

Got this as a sample. The color brewed is a muddy tan-pink. From a distance the peppery scent is the strongest, on closer sniffing you can pick up the strawberry and some ginger.

On tasting, I’m not sure what to think. It’s not bad, I’m just not used to fruit or flavored teas, for the most part. The strawberry is subtle and not overwhelming. The ginger you can’t really taste, but can feel that ginger-feel in your mouth during and after a sip. The pepper aspect is the largest flavor in a sip and is surprisingly pleasant.

I was dubious going in, but it’s a return-to-it tea. I like it enough to make me reconsider the world of flavored teas and will explore this area more due to it.

The only thing that could really be improved would be to bring up the strawberry flavor a bit more.

On describing it and sipping further I think I do like it. I’ll fiddle with temps and strengths to see what they do to this tea. It’s interesting.

Edited to add:

As this cools, the strawberry comes up some.

How could this not be good with these ingredients? This made for a very tasty first tea of the day. The nutty and caramelly-toffee flavours come through strongly. I steeped for 2.5-3 minutes, and think I’d prefer a longer steep as it felt a bit thin. I feel like this could/should be richer. And I want more chocolate. But, very tasty.

Another sample sent along with my recent order. Smells super minty and I must say I like that! The taste is a nice blend of chocolate and mint. I’m not really getting the rooibos in this tea and that too is ok. I’m enjoying it and hope it doen’t knock me out too quickly tonight. Don’t get me wrong I want to sleep tonight. But not this early. I go to bed now and I’ll be up at 4am!

This is one of the free samples that came with my Utopia Tea order of a few weeks ago. I wish I could tell you why I selected it. But in this case I think the tea picked me. Actually I think that’s how I end up drinking most of the teas I own…they select me. This smells heavenly. I must admit more like Lavender and less like Jasmine. But I like both so I’m really ok with that. It tastes fantastic. Yet another tea I might have to add to the collection. ;)

I have Wifey_Woman to thank for letting me try some of her pearls. These are fantastic!

Really very good. This is one of the most flavorful white teas I’ve encountered in a long time, and I only steeped this cup for 30 seconds! The tea is sweet, vegetative and brothy, with a thick, soft mouthfeel.

This is (I think) the first tea that I’ve tried from Utopia – I’m very impressed!

I used to love flavored teas, but not so much anymore. I really like this one though. It is a good tea, the tea holds up to the flavors and the flavors are balanced. It reminds me a bit of Mariage Freres Marco Polo, probably the strawberry influence, but that is quite a compliment and this one is much more economical. This is a lovely after dinner treat tea.

I was super excited to come home and find that the postal service delivered my tea…sometimes they leave the dreaded orange card of doom. But this time it was home and waiting for me in the kitchen (hubby doesn’t ask anymore about new tea in the house).

So I figured I would give this one a go as it had a little caffeine in it and I’d like to stay up past 9pm tonight thanks. I’ve had white teas before but they were all flavored to the max so this is nice and refreshing with just a hint of sweet to it and very fragrant. I’m really glad I picked this one up when it was on special. :)

Thanks to Utopia Tea for sending me a free sample of some of their teas! I requested this one because toffee, chocolate and hazelnuts? Yes, please. The samples came in large sachets. I wasn’t sure exactly how much water it was appropriate for, but it seemed like more than a cup, so I went ahead and brewed it in my 16oz teapot.

The brewed tea smelled roasty and sweet and nutty, like you might expect. My boyfriend asked if I was having caramel tea… close enough! I brewed it for only 3 minutes like I do all black teas I’m not familiar with, but it probably could hold up to more without getting bitter, and I think more of the chocolate notes would probably come out. The individual flavors are fairly hard to distinguish, instead combining together pretty well. I can pick out the sweet, caramelized taste of vanilla toffee, along with a nuttiness and the light roastiness often seen in chocolate teas. The black tea base is light (possibly because of the steeping time), and slightly woody. Overall a tasty tea, and I definitely enjoyed my pot of it.

This is yummy.
Not much for aroma but the flavors are just-right!!! Soothing, relaxing, juicy. I can first taste the peach and then the apple…D-LISH!!!!

This smells like Mint, Chocolate, Rooibos, Orange, and Apple.

This ‘brews’ dark and fast.

The ‘other’ ingredients do a great job of giving it ‘more than your average rooibos’ taste. I will say NOW…I am a fan of this!

I can taste the mint, apple, and chocolate, and the yogurt gives it a smooth and creamy dessert-like quality. This is nice! REALLY NICE!