Picked up quite a few DT samples today; all of the new citrus-y Spring blends, The Buzz, Espresso Yourself, and this one. The only relatively new one I didn’t get was Yogi Berry since I can’t drink it because of the Kombucha powder. I also got two tea infused chocolate bars! I’m sure I’ll write about those eventually too.
Reviews on this one seem to be fairly polar, and I was actually relatively sure I’d land on the side of people who dislike this blend – but aisling of tea and her wife De’s glowing reviews made me really want to give it a shot, especially since usually we see fairly eye to eye with DT blends. I admit; this one certainly does smell delicious dry! Very juicy with really vibrant tangerine notes!
Steeped up this actually isn’t anything like I thought it’d taste – which I suppose is good because I anticipated it tasting like garbage; especially when it has some serious similarities to Garcinia Goodness, and I practically loathed that blend.
There’s a sparkling effervescence to this blend; I can see it making a phenomenal tea soda! I’m really, really tasting the tangerine in the blend; but the plain ol’ orange is pretty strong too. It reminds me a little of orange tic tacs? Sweet, candy orange with a little bit of tang to it. Surprisingly I don’t really taste anything that particularly reminds me of hibiscus? Maybe there’s not a lot of it in the blend, or it just blends into the tangerine really well.
As for the base; it’s hard for me to believe this is Pu’Erh or Black Tea (the blend uses both). It’s just really light overall and the flavourings are really the focus here. I suppose I do taste the Pu just a little though; there’s a rawness to the fruit that tastes a little earthy in the finish. The mouthfeel of this one is nice too; kind of thick.
I’m pleasantly surprised by the blend DT; I didn’t buy a lot but I’ll be able to have a few more cups and if they’re like this one at all I could, in fact, see this as a blend I’d buy more of!
EDIT: I forgot to mention that talking with the DT associate today she let a few things slip. Apparently in the next few months DT will be adding somewhere around four new matcha blends. Considering they already sell three varieties of straight matcha (Grand Cru, Matcha Matsu, and the Ceremonial Grade) when I hear that my immediate impression is that they may be venturing into the flavoured matcha market. Of course, that’s only an assumption but I think it’ll be interesting seeing what they do in fact introduce.
Also, it appears Cherry Blossom will be making a more permanent return!? The associate said she was pretty sure it’s coming back next month. Perhaps as a tea of the month? I can’t remember exactly who liked that one, but I guess that’s something to look forward to. I’m just happy it means they’ll be expanding their white teas a little more; that area of the tea wall has been pretty badly trimmed down…