Candy Floss

For the sipdown prompt, “a tea with a strong aroma.”

The dry leaf of this tea has such a spot on, amazing cotton candy aroma… the sweetness of the apple and sprinkles with a very subtle fruitiness just does a really good job of mimicking cotton candy.

However, the brewed tea is very underwhelming. I originally made a coldbrew batch, and it was pretty awful. Just really weak of any flavor and obnoxiously bitter. The only way I got through the liter in the fridge was by adding a teaspoon of liquid sugar syrup. Then it actually tasted a bit like cotton candy, but… I added sugar, so of course. I was expecting the tea to be quite naturally sweet with a name like “Candy Floss” and was just surprised that it just wasn’t.

Today I’ve prepared it warm, and it is definitely better hot than cold, but still a little weak in flavor. A lot of the white tea hay qualities are coming forward, which clashes with the natural sweetness I’m expecting. There is just a whisper of sweet fruitiness, which alternates between apple and red berry, but neither are defined or strong. It does get a little more cotton candy-esque in flavor as it cools, but I still feel that this flavor combo has been done much, much better elsewhere.

Perhaps I should just make sachets out of the remaining leaf, as I like how it smells a lot more than how it tastes…

A miss for me, but… for visual it gets A mark.

Flavour was weird. It was like washed out hibiscus tea with white tea light notes. I noticed a bit of tartness, but no fruits at all. The base was present, but quite lightly.

Was it like cotton candy? Not much. Maybe in color…

Sipdown! (43 | 364)

The last B&B subscription tea for June, and cold brewed again.

This is slightly bland, but the fruit flavor strongly reminds me of canned fruit cocktail, specifically the pear chunks and grapes. So I’m enjoying the nostalgia factor of that, as I don’t think I’ve had fruit cocktail in a very long time… :P

Otherwise, it doesn’t remind me of cotton candy at all. It’s more like a lightly flavored fruit punch. Not terrible, but certainly nothing I would seek out.

Sipdown (811)!

This tea gets a no from me – in theory it shouldn’t be hard to do a cotton candy blend well; it’s a sweet, sugary profile that sometimes has a hint of fruit. Something about this was just funky to me though; the white tea was stronger than I’d want it to be for the simple fact that it was imparting a stale straw/hay type of note that did NOT jive, and the rest of the profile seemed like a strange and cacophonous trio of apple, artificial sweetener, and something…. savory!?

Nope, nope, nope.

After a slew of delicious teas from Bird & Blend, I was bound to be disappointed by one, right? This would be the one. Interestingly, the leaf looked very similar to that of Cherry Bakewell. Flower petals, hibiscus, white tea. I liked Cherry Bakewell, so no problem there – except that I was missing the aromas of cotton candy that I expected. This trend continued into the aroma and flavour – no cotton candy that I could discern. In fact, I probably could have been convinced that I was drinking Cherry Bakewell instead (except for the stevia. I noticed the stevia. :( ). Very odd. I am, of course, used to the delicious cotton candy flavours of 52teas, and maybe it’s just much more subtle here, but that was not at all what I was hoping for.

On the plus side, same white tea deliciousness as Cherry Bakewell. I’ll give it another shot, though (probably side by side with that tea), and maybe use a bit more leaf – perhaps all the flower petals resulted in me underleafing the cup.

Today’s work cold brew. I’ve waited a while to try this one, but I could probably say that about literally all the teas in my cupboard. It’s just what seems to happen. Anyway, what I really like is when I’ve waited a while to try something and it turns out to be really good. All the anticipation pays off! It definitely worked here, because this is a great candy floss tea, probably one of the best I’ve tried. Usually, they’re either on black or rooibos bases, but this one is white and I think the delicate, sweet (sugar water-like) flavour of white tea really works here.

The initial flavour is sweet, candy-like strawberry, and also something that reminds me very much of the coating on hundreds and thousands (which makes sense, because there are some in the blend!) After the berry flavour fades, there’s a generic caramelised sweetness that’s perfectly reminiscent of candy floss. It’s hard to pin down a flavour that’s so light, airy and insubstantial, but Bluebird have done an excellent job here. It really is strawberry-flavoured candy floss in a cup!

I’m guzzling this one, so if it’s still available I’ll definitely be buying more :)

I’ve been really enjoying this blend over ice. My first attempt at icing the tea didn’t go over too well, but the more I drink it the more I enjoy it. It really is a liquid version of berry-flavored cotton candy. It’s a lovely treat during especially long afternoons at work. I steep it a bit longer than recommended, and, thankfully, I don’t find that the blend suffers or turns bitter. I’ll be reordering this tea when I place my order for the new summer blends within the next month.

I could probably write a poem about this tea because of its look, taste, and name.
Very pleased to see purple liquid come out in my pot as I steeped this :)
PURPLE!!!
I don’t drink many white teas, but this was flavored very well and balanced. However the blend comes out in proportion is awesome.
This tea may be on my list to try cold steeped as well

I am always attracted to cotton candy teas, and I have tried several and am usually disappointed. One thing that I dislike is that so many of the available cotton candy teas are made on a rooibos base, and this girl likes her caffeine. I was happy to see that this tea is done on a white base.
Full review and photos: https://tealover.net/2015/06/bluebird-tea-co-candy-floss/

This tea leaf is super pretty, something I’ve come to expect from Bluebird Tea Co. their teas are always so visually appealing!! Cold brewed the tea is the prettiest pink color but it has a slightly strange taste… a little chemically which Im attributing to the stevia and it really isn’t that sweet which I’m attributing to the cold brew not melting the hundreds and thousands… holding off on rating this tea until I’ve brewed it as recommended…