Ok, so today I decided to make this as a tea soda.
My biggest problem my first time drinking this was that I couldn’t get over how “unnatural” it felt to be drinking something so distinctly coke flavoured as, not only a non-carbonated beverage, but as hot beverage as well. So, the way I’m drinking it now has removed those two issues so I can see how I view this tea now.
What I did was brew up a cup of this that was slightly over leafed the way instructed on Della Terra’s packaging (over leafed so the flavour would be more concentrated when mixed with the club soda). I then stuck the hot cup of tea straight into the fridge to become cold and left it sit for a couple hours. I came back to it a few minutes ago, and went with a tea to club soda ratio of approximately 2/5ths club soda and the rest tea.
I’m gonna note that before mixing the club soda I let try have a sip of this and he said it tasted “just like watered down coke”. He didn’t comment on any of the other flavours that are supposed to be added in the tea (cherry and chocolate cake), so I don’t know if that’s because he didn’t taste them or because he was just acknowledging the coke part since that’s what I had been talking about while preparing everything.
Anyway, a few sips and… This is better! I’ve eliminated the two things I found most problematic about this tea and there IS a noticeable improvement. I think I actually (maybe) like this better than actual coke which I personally find too strong so the fact this is mildly weaker is working in its favor. A couple sips in I recalled Lala saying she often sweetens her tea soda, so I added about a tsp and a half of sugar to this and swirled it around (I haven’t added sugar to any of the other tea sodas I’ve tried) – and it not only sharpened the cola notes but it brought out the taste of cherry that had been my third issue with this tea.
That last sentence maybe sounded confusing – I’ll clarify. The first time I drank this hot there was a lot going on flavour profile wise and aside from the notes of coke the other flavours were all muddled and it was hard to REALLY taste things. In fact, the “cherry” almost tasted like a really weird artificial orange taste. I made sure to get at least one piece of chocolate and one piece of cherry in the dry leaf I used since I wasn’t sure if I’d actually used pieces of either last time, but until adding the sugar all the flavour profiles were still really jumbled. With sugar, I can tell that YES I am drinking a ‘cherry cola’ – although, the taste of chocolate is still really weird and I don’t think I’d call it “cakey”.
So, in conclusion… As a tea soda, this is an improvement! It’s still not awesome, and I still have issues with it, but I am going to increase my rating just slightly.
PS. I just wanted to add in that this is still one of the PRETTIEST teas I’ve ever had. It’s just so nice and shimmery with all the little silver flecks. If nothing else, I enjoy looking at it.
EDIT: I lied a little… The more I drank, the more prominent the chocolate flavour got, and it did begin to taste “cakey” and not just oddly chocolate. Although, the cake flavour is REALLY weird with the cola and the carbonation of the club soda. With or without club soda, I think this tea just tries to have too much going on.
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One other variable you can play around with is the type of club soda you are using. Some club sodas have very high sodium which changes the taste. Sometimes buying just carbonated water is better than club soda, but it really depends on your tastes.
I wanted just carbonated water for that reason, but I’m also surviving on minimum wage for rent payments/groceries and still trying to feed my tea addiction while being cost effective as well – which means cutting corners on small things. And it was a couple dollars cheaper to get a flat of club soda as opposed to bottles of carbonated water (and with the cans it’s easier to portion out the amount of club soda I need without worrying about the bottle of carbonated water going flat). So I bit the bullet and went for club soda even though I don’t think it’s as good taste wise.
One other variable you can play around with is the type of club soda you are using. Some club sodas have very high sodium which changes the taste. Sometimes buying just carbonated water is better than club soda, but it really depends on your tastes.
I wanted just carbonated water for that reason, but I’m also surviving on minimum wage for rent payments/groceries and still trying to feed my tea addiction while being cost effective as well – which means cutting corners on small things. And it was a couple dollars cheaper to get a flat of club soda as opposed to bottles of carbonated water (and with the cans it’s easier to portion out the amount of club soda I need without worrying about the bottle of carbonated water going flat). So I bit the bullet and went for club soda even though I don’t think it’s as good taste wise.