Strawberry Colada

Cold Brew Sipdown (131)!

I stopped by DAVIDsTEA last night after work and bought 50g of Juicy Orange and Buchu Superfruit, which means that I need to clear out some tin space for those two teas. That’s actually not all that hard for me to do though, ‘cause I’ve got two DT sipdowns I’ve been putting off for a while – which include this tea.

This cold brew is lovely! It’s sweet, juicy, and just a little tart strawberries accented by a lovely confectionery-type coconut note. There’s a light pineapple taste in the finish that can be picked up once the strawberry dies down a little. Overall, it’s a really nice cold brew – though perhaps inappropriate for the weather – it’s finally starting to get as cold as it normally is this time of year. I’m still really happy I stocked up on this one in the summer! If it reappears this year doubtful but possible I’m sure I’ll grab more.

The second new sample I got with that last order was this tea. I originally presented my adorable puppy with these samples and asked him which one I should try. He smelled the peach one and then smelled this one and licked the package twice. Clearly he chose the better of the two! XD
This one tastes like a mix of Hot Tropic and their Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. Because the Colada part was totally spot on, just like Hot Tropic. The strawberry tasted pretty sour like the sourness in Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. So that was a bummer. I think I mainly like the Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait is because it has enough flavors to balance out the sourness.
But yeah, the sourness almost over-took the colada part in this tea, but overall it was actually pretty good.
Least the first steep was.
The second steep barely held up at all.
This is an incredibly weak tea. While the first steep is good I wouldn’t waste money on buying it. Maybe the iced tea version would be better, but I’m not really into that…so yeah :S Anywho.
I did enjoy the first steep, just was disappointed by the second :( Oh well.
Guess it gives me more motivation to save money…at least on tea. xD

Piña colada with strawberries and hibiscus thrown into the mix. I can easily taste all of that with every sip. It’s a great idea, and while it works, I’m finding this a little too sweet for my liking. Maybe tone down the sugar-coated pineapple a bit and I’d be happier.

I see some Steepsterites mentioning that this is heavy on the hibiscus. Maybe it’s the mix of dry leaf I got, but I’m actually kind of wishing there was a little more tart hibiscus in mine to cut the sweetness. Never thought I’d say I wanted more hibiscus in something.

I don’t order online much from Davids Tea as I have a store that’s a ten-minute walk from my house. But the store was sold out of the gift item I wanted to get for my mom for Mother’s Day so I turned to their online store (which conveniently had a free shipping offer).

This blend was one of the free samples that came with my package. The smell was mouth-watering – I love anything pina-colada and the strawberry was an added bonus. Unfortunately as soon as I added water I saw the tell-tale red bloom of hibiscus. When I took a ship of the hot tea my worst fears were confirmed as pretty much all I could taste was the tart, metallic, almost blood-like flavour of hibiscus. Bleh.

I was tempted to dump it down the drain at that point, but since it had smelled so good, I decided to see what I could do to improve the flavour before giving up. So I stirred in about a teaspoonful of honey and low and behold it actually made the tea taste far better. I could actually taste the strawberry and pineapple even though the hibiscus tang was still present. Then I stuck my half-finished cup in the fridge overnight – and the next morning it was even better and actually rather enjoyable. It tasted like a tart, fruity pina-colada with a distinct strawberry undertone.

So obviously iced and sweetened is the only way to go with this tea. I don’t think I’d buy a large quantity of it, but I might try buying one of those pitcher packs which are specifically for iced tea. I could still do with less hibiscus over all, but in the end I still liked it.

Hello Monday..I oversteeped this tea and have bitter, tart, mostly disgusting hibiscus water lol. Next time we will try a 3 min steeping time, this has a ton of potential but just wayyy too tart right now. I steeped about 6 mins. Gahhhhh. My bad. Monday brain needs to wake up when making tea. The very mild coconut and strawberry flavor is nice though. If that can come out more, it will be delicious. But I messed it up lol. My bad.

Picked this one up last night and had it hot brew. There’s a cold brew in my fridge as well that i’ll finish off later today. I was on the hunt for a replacement tea to my cherry snowcone but sadly this isn’t it. While it’s a lovely strawberry/coconut drink, and i LIKE the hibiscus, i’m just not digging the coconut…which is too bad because i really like the strawberry flavour of this one. I’ll see how the coldbrew goes though, it might knock my socks off or something :)

Hurrah, new summer teas! Had this one iced to go today, and- mmmmm, delicious! It definitely reminded me of Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait, which is okay, since I LOVE that one. A different flavour profile might be nice, but I won’t say no to another strawberry tea. You can taste the coconut, so it isn’t as tart as SRP. Definitely getting more of this one – it’s yummy on its own, and would, I think, be delightful as a mix for an, ahem, alcoholic beverage :)

Jeepers, this one’s hibiscusy. Definitely strawberry/coconut as well, but there’s a strong hibiscus presence. Thankfully, though sour, it’s bearable. Would be best sweetened and iced, for sure. I’m drinking it cold.

True to its name, this tastes like strawberry, coconut, and pineapple. The hibiscus is also coming through. Herbals are never going to be my favorite, but this is pretty good.

Strawberry Colada tea lemonade! Steeped 5 tsp. of this in 1/2 c. of hot water for 6 minutes, poured over a large glass of ice, and topped up with lemonade. This REALLY brought out the pineapple. I’ve had this before and found it very complex, but this was almost entirely pineapple. At the beginning of the sip there’s a bit of mango and some strawberry at the end. Any coconut was entirely gone. This was still rather tart as well. I definitely enjoyed it this way, but wouldn’t do it every time.