Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel

I received this tea through a sampler package I’d bought a bit back. The sample came in a gold packet with only the logo for “The East Indies Tea Company”, the name of the tea, the type of tea, and the address of the company. Therefore, I can only guess as to what is in it and tell you what I’m picking up. I could find no info online for the tea, and I didn’t find a single tea retailer who offers it, at least not by the name on my sample package. I have e-mailed the company in hopes they can give me a little more information. Anyway, onto the good stuff:

Upon looking at this tea, I saw what appeared to be bits of marshmallow, some kind of snowflake sprinkles, and the same gold sugar balls one can find in David Tea’s “Glitter & Gold”. There also seemed to be some pieces of caramel in there, though this I am not 100% on. It smells almost like coco when dry, and I also detect a hint of marshmallow.

Upon brewing the tea I noticed it sparkles, just like “Glitter & Gold” does. Very pretty. It smells like hot coco w/ marshmallows to me. The tasting is also very similar to hot coco, only with less of the chocolate. The marshmallow comes through pretty nicely (this from someone who dislikes marshmallow), but doesn’t make it too sweet. It also makes for a slightly creamy cup, which I found rather enjoyable. The sugar candy also adds a little sweetness, but it isn’t like drinking a latte or anything. Just present and pleasant. I do seem to pick up a very faint caramel taste, though I can’t be certain. It’s nice, though, whatever it is. It’s a smooth cup, with the black tea base just breaking through to give the cup a nice, subdued, black tea taste. As I’ve said in previous reviews, I’m not a fan of strong black teas, so this brew was well received. The tea base is present, but contains no astringency, nor is it overpowering. The tea tastes best once it has cooled a little bit. Overall, I really enjoyed this Holiday brew. Now, if only someone sold it….

I’ll update if I find anything out about this tea.

EDIT: So, I looked online for a marshmallow black tea with gold balls and blue sprinkles and found a tea that seemed either the same or very similar to what I’d had. It’s called “Eight Candles” and it’s sold by Della Terra Teas. This may be the same tea, but I can’t be certain. Maybe they changed the name?

Backlogged tasting note.

Back during advents, Marika was kind enough to invite me to celebrate Hanukkah with her and her family – I brought a couple teas for us to make pots of over the coarse of the evening, including this very on the nose blend.

Definitely pleasantly sweet and full bodied but not cloying. The flavour is supposed to be a caramel marshmallow and I think the blend really nails the taste of a toasted marshmallow but the caramel reads more as generic dark sweetness to me. It was definitely a very nice sipping tea though, and I like how full bodied and heavy the base was – it made the fluffy creaminess of the marshmallow pop all the more.

It does kill me a little inside that this is so clearly intended to be a Hanukkah blend but it’s not kosher though – for a couple reasons, but the main one being the gelatin in the marshmallows Thankfully the group I was with doesn’t keep strictly kosher, but I could see some unfortunate oopsies coming if someone bought this for someone who is more strict about that kind of thing…