6 Tasting Notes
Fruity and very sweet tasting. This was a big hit with the kids, and while I don’t really care for it hot it makes a completely delicious ice tea, no additional sweetener needed. This is a perfect ice tea for the warm weather and satisfies my sweet tooth.
Preparation
It’s… alright. I was spoiled by how amazing the Oh Christmas Treat chocolate orange tea from David’s Tea was and wanted to find a taste-alike to get me through the year, and this doesn’t cut it for me. It’s sort of floral, not chocolatey enough, and has a very strong Pu-erh taste (this is probably a good thing for a lot of people, but it overpowers the other flavours for me). It’s still nice, just not something that makes me want more. It resteeped well and my husband swears it tastes almost the same to him, so maybe it’s just me.
This tea breaks my heart a little. I’m a broke as heck person that spends way too much money on tea as a splurge, but even I had the eyes-bugging-out moment when I realized how expensive it would be to get a bag of this. Sadly, the to-go cups at David’s Tea are all the same price, so I figured I would get that as a treat and it would give me the chance to try their most expensive one for the same price as any of the other kinds. Why is this sad? Because now I’ve tried it and it haunts my dreams. Dream of tea, you say? Sounds like you have a problem! Well, yeah, I do, and it’s that this tea is buttery (like another reviewer I didn’t “get” what people meant by buttery tea until I tried this), green, smooth, and utterly amazing. I’m a “milk and sugar it up!” kind of person with most teas, but this is one of the very, very few I’ve ever enjoyed that is absolutely perfect with nothing in it.
It’s very delicate, and needs both a VERY short steep and much lower than usual temperature. One day, when I have a variable temperature kettle and am not so terminally broke, this will be a luxurious, once-a-week tea for me. I think even if I had all the money in the world I would still want to keep it to once a week (okay, twice a week!) as it really does taste special. It needs a lazy day of total indulgence, or a lake-view cottage afternoon, or the visit of someone you love to pieces, or the news that your best friend is having a baby. It is tea to celebrate life with, and as I type this I know I’m going to have to find a way to reshuffle my budget just a little bit so I can keep it in my life. Oh, what’s that, you think this review is stuffed with hyperbole? If only. No, this tea really is that special.
Preparation
Brown sugar, milk, foamy latte style, top with a dash of cinnamon and brown sugar. Sit back and enjoy a little non-denominational heaven. So good, it’s such a perfect mix of pumpkin and spice. I have three tins stored away and this is the tea that all my friends end up asking for when they come to visit.
This tea makes me angry. Tea shouldn’t make you angry, right? I’m not used to tea provoking in me a burning rage. The thing is, this tea is so much better than any other chocolate based tea that I can’t help but look at my tea stash in frustrated, barely hidden contempt when I realise just how many paychecks have been halved by my buying chocolate teas that can’t even begin to be half the tea that Oh Christmas Treat is. I love chocolate, and I always seek out chocolate teas thinking “yes, this is it, this is the one that will make me swoon and say ‘you, darling tea, are as good as hot chocolate!’” Only to take a sip and sadly shake my head in disappointment.
Well, Oh Christmas Treat is not your typical tea that boasts of chocolate and leaves you looking wistfully at the box of truffles that you promised yourself you wouldn’t open until you had company over. No, it’s chocolatey. Really, gloriously, no-lie chocolatey. Terry’s Chocolate Orange in a cup. Foam up the milk for a latte and you’re not going to be remotely tempted to visit your friendly local barista for something foamy and sweet.
What’s this, it’s a seasonal tea? Oh, right, it’s right there in the name. Oh dear, I have one tin to last me the year? Anger… rising… must… ration… sweet mana… nooooooo!
Just a quick edit to express my delight that this tea has been added to the permanent collection. It will be back in stores by the end of February and I won’t have to be angry every time I ration it anymore.
