Elderflower Spritz

This tea is everything I want in a white tea – a cute name, beautiful leaves and scent. A light, refreshing floral/fruity taste that lingers.

I believe I will be purchasing a tin of this and enjoying it deckside all summer long – iced.

Meh. I tried a sample of this in-store today, and it was sadly underwhelming. I had wanted to pick up some of all the spring teas from David’s, but I thought it was fortuitous that they were sampling this one today, as I could just try it first. Good thing! It’s definitely not a bad tea, but I just found it completely unremarkable. It was somewhat floral, a little sweet, and a hint of bitter, but nothing really to give it a unique character. I would happily drink a cup of it, if offered one, but I wouldn’t choose it over anything else I already have, so I guess I’ll be giving it a pass. (Which is nice, cos it ain’t cheap!)

I picked up 10g of all the new spring teas (save for Melon Drop, as that has kiwi and I’m allergic), and I decided to give this one a whirl this afternoon. Definitely a pleasant surprise for me… I can taste a mix of jasmine, lavender and some other floral base I can’t quite put my finger on. I don’t think I’ve had elderberry before, so that’s also a different taste. The mix of white and green tea is also nice, and this was a light, refreshing cup – and a much needed palate cleanser from all the Cold Zing and Cold 911 I’ve been drinking since the weekend. One to keep in mind for a flavoured white, though again, pity it’s so expensive.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. For a floral tea, it’s not overly floral…and even though it uses artificial flavoring, it isn’t over powering. I enjoyed this hot with no added sweetener. I find that I’m enjoying white tea more and more.

Interested to see how it will taste as an iced tea.

Tolerable.. definitely not buying anymore though,

I took a smell of the loose leaf for this tea and thought that it didn’t smell quite like any of the other fruity or berry teas I had tried. Brewed up, the berry notes are somewhere between strawberry and blueberry, not too dark but definitely sweet. The redeeming flavors come from the more floral notes, which are not quite jasmine, not quite lavender, but something else. The elderflowers look adorable in the blend too. Beneath both the floral and fruity, there’s the white tea core. I’m not quite able to describe this white tea flavor, and it’s not always my favorite accent. There is a sort of lightly earthy, or deep crushed foliage flavor, not grassy like a green but not mineral like a pu erh; almost savory at times. This tea is for white tea fans, or for something elegant for spring. A little too sweet for me to get all the time, but a nice flash of spring for one cup.

I caved and broke into the Spring teas! I couldn’t help it; I really wanted to be a part of the initial stream of reviews for them, heh…

So far this one has not been reviewed all too favorably, and it’s definitely one of the blends I was least excited about in the collection – but when I cracked all the bags open today to smell with my Dad this was his favourite, and my second (White Nectarine was my first).

I was very cautious about steeping this one; definitely used a lower water temp that DT had suggested (probably about 75C), and watched this very closely as it steeped for the three allotted minutes. Even though the smell is really good, I didn’t want this to come out bitter or medicinal.

I definitely really taste the peony, and it’s really refreshing. The elderberries in this are sweet and sugary; definitely like elderberry jam! However, both of these flavours do almost completely mask the white and green tea in the blend for me. I don’t mind not tasting the green tea, but I’d like to be able to taste the white a little bit more. Someone compared this to wine in their review; and while it doesn’t taste like grape based wine to me, elderberries can also be used to make wine and it does remind me a little bit of the one elderberry wine I’ve tried. And yes, if I stop thinking about it actively and just drink it I totally taste pink jellybeans. It’s almost uncanny. But as soon as the part of my brain that dissects flavours kicks in that goes away and it becomes peony/elderberry again.

But so far, I’m really into this one! Seriously, not a touch medicinal or bitter – and the right balance between floral and fruit for me while maintaining a sweetness and naturalness. Maybe I’ll be in the minority, like I was for Choconut Oolong, but this is good!

Cripes, this tea makes me want to back slowly away from it. When I asked the sales associate which tea from the spring collection was her favourite, she said that this one was. I took a sniff and skeptically thought, “Reeeeeeally…” All of these medicinal notes were flying at me, but nevertheless, I grabbed 10g.

Once I took this pouch home, I kept sniffing, and sniffing and pondering, “Now what does this remind me of?” Something medicinal. But what are we talking about here? Robitussin? Tylenol chewable tablets for kids? Something like that, but yet it’s not cherry cough syrup or anything. Cherry Blossom was like that but not this. So what gives?

As I was steeping it, I caught a fleeting waft of red wine. Could my brain actually be thinking of wine instead? Nah. Ok, that was a thing of its own. But there’s still this other sharp medicinal thing that’s trying to be berry.

I take a sip, and it simply tastes like how it smells. Still bewildering. After half-an-hour of sipping on my mug, tasting and smelling the steeped tea, it finally dawns on me. This tastes like a potted raspberry lip balm that Upper Canada Soap made back when I was in junior high. It was in a clear container shaped like a raspberry and filled with a layer of lavender-coloured balm, which was topped off with darker purple balm molded into the shape of a raspberry. Eureka! I also used to have a tiny bottle of raspberry lotion in the same scent. Ugh, I don’t even think I finished either because it was just wrong. It didn’t bear any resemblance to raspberry at all, and didn’t smell like your typical artificial raspberry either.

So there you have it. This tea tastes like vile 90s lip balm/body lotion. Guh.

Well this is certainly better as a cold brew, mostly because it tones down the flavour. Still kind of getting a wine cooler vibe from this, but not as strong. Will certainly be finishing off what I have left cold. No way I’ll miss it when it’s gone though.

Dry Leaf Nose: A sweet, clean, light yet complex aroma filled with light floral and berry notes.

Liquor: A green gold liquor.

Flavour: Fresh and refreshing notes of elderberries and white tea. The overall flavour is floral and berry-like in every sip.