Berry Romantic

This is a…pleasant tea, but I don’t think it’s exactly what’s advertised. I can taste a faint hint of strawberry flavour, and no cream flavour at all. In my opinion, it takes a really long time for this tea to steep? The container says 4-7 minutes, but my cup still tasted like water after that time; I had to steep for 10 minutes before the water even changed colour. This tea is not too sweet, and not too tart, but it’s not very amazing either. At least I don’t have to add anything extra to make it palatable.

So… The Valentine’s Collection is out today!

I did the merch set up last night, and let me tell you I really like the look of all the new teaware! My favourite is the metallic, gradient perfect mugs though! I’ve been severely torn between buying the teal or the pink since I first saw them, though I’m leaning towards the teal because believe it or not I actually don’t own a teal mug yet!

Also, of course, a new collection means new teas! The Earl’s Valentine is back, and there are two new blends as well: this tea and White Chocolate Rose which is a black tea. I’ve been super excited to try them out, so of course I had to as soon as possible!

I had this one hot, and it was really lovely but honestly a little surprising? It’s supposed to be like a strawberry and cream oolong and I didn’t totally get that profile but I did thoroughly enjoy what I did taste.

The really noticeable cane sugar in the leaf had me a little cautious, but all in all I found this actually pretty mellow and light to medium bodied without a sense of over the top sweetness. In fact, it tasted very naturally sweet to me despite the fact I knew otherwise. The strawberry tasted a little more generic berry to me than distinctly strawberry, perhaps because the apple in the blend comes through more than I’d expected it to. Still, it is berry like and really pleasant overall. I thought it had a nice, delicate floral taste in the finish as well. More jasmine than rose, in my opinion – can’t speak towards how strong the gomphrena is/was because it’s not an ingredient I have much or really any familiarity with. The cream element was very absent for me.

So yeah, I actually REALLY enjoyed this profile although it doesn’t at all seem like what was intended here. I’m going to say that warrants a bit of further exploration with this blend before I make any overall decisions about it. First impression was good though.