White Ambrosia

Sipdown #34

Hmm, this pretty much just tastes like coconut oil. Upon opening the sample, there was some weird golden fuzz on the outside of the teabag. I’m not sure what that’s about. This tea has a slight acrid aftertaste, and each successive sip grows more astringent than the last.

It’s not going to become one of my favorites, but I’m happy I got the chance to try something new. I had higher expectations of something named ambrosia. Sadly, that’s just a fancy name for a mediocre coconut tea.

Okay, so I liked the smell of this one dry- bright and citrusy, with a hint of coconut. But brewed, I keep thinking of soap. Coconut can do that for me, and the coconut seems to be the dominant note here. The citrus has faded a bit, and I can’t taste much of the tea at all.

As much as it might sound otherwise, I’m actually enjoying this one somewhat. It’s not particularly interesting, or something I’d re-buy, but it’s pleasant enough. I’ve had a stuffy head from a cold for a while, so it’s nice to begin to taste subtle things again.

If you’re into coconut, do check this one out- it manages not to be greasy or fake tasting. Alas, if I had a spare orange sitting around I’d squeeze a little orange juice into it.

The first few things I notice upon opening the tin is a waft of vanilla and a lot a tea dust. There is so much tea dust in there it is ridiculous, just about the entire inside if the tin is covered, some is even clumped, it’s very off-putting. But I take careful sniffs, don’t want any dust up the nose, and it’s predominately vanilla. There is a decent white tea base and coconut, other than dust it doesn’t seem too bad. I brew it up and the white tea is there, the vanilla is definitely there, the coconut is there but less so. Some reviews said they had fruit in theirs, I am not picking up any fruit smells or tastes whatsoever aside from coconut but that is more creamy here. Aside from the massive quantities of dust, this tea isn’t too bad.

Meh…
This wasn’t all that fresh tasting today…oh well…
See my previous reviews tho

I was really worried about whether or not I would like this because it had such a low score on here and some of the reviews were not very favorable, but I decided to try it because it had my beloved coconut in it. This is a lot different than the other coconut teas I have tried so far, more floral and not as coconutty but still very unique. I like it but I don’t love it, only bc I like to be hit in the face with coconut and this is more subtle. It is a good tea though, and while I will enjoy what I have of it, I don’t know that I would re-order.

There is a strong potpourri scent when opening the bag of leaves, followed by a sweet hint of coconut. The potpourri is a little annoying, as it can give me headaches, so I can briefly take this scent.

The leaves are a nice mixture of bright and dark greens with deep red petals. There is a very detailed texture, with full leaves, curled and uncurled, and stems.

Steeping gives a deep and clean golden color, with a better sweeter coconut aroma.

The flavor is all white tea. The coconut is a subtle touch, the safflower very difficult to detect. But, it all blends extremely well with the white tea, which is beautifully dark and clean, with a slight astringency.

The aroma of the dry leaves left me worried this would be wholly floral, but upon brewing, the coconut scent had assured me that this is a quality white tea blend.

You know what, I don’t dislike this. I find it a little dusty-tasting as I often do Pai Mu Tan/Bai Mu Dan, and I find the coconut a tad soapy. But even then, the vanilla and coconut are harmonized enough that it’s not awful. It’s really flavourful but, despite the vanilla/coconut combo, not terribly sweet. It’s interesting.

I received a box of this tea as a gift and I was quite taken with both the presentation (tall, pyramid shaped “bags” with a little wire leaf on top) as well as with the taste—sweet and mellow—a perfect winter evening tea. At $40 a box, I wouldn’t purchase it again myself as there are even more enjoyable teas in this range, but another box would be a welcome gift.

I was really excited to try this tea, as I have a love for white teas that is unfulfilled much of the time. Tea Forte’s website says that this tea is supposed to have vanilla, coconut, and fruit flavours. To start with, I am already a bit apprehensive about the coconut, since the last Tea Forte tea that I tried with coconut ended up with the coconut taste and smell fading away quickly.
Upon opening the tea bag container, I could smell the vanilla a lot. The coconut was very prominent in the scent, though the underlying hints of fruit (mango especially) definitely came through.
The website recommends steeping 2-4 minutes, so I decided to go for a happy medium of 3 for this first steep, in a single Tea Forte Cafe Cup.
While the tea was steeping, I thought I would inspect the packaging. Inside the cardboard tea bag container, I found a lot of tea dust. The leaves in the pyramid bag had sadly looked a bit crushed and small. I also found a couple pieces of tan fuzz in the container, which was weird.
Mmm, the smell of this tea is a delicious medley of fruit and vanilla and…barely any coconut. The taste of this tea is very fruity, but not so much that it overpowers the white tea aspect. Vanilla tones float along and mingle wonderfully with the fruit, and comprise much of the aftertaste. In fact, the fruit flavour is reminiscent of a tropical trail mix of dried fruit. One can taste the coconut, but it is not prominent at all now.
Truly, it is a delicious tea. I’m not disappointed at all. The smell is sweeter than the taste. As my friend who tried this tea with me said, “You smell the flavours more than you taste the flavours.”
This tea would taste excellent iced. It is certainly something I would recommend, especially for lovers of fruity teas. On my personal enjoyment scale, I’m going to give it an 80/100. That fuzz was just really strange…

Ok, another tea by DAVIDsTEA… oops sorry, it is by Tea Forte! Now all teas that contain coconut remind me of DAVIDsTEA because they are using too much coconut in their blends!!!

As I don’t like coconut (apparently, the excessive use of coconut by DAVIDsTEA has strengthened my aversion…), it’s natural that I don’t enjoy this tea very much. The sharp smell of coconut isn’t very pleasant and appears synthetic to me. I think it’s a waste to use “rarest Pai Mu Tan” as the tea base because coconut is so dominant that I can’t taste the white tea at all. Disappointing.