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Infernal carrot! I redeemed one of my Frequent Steeper rewards for this blend despite the appearance of carrots in the ingredients list. Cantaloupe is so tricky in a tea, and I adore melon teas. It’s been a few years since DT’s released a LE melon tea I enjoyed. I believe Sour Watermelon (summer 2017) was the last one I bought in bulk. I probably would’ve been tempted to purchase more had I not been able to taste the carrot.

I will also add that I don’t get any hint of lemonade in this blend. Perhaps the citrus note is masked by the astringency of the green tea base.

Shame.

I really enjoyed Peachy Lychee, so I was really hoping to like this blend. Alas, it’s way too strawberry-forward for me. Even with black tea AND hibiscus, the strawberry completely overpowers everything. I love a sweet tea, but this is strawberry candy…or strawberry jam. Not my jam.

Dry leaf smelled wonderful. Steeped at 85° for 3 minutes, as suggested on the bag. Definitely over-steeped. Super astringent and very perfume-y, presumably from the lychee. Didn’t get a ton of peach flavor. Will reserve judgment for future (shorter) steep.

I was feeling a bit adventurous when I placed this in my cart during the 20% promo code window. It’s definitely a dessert blend, but, unfortunately, I don’t get much of a buttery or a buttercream note. It’s sort of tastes like someone added a vanilla bean and some lavender flowers to a sugar jar, waited a week or so, and then sprinkled the sugar over some sliced apples. It’s pleasant. I imagine if you enjoy floral teas and are looking for a nice comforting cuppa at the end of a long day, this would be fairly enjoyable. It’s not something I’d stock up on, but I’m glad I gave it a try.

I was super apprehensive about this tea. DT’s grapefruit blends are either absolute favorites (Ruby Red, aka Grapefruit Squeeze) or completely vile (Grapefruit Granita). On top of that, I don’t really love super floral teas, and I’m not particularly partial to oolong blends.

What on earth possessed me to even try this tea? A 20% discount and the hope that the hibiscus in the blend would, somehow, make it magical.

Well, it did. It’s light. It’s refreshing. The rose flavor is so subtle, especially when iced, that it’s not overly floral. The oolong flavor grounds it just a bit, but it really takes a back seat. The grapefruit and hibiscus play soooooo well together to my tastebuds. There’s a little extra hint of citrus from the orange peel and a slight sweetness from the pineapple and apple (without noticeable apple flavor, which I LOATHE in teas that aren’t apple teas). I love a tart tea, and this is a winner. #teamhibiscus FOREVAH!

Banana Grapefruit? Nah fam, that sounds awful.

That’s what I thought to myself when I saw the name of this blend. I had completely written it off, and then I went to the DT website and saw that it was a fruity black tea blend. Uh, I love fruity black tea blends. I love banana black teas. I really enjoy grapefruit in tea as well. I put it in my cart with a few (sadly) retiring teas that I wanted to stock up on. I decided to wait it out for the next collection to drop. I’m usually a fan of DT’s iced tea/summer blends because I’m a proud member of #teamhibiscus, so I figured there was a decent chance that something new would come along that I’d want to try.

Welp, before that actually happened, someone in the FB fan group mentioned a 20% off code that worked on even the smallest quantity of tea sold on the website — 2 ounces on the US site, usually you have to buy 4 ounces or more of a specific tea to use these sorts of discounts. So, I bit the bullet. If I hated it, I could easily get through 2 ounces of tea if I made it iced, which is how I’d intended to prepare it anyway.

To my complete (and pleasant) surprise, I really enjoy it. I tried it both hot and iced, just to see if the notes varied vastly. They didn’t. The hot cuppa had a bit more of a pronounced grapefruit flavor to my tastebuds, but otherwise they tasted quite similar. It’s truly a fruit infusion with just a handful of black tea leaves. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. There’s minimal black tea flavor. It just adds some body, serving as a vehicle to carry the other ingredients. The banana note is there, but it’s more creamy, subtle banana flavor than in-your-face banana flavor. The mango really adds to the blend’s tropical juice vibes, and the grapefruit offers a light, zesty citrus note.

It sounds really weird combination of ingredients. But, it’s definitely worth a sample if you like fruity/tropical blends. I’ll be stocking up on this in the coming weeks.

Again with all the apples…

Thankfully, the flavor of the coffee beans dominated the taste of apples. This tea reminds me of Cardamom Macchiato that was released a few months ago. They taste very similar to me. This version doesn’t have the astringency of white tea and is much sweeter on account of the chocolate chips (and all the damn apples). It was a decent cuppa. I bet it’d make a nice nighttime latte for folks who tend to avoid caffeine after noon.

The choice to use a white tea base strikes me as a bit odd since the flavor is hidden underneath the heavy cardamom and coffee notes. Apart from that, I’m pleasantly surprised by this blend. I get the cardamom first and the coffee on the tail-end of the sip. It’s giving me coffeehouse feels, and I’m digging that on this early Saturday morning.

Since they’ve chosen a white tea base, it’s a bit costly. I might buy 100g or so before it’s gone. It’s really nice on its own, but I’m sure it’d make a lovely latte as well.

I love the bitterness of this blend. It’s very fruity, but the pomegranate stands out the most for me (aside from the bitter orange note). It’s great over ice. To my surprise, this is one of the best DT blends I’ve had this year.

The lemon flavor in this tea is so delicious. They’ve managed to create a blend that has fairly natural lemon flavor. The sage is a bit too strong for me. It makes the tail end of every sip quite savory, which is an odd flavor when someone’s sweetened the tea. I bought about an ounce to sample, but I don’t know that I’ll finish it. Shame. The lemon flavor is really quite nice.