Strawberries and Cream

Was quite underwhelmed by this one. The smell was amazing, but the taste did not match my expectations once brewed. Couldn’t place my finger on the problem, but thinking it might be the yoghurt drops. These work much better in something like DavidsTea’s southern belle than this one. Won’t repurchase.

Not sure how I feel about this tea. It smells AMAZING but tastes mediocre. I was expecting a really creamy-tasting tea, but in reality it’s very tart. In the store I was tossing up between fruitalicious and strawberries and cream. There was a free taster for fruitalicious, and I thought it tasted really nice, but the girl told me strawberries and cream was ‘creamier’ tasting, so I decided to give it a go. I wish I had purchased fruitalicious now…. this tea is way too tart for my liking.

Strawberries and Cream is a sweet tasting fruit tissane. It tastes of strawberry (there really is no cream taste to it) and by itself is not overpowering or sickly sweet, instead it has a light almost refreshing taste. It is closer to a soda drink than a herbal tea as it has no lingering after taste.

It makes a desert in itself if had warm, but is really best enjoyed icey-cold – it is satisfying, healthy and deliciously refreshing. If making as an ice-tea you should leave to infuse for a minimum of 30 minutes preferably overnight in fridge. It is well complemented by T2 Turkish Apple (dissolve in boiling water) with strawberries and cream to infuse, this is a really lovely ice-tea.

There’s a Valentine’s Bingo on Instagram and one of the prompts was to pair a tea with a sweet treat. I had a heart sugar cookie from Starbucks and I wanted something similarly festive for the pic and this tea caught my eye. I made it hot but the hibiscus had me worried so I waited for it to cool before actually drinking it. It’s ok. Reminds me of the Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait (I think that’s what it’s called) by DAVIDsTEA, with no tartness to set off the sweet strawberry and cream. Better than expected.

Also, I was so ready to get my nails done after work that I had showered and gotten dressed on my lunch and even set up a cold brew of this to take to the appointment. Then I learned the appointment is actually tomorrow and I was sad. But now I have a cold brew to compare to the “hot” tea.

The cold brew is more strawberry and less cream. Is that better or worse? I have no idea. I guess it depends on preference because cold brew this makes me think of strawberry hard candies.

Adventaggedon Day 20: Tea 8/8

Truthfully I think this tea is kind of trying too hard? Like, it’s not a bad tea but it reminds me really heavily of DT’s Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait but without the rhubarb and with a sort of weaker taste overall. It’s got the hibiscus kind of tartness that leans into the strawberry which means you can’t latte it, which always bums me out with strawberry and cream teas. Since I can’t make it richer that way, I kind of need the flavour to be a lot more punchy and vibrant than what I’m getting.

Plus, we’ve already tasted a strawberry/cream blend from T2 all the way back on day one! That was a green tea base, so I can understand wanting something caffeine free. However, the flavour balance itself of that tea was actually a lot stronger to me than this one…

Advent Day 20

Two sips and I passed the mug. Nothing but the unpleasant metallic tang of hot hibiscus. Should have tried cold steeping this one, but I wanted something warm to drink.

Pleasant tart berry beverage, nothing stands out to me in particular. Like many others, I didn’t perceive a creamy element in this … until the very, very, very, very last two tiny siplets, when I did detect an interesting creamy note (I think). I suppose what little dregs there were in the bottom of the cup actually contained a bit of the yogurt cream-like ingredient. Maybe next time I’ll leave a bit floating in the cup as an experiment. For Science!

This smells delicious in the packet and also once steeped. It’s very strong on the strawberry front and I do get a luscious dollop of cream, too. However, taste wise, this is a bit of a let down. It’s very tart from the hibiscus, and the creaminess I can smell just doesn’t materialise. As a fruity tea, this isn’t bad. I do taste the strawberry (not so much the apple), but it’s really sour. I’m not enjoying this as much as the smell (and the name) led me to believe I would. I don’t think I would even enjoy this iced.

It’s funny, I remember I quite liked this as an evening tea before reading reviews that said it has a beautiful aroma, but the taste doesn’t stand up. So I went back & tried it again, & now I see exactly what they mean. I was letting the heavenly aroma, with its strong strawberry & creamy notes, trick my tastebuds. Once I really concentrated on the taste, rather than smell, it proved less berry, much less cream and more hibiscus. It’s also quite tart, & because I don’t like to add sugar if I can help it, I think it isn’t the tea for me (unless it was just to brew a cup & sit it beside me like an air infuser!).
How disappointing – if the taste matched the aroma this tea would be AMAZING. If the aroma wasn’t SO good, the tea by itself would be pretty good, but once the expectation was set it just didn’t deliver.
Still enjoyable, but I’ll look for a better version.

326/365

This one smells absolutely delicious, both dry and once brewed! Unfortunately (and like many teas of this ilk) it doesn’t quite carry over into the flavour. In terms of taste, this one’s pretty hibi-heavy, although it doesn’t look to be when you’re just looking at the dry leaf. There are lots of apple and freeze-dried strawberry pieces, but I suppose as an ingredient hibi is always going to trump those. I can taste strawberry, but it’s really too tart/sour to really live up to its name – especially when brewed hot. There’s not much in the way of creaminess, except perhaps right at the end of the sip. You have to concentrate, though! I’m wondering whether a cold brew would suit this one better, but in general I don’t feel fruit blends are really T2’s strength. Their black blends, on the other hand…

This one’s okay, but I don’t love it.