Nongfu Spring

Last and certainly most confusing of the Nongfu Spring RTDs…

So, if you’re not familiar with T&T, pretty much all they carry are important products from Asian. In many circumstances, like with these bottled teas, there isn’t a lick of English (or French, since I’m in Quebec) on the bottles. However, in order for them to be sold here in Canada they need to have stickers slapped on them translating ingredients and other information. Sometimes the names of the products don’t always have the most ‘clear’ translations…

For these RTDs in particular the naming scheme seemed simple: fruit + tea base. As I mentioned in another tasting note, the artwork on the bottles was very beautiful with these surrealist images incorporating the fruits. Well. This one is interesting because the translated sticker calls in Pomelo but the fruit on the bottle reaallllyyyy doesn’t look like pomelo. In fact, it looks a lot like pear…

In terms of taste, I guess I’m leaning Pomelo!? Definitely this did not taste like pear in any way but it didn’t exactly taste strongly of pomelo either. However, it was citrusy and also very, very floral. Though the lingering aftertaste of whatever was contributing such a floral flavour was a bit much, I ultimately found this to be more drinkable that the Grapefruit Jasmine tea which was another big offender in the floral department.

I tried searching this flavour up online and it was kind of tricky given the language differences, but I think I found it. However, it only added to the confusion as Google Translate of the webpage converts the name to “Yuzu Green Tea”. THe artwork really doesn’t look like yuzu to me either , though I’ve gotta say that between pear, pomelo, and yuzu as options both the yuzu and pomelo are the far more believable flavours for a Chinese RTD beverage.

This was my favourite of the four Nongfu Spring RTDs I tried!

I thought it was sort of comparable to Brisk or Nestea, but just better. I think I kept making that connection because the sweetness level of this drink was definitely comparable to a more North American style of “Sweet Tea”/RTD but the flavours were a lot cleaner and more direct. Like, this had such straight forward bright and sweet lemon note. The biggest distinction though is the tea itself. You can really taste the black tea in this drink even with all the sweetness and it’s much smoother and malty. Just a clear quality difference in what was used.

I would buy this one again.

Like the first Nongfu Spring RTD I tried, this one was quite sweet. However the juicy and floral white peach notes with the greener oolong base that was clearly used as the foundation were both way better suited flavour-wise to that type of sweetness. Everything just clicked together very smoothly for an equally fruity and tea-forward drink that was pretty refreshing. I’d love to see what a 50% sweetened version of this would be like. I feel like that would be pretty close to perfect!

Also three of the four drinks ended up having pretty notable floral elements, this being on of them. However, I thought this was the most “natural” floral tasting and the least aggresive.

More RTDs that I picked up from TNT a few weeks back!

Gotta be honest that I ended up going for all four flavours available of this brand because I was attracted to the artwork on the bottles – very surrealist sort of style incorporating all the different fruits the flavours were inspired by.

This was the first of the four I tried and I thought it was pretty solid! One of the things I will always appreciate about the bottles teas that get imported from China is that they usually are very tea forward. Much more than the typical North American RTD. That was true here as well though it’s worth clarifying that all of the four I bought were still pretty heavily sweetened. I don’t think I much liked the jasmine in this drink though as it had a more perfume-y sort of jasmine that was a bit too much as it built up on the palate. The pink grapefruit notes was light and lively though, and the top note brightness they brought to the drink actually helped break up the floral profile a lot. I think in general the grapefruit and jasmine paired very well, they just weren’t super well balanced.

So I spent most of today, for work, at an International Foods trade show here in Montreal. I definitely brought home waaayyyy too many samples of both different teas/RTDs/Kombucha but also just a ton of snacks. Plus, I obvious had waaaayyyy too many other samples during the actual trade show…

However, I think the best part of the day was actually after the tradeshow. It took place at a convention center near Chinatown. I had gone with Marika, so afterwards we hit up Chinatown for a late lunch and to check out some of the stores in the area. One place we went was a Chinese/Korean grocery store, and it was such an incredibly different experience going with her. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here on Steepster (though it’s definitely come up on the podcast), but she lived in China for several years and actually speaks Mandarin and reads it pretty well too. So hearing her recommendations for products to try just has, like… so much more weight to it!?

Like, yes! Tell me what you liked when you lived in China and what’s authentic and actually enjoyed by the people living. I want to hear it all!

Anyway, all that to say that when she saw this bottled tea on the shelf her face LIT UP more than I’ve seen it in quite a while. She insisted that I try it because it was the best unsweetened bottled tea she had ever tried, and I said “well yeah, of course I will” because I trust her implicitly. I guess it’s cold brewed, which is cool and makes sense because this is smooth.

Like, I’m fully on board. Sometimes when people say smooth or “round” they’re also saying flat/bland but no, the taste of this is surprisingly complex with deep nutty and honey flavours alongside a nice malty flavour. It’s just… so refreshing and easy sipping. I might be biased because she was so into it, but I am inclined to say it’s the nicest and most authentic bottled tea I’ve come across. You can implicitly tell this was made with real tea leaves, for sure.

I am a sucker for pretty packaging, which is why I picked up this bottled tea in the grocery store the other day. Also the grocery store also labels things in (really small) English, so I knew this was a jasmine tea.

This has an odd taste that I can’t put my finger on. It was in my fridge, and thus pretty cold, but it almost tastes like ice, if that makes sense. Like jasmine ice. As it warms to room temperature, it tastes more like a standard jasmine green, but it’s still oddly “frosty”. I’m not sure where this flavor is coming from, and it’s not bad, but it’s unexpected. All and all a pretty decent bottled jasmine tea, but that weird flavor might keep me from returning to it.