Seattle Surprise

Thanks to yssah for this sample! The dry leaf of this tea smells almost exactly like SweeTarts candy, and although normall I wouldn’t be into that, today it just kind of made me want SweeTarts. There are tons of fruit bits in this tea which I assume are the pineapple “gems”, but whatever they are, yssah’s packing skills caused them to get mashed together into one massive lump that I had to break up a bit before portioning out this leaf.

The steeped tea does not smell like SweeTarts, or any other candy really. It smells kind of like a tropical juice blend where I can’t quite separate out all the flavors. That’s pretty much what it tastes like, too. I guess I get definite orange, but the pineapple and mango are somewhat muddled. It’s a decently tasty fruity tea, and if you like tropical fruity teas it definitely fits that niche. The black tea base is kind of lame in that it doesn’t add much to the overall flavor of the tea, but it isn’t bitter or astringent and that is certainly what most people look for in a flavored tea (it is definitely all I used to look for! Now I’m just picky). I bet this would make a really delicious iced tea.

Another older sip down and Im not getting much pineapple but there is some good mango notes. This would be pretty amazing iced on a hot summers day.

Really middle of the road for me. I didn’t love the flavor that much. Where the Cinnamon Orange tea is weak but compensated with the orange and cinnamon, I felt this tea was weak but not compensated enough in the other flavors.

First off: whatever is in the pineapple in this blend causes it to mash together into a huge lump, and it needs separating before drinking. Having said that, this is probably the juiciest, most luscious tea I’ve had along these lines, so I’m thinking it’s a less processed pineapple (because well-dried, it wouldn’t have this moisture to cause smooshing).

Is this a complaint? Definitely not, other than trying to figure out initially if that’s intentional or a mistake (the seemingly congealed mass of white clumps around the tea). This is a bright, light pineapple tea, and while I get little else other than a touch of mango, and zero actual tea from this, it’s really quite delicious. I could easily sip this all summer happily, although I’d likely forget it was caffeinated, it’s just that light.