Number E

Last of the Number E sparkling teas…

To be honest, I hated this one. I tried to be really open minded when trying it because I thought I might not enjoy it because of the green tea – especially if it was as present as the oolong was in Hanging Belay. However, it wasn’t even the green tea that I hate. No, the part that I simply COULD NOT get over was the carbonated cucumber. The flavour was very intense, and it just had me gagging. I think that perhaps I may not be able to enjoy carbonated cucumber in general because I definitely had a similar visceral reaction when I tried the cucumber flavour of sparkling tea from Teatulia.

Sorry Number E, but this is a hard pass from me.

This was the best sparkling tea in my opinion – it’s an oolong tea with blueberry and lemon. To start, the idea of comboing those flavours? Excellent. That just sounds beautifully delicious. Plus, to be honest, oolong tea is definitely not the most commercial type of tea if you’re looking for mass market appeal – so kudos to Number E for going for it even though it’s not the most commercial – ’cause if you were going purely commercial this flavour profile probably would have been delicious on something like a black tea.

So getting in the taste…

The best part of this sparkling tea? YOU CAN TASTE THE OOLONG. It’s floral, a little nutty, and well rounded – and it adds a great depth to the sweet, jammy blueberry notes. Those two flavours actually make up the majority of the flavour profile those there’s a light lemon notes that I picked out in the top note and the very lightly in the undertones following that. Miraculously, this is a sparkling tea that is flavourful and nuanced that TASTES LIKE TEA.

Wonderful.

Would drink, and often.

Had Number E’s line up of Sparkling teas shortly after the TO Tea Festival, but in a move that was very unlike me I actually forgot to write about them…

This was probably my second favourite of the three; it’s a herbal/fruit based “Sparkling Tea” where the tea is actually a tisane – hibiscus. Taste wise, it’s very refreshing and drinkable with a sweetness and tartness. It gives me both “Cranberry Gingerale” vibes as well as “Cranberry Cider” vibes – but obviously without the ginger. I could probably drink a ton of these very easily – especially in the summer. I think the sweetness is really pleasant and natural, and offset with an appropriate crispness and tart finish.

My main issue with this flavour? Well, since it IS completely herbal it doesn’t feel like tea to me. Like, this is just a sparkling fruit juice. You can brand it as tea because of the hibiscus but it simply doesn’t feel true/differentiated enough from other sparkling drinks that just use fruit juices…