Not much longer to go on the bus!
I split a pouch of this one with Kittenna in a shared Butiki order. Even though the flavourings all sound wonderful to me, the base has me wary; I do not like green tea and even though I’m generally viewed Stacy’s flavoured greens more favorably than other companies I’m still hesitant.
I cold brewed most of my half; I tend to really enjoy cold brewed pear flavours, and I like iced tea with jasmine as well so I thought it’d suit my tastes really well. Wow, the anise flavour is definitely a little stronger than I was expecting. I like it; but it’s bold. Anise is tricky though; it’s a strong flavour that people tend to feel rather polar about.
And even though the anise in this is dominant, I can still taste both pear and jasmine! The jasmine in particular is well done; sweet and fragrant without tasting like the perfume lady at The Bay just spritzed you right in the face. The base is actually nice; it has a light spinach taste that I find pleasant, and it works well with the flavouring. I know Stacy is pretty well done blending now, but a version of this one without the anise would be really interesting. I just personally thought that since both pear and jasmine are in the title they’d be a little stronger and more of the focus of the tea.
Overall I did like this one though, even though it wasn’t quite what I expected! It reminds me a lot of Camellia Sinensis’ Peking Opera blend which is also Pear/Anise but on a white base. Of the two I think I like Peking Opera better, but mostly because of the base it uses and my personal preferences. It’s nice to have something comparable to drink since this is no longer available for purchase even if I did want to get more of it.
Flavors: Anise, Floral, Jasmine, Pear, Spinach, Vegetal
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What’s your process for cold brewing?
I wonder if the anise being strong was because it was cold brewed. We didn’t use any anise flavoring, so it was just from the pieces of the star. I never tried this one cold, so I’m not sure.
All my cold brews are done in a 25 oz. during the day while I’m working; I use at least double the recommended leaf, but if it’s a milder tasting tea quite often I triple the leaf recommendation/leaf I would use for a hot cup. My cold brews all get approx. 10 hour steeps, occasionally a few hours less or more (my routine is to pour out the day’s cold brew into a thermos for work, clean out the mason jar and immediately start steeping a new tea – which then gets strained shortly after I get home from work. That works out to roughly 10 hours factoring in travel time for work.
**My routine…
Also, I’ve finished this tea off now Stacy (just haven’t written the note yet); I did the last cup hot and I have to say that while the flavours were far more balanced the anise was still really, really strong.
What’s your process for cold brewing?
I wonder if the anise being strong was because it was cold brewed. We didn’t use any anise flavoring, so it was just from the pieces of the star. I never tried this one cold, so I’m not sure.
All my cold brews are done in a 25 oz. during the day while I’m working; I use at least double the recommended leaf, but if it’s a milder tasting tea quite often I triple the leaf recommendation/leaf I would use for a hot cup. My cold brews all get approx. 10 hour steeps, occasionally a few hours less or more (my routine is to pour out the day’s cold brew into a thermos for work, clean out the mason jar and immediately start steeping a new tea – which then gets strained shortly after I get home from work. That works out to roughly 10 hours factoring in travel time for work.
**My routine…
Also, I’ve finished this tea off now Stacy (just haven’t written the note yet); I did the last cup hot and I have to say that while the flavours were far more balanced the anise was still really, really strong.