Strawberry Colada

Awesome as a summer cold tea!

I like it. Pinky red liquor. Hibiscus tart. The strawberry flavour shines through. Maybe a bit of pineapple kick.

I like to have this one handy for the moments that I am in the mood for something just like this.

Not quite sure in which ways it is different from Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait by David’s. Perhaps I’ll need to do a side by side taste test.

I liked this more when it was steeped really weak. I recently let it steep cold in the fridge for 24 hours and it was a mistake. Still yummy – tastes like Kool-Aid!

The hibiscus is too strong in this, unfortunately.

Very disappointing! It smelled great, but when I brewed it up it was incredibly bitter. Tasted a lot of rose hip and hibiscus, but very little pineapple and coconut (which is surprising because DavidsTea usually overdoes it on coconut). Will drink the rest of it to use it up, but with copious amounts of sugar.

Sipdown.

I made a pitcher pack of this after I found out Rob liked it. It’s better if you add a lot of sweetener to it – the sugar picks up the coconut taste and the strawberry. Otherwise it’s a big pile of hibiscus puckeriness.

Yummy!! Got this one iced a few days ago, and what a treat! On it’s own, it’s quite tart, but sweeten it and it’s like sipping fresh-picked strawberries. Definitely one I’m going to have to add to my collection (why must I be running out of space in my cupboard?) I also didn’t get overwhelmed by the hibiscus, which was a nice change

(brewed hot by tea guides, consumed iced)

I have this new trend where I take a 1L bottle of San Pellegrino to school with me as well as a cold brewed fruit tea. Then when I come home from school or while I am running errands, I make sure to drink another 500 mL bottle of water (which is then refilled and used for the daily cold brew. That covers my 2L of “water” a day and anything additional is on top of that.

Last night while setting up the cold brew, I had such a variety of flavors to choose from just from my DAVIDs spree alone. This is the one I pulled from the bag and it is one I had before but don’t really remember (which isn’t a great sign) but it sounded good. As I sipped today I get coconut in smell and as the base with punches of pineapple now and again all while the strawberry floats atop. There are notes of apple here and there but mostly they just donate a sweetness to the overall flavor. I could see this being nice as a tea pop actually so I will have to give that a try soon.

In other news, I think I have definitely overcome my tea apathy and got right back into the “MUST TRY ALL THE TEAS!!” phase. Or maybe I just miss tea packages. Nonetheless, in addition to my DAVIDs splurging last night, I have teas at Sil’s waiting for me from our joint Tealish order, the awesome 52 teas hanging out with my Dad in California and then today I ended up getting bored in class and discovering a new tea company, Tea Taxi, thanks to an instagram follower of mine (thank you deedrinkstea if you are on here!) and bought a bunch of sampler packs to try (32 new teas for $75…not bad). Oops.

I received this one as a sampler and, as soon as I opened the package, I KNEW I had to buy some. Its smell is strong and awesome :D Also, the taste reminds me of Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. It’s excellent cold and hot. I would suggest a stronger steep since the recommended quantity makes it a bit weak. Just a bit. Also, maybe it could use a subtle sweetness, but it’s not a big deal.

Let me preface this tasting note by saying that I love hibiscus. I don’t usually jive on tart drinks; hibiscus-based beverages are the exception. When the summer collection was released I had a strong feeling that this would be the stand out tea for me, and I was correct. I agree with many reviews I’ve read that there should be more dried strawberries in the blend. The tea is, after all, called Strawberry Colada. As with most hibiscus-based blends (most herbals, in general), I steep this for ages before chilling or icing. I find that steeping it longer helps to cut some of the tartness. I also purchased some unsweetened dried strawberries to add to my tin should I find that there hibiscus-to-strawberry ratio dwindles. I haven’t had to use them just yet. I find that this tea, apart from the tart hibiscus kick, tastes exactly as the name suggests – a piña colada with strawberries. I usually add sweetener and a bit of lime juice to this prior to icing/chilling. It’s a great base for a tea cocktail, too. :)