A Berry Frui-tea July! This is one of my ancient Fusion Tea samplers (sourced from Tea Guys), but without the threat of coconut, it really should be fine. I brewed this up as a cold brew batch, which, except for the latest hours of the evening, is how I’ve been enjoying pretty much all my tea under the harsh Idaho summer weather. Every day is over 90 degrees, and I would just melt without all this iced tea!
The dry leaf doesn’t smell overly spicy, so I’m hoping this will be pleasant, and not taste like that awful Tropical Punch Oolong I sampled earlier this month. It actually smells a bit like orange to me rather than papaya, but perhaps that’s because my mind has such a strong orange spice association? Then again, there is orange peel in the blend, so perhaps there is a rather strong orange citrus aroma to the leaf…
The flavor of the tea is quite nice. It has the light and smooth mouthfeel one would expect from white and green teas, and I’d say that the base is even has a very subtle floral touch from the white base and jasmine green, which works well with the added fruitiness. The fruit flavor does have a slight tropical feel, but I wouldn’t say it is a strong papaya flavor. There is a bit of a papaya note, but I’d say that there is a much stronger citrus note to the tea, a bit of a lemon zest with a subtle touch of mandarin in the finish. The ginger is very light; it blends so much with the floral notes and the fruit that the tea has more of a slight candied ginger aftertaste, nothing at all like that strong ginger taste of that nasty Tropical Punch Oolong that tasted like ginger with a side of tea. Overall the blend works quite well together, and makes a refreshing iced tea.
Flavors: Citrus, Floral, Ginger, Lemon Zest, Orange, Smooth, Sweet, Tropical
