Dance With Elephant

This was a random, fruity pick from Tealux when we made our order. They are certainly not lying about the huge chunks of fruit (which is great, though difficult to measure), but I’m not entirely sure that I read carefully enough to note that there was rooibos in the blend. Oops. Oh well.

Brewed up, this tea smells pretty fruity. Very banana-y. Tastewise, it’s the same. Quite banana-y, with definite coconut creaminess. There a bit of rooibos scratchiness as well. The one thing that I’m not liking here, however, is that… there’s a bit of a funky flavour going on. Kind of a yucky, pukey flavour. And aroma. Kind of like the flavour I tasted in Adagio’s Pina Colada, although not neeaaarrrllly as strong. Consequently, I’m wondering if the tangy pineapple in some of these pina colada blends doesn’t sit well, or blend well… because… blech. I was pretty darn impressed with this blend other than that though, because it’s very real-banana (like a smoothie), plus lovely coconut, but I just can’t take that flavour in tea. And this I know isn’t caused by sickness. Sigh. Oh well, at least I only picked up a sample size!

After I opened and smelled all the little packages of tea I got in the mail last night, I couldn’t help but put some of this tea straight into an overnight cold brew. I picked this tea up even though I’m not really into herbal teas. The combination sounded good for iced tea and the name is adorable! This actually has rooibos in it, but the large pieces of fruit take over. I had to dig deep to come up with the rooibos at the bottom of the bag. I also had a bit of a tea steeping malfunction, as I spooned/dumped (can’t really spoon this tea with the big fruit pieces) into my infuser that goes with my glass steeper. After I did that, I realized it has rooibos, which doesn’t stay in that infuser since the holes are too big. So, I transferred the dry leaf into a paper filter, only to change my mind and decide to just steep the tea directly in the water with the intent to strain it after it steeped. I wanted to make sure that anything that might dissolve had the full opportunity!

It cold-brewed for about 10 hours. It smells like that banana, orange juice you can buy at the grocery store, but it tastes a lot more delicate. I get banana, citrus, and coconut. Pretty nice, actually. Not getting a lot of rooibos, which is okay by me. It’s actually quite refreshing! I think I would definitely consider getting more of this tea. The only bad thing is that you don’t get a lot of tea for the weight of it, due to the huge fruit pieces.

I bought a sample of this purely for the name, I’m afraid. It smells pretty good in the bag – very banana-y.

Prepared, it doesn’t have much of a smell. Taste-wise, it’s kind of weird. It has a creamy, fruity, rooibos-y taste. I don’t taste banana or coconut at all. Not very pleasant.

Here I am to bump up the rating for this tea! :D Thanks so much for sending this along, StarFevre! I always wanted to try this one. I was a little worried about the coconut ruining it, as I knew this was probably a bit old. But behold, despite the huge coconut flakes in the infuser, the coconut doesn’t taste bad! There are elephant size pieces of fruit in this blend: a HUGE mango slice that was almost the size of a mango… bananas, pineapple. I really went for a very long steep on this one to really soak that big mango slice. The flavor that results is delicious — more sweet and creamy than tart. I can taste a hint of mango, with some banana. I really like this!

One of the last samples from my first Tealux order. I’d heard good things about this one, and it’s one of the rare fruit blends without hibiscus, so I was interested to give it a try. Visually, it’s an impressive sight. The pieces of fruit in this blend are HUGE! The banana chip in my bag was about three inches long and a centimeter thick, the orange a full half slice, and the mango/papaya pieces an inch square. There were also generous strips of coconut, and a scattering of rooibos. The bag says to use 2.5 tsp, but it was impossible to measure so I just dumped the whole lot in my infuser basket. It got about 6 minutes in boiling water, and came out about right.

The liquor is a bright orangey colour, with a slightly oily scrim on the surface. It smells beautiful, like a fruit smoothie, and it tastes equally strongly of fruit. It’s hard to believe I’m actually drinking tea! The main flavour is banana, followed by pineapple, and rounded off beautifully with the creaminess of coconut. The banana and coconut are quite sweet, but the pineapple provides a slightly tangy note that cuts through some of the “mushier” fruit flavours. Right at the end of the sip, there’s a touch of pepperiness that I typically associate with mango and papaya. All told, it’s a delicious combination.

The main thing that strikes me about this blend is how it’s so incredibly fruity – more so than any other “fruit” blend I’ve ever tried. It’s also by far the best “tropical” flavoured tea I’ve tried. High accolades from me! This is definitely one I’ll look to repurchase in the future. I can imagine it being wonderful cold-brewed in the summer.