Day 3 DavidsTea 24 Days of Tea advent calendar – Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. Aaaand, we have our first ‘nope’ of the advent calendar. Only 3 days in, that was kind of fast. I was apprehensive given the word parfait in the title. Then I opened the sampler tin and gave it a whiff. My suspicions deepened. I knew I might be in for a less than appealing mug of tea.
But, I’m dedicated. I’m in. I’m gonna try all 24 of these puppies, come hell, high water, overly aggressive stevia content, teas that smell like a child’s dream birthday cake, or whatever the heck else this calendar can throw at me. So, I steeped it up. The colour in the mug is quite lovely, a deep red-violet. As I was a little less than certain about this one, I went easy on the steep time and kept it to 4 minutes (on the low end of the recommended 4-7). Maybe other flavours would have unfolded with a longer steep that I liked better? I doubt it, but it’s not entirely out of the question. I won’t be giving it a 2nd chance to find out, though.
The flavour was not quite as much of a total sugar and yogurt bomb as I feared, but it wasn’t not that either. The strawberry is pretty front and centre, which was a little unexpected given how low both it and rhubarb are on the ingredients list. I like a good apple-hibiscus based herbal generally, but it’s overpowered by the yogurt pieces that add a really synthetic, candy-ish tone to the whole affair. For those who really dig that sort of thing, this might be a good tea for you. I, however, am not this tea’s target market.
I gave it a good 7 sips before giving up on it. But I had an idea: I had a very tart, undersweetened lemonade in my fridge, so I tried adding a bit of this tea to the lemonade. It worked out pretty well! The lemon beat back the yogurt candy vibe enough, the tea’s sweetness made the lemonade more pleasant, and the rest of the ingredients (berries, rhubarb and fruit mostly) worked nicely with the tart citrus. So, would I drink this as a tea? Not if it were up to me. But, it was fine as a lemonade addition. Might work okay as a cocktail with some soda water, fresh lime juice and vodka. Maybe. If anyone tries that, let me know if it worked out for you.
Def. not buying this one — or anything with the word parfait in the title. Or anything containing yogurt bits. Ever. Bleh.
Flavors: Apple, Hibiscus, Rhubarb, Strawberry, Sweet, Yogurt
