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Expect a longer review later on www.itsallabouttheleaf.com (I’ll update as I see it posted) but this is one mighty intriguing blend - I continue to be fascinated that blended tea without further flavorings or additives can taste like a million different things.

When I saw how much this increased in volume during steeping—-easily triple what I spooned into the cup—I was sure I’d ruined it. Surprisingly, there was very little of that overcooked veggie taste; it was light and grassy and not bitter.

Jillian put this one up for adoption and it came to live at my house. I’m having a hard time deciding what a goji berry tastes like—-can’t separate it from the white tea flavor. But drinking it cheerfully and waiting for it to make me look, uh, youthier?

Regarding the dry tea: the blueberries clumped together a bit and made it hard to measure what seemed to be a fair quantity of fruit vs. rooibos. However, I must have gotten the proportions right. It’s nice and smooth and fruity—not a bit of tart. Rooibos is one of those funny ingredients that only goes with certain things, but blueberries work. Great chilled.

On ice. Nice!

Better as an iced sun tea, I believe, than hot. (But boy, am I looking forward to temps that don’t require cold stuff all the time!)

This was a “Shirley Temple Special” from Doulton that I was specifically saving for hot weather. Further research necessary—I didn’t care for my first sip hot; tasted awfully hibiscus-y; but on ice, the tartness took a backseat to the darjeeling. Wondering how it’ll behave with a little sweetener.

Heat advisory continues … still experimenting with what’s good cold. This is, but next round I will double up on tea or steeping time or both to keep the flavor from wimping out.

For an ALDI house brand tea, this makes a surprisingly good jug of iced sun tea. More ginger and peach than Assam flavor, but when it’s 97 and there’s a heat advisory extending through the next 48 hours, subtlety doesn’t matter much. Just mildly fruity and cold.

Received this as a review sample for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, so I’ll save lengthy comments for that - suffice it to say this is one of the best Assams I have ever tasted. Malty, biscuity … all the good words!

(Later in the 95 degree, zillion percent humidity afternoon … GREAT cold! My husband humors me when I stick tea under his nose to drink, but reverts to commercial bottled most of the time; however, he truly liked this one. Must be the malty freshness. Or the fresh maltiness.)