Strawberry Rose Champagne Oolong Tea

I AM BAAAAAAAACK! So sorry I’ve been away, college is crazy. But now that the weather is getting way cold, I’m drinking more and more tea. Just want to let Angel from Teavivre know that I’ll be getting through the rest of my samples soon, hopefully. It’s been so long, I need to get back into it.

But, before I get back into Teavivre, I received some amazing Teavana teas for Christmas. I drank the other three before this one, but I’m reviewing them out of order. (Sorry.)

Anyways, opening the back the dry smell was fruity and floral, and had that distinctive smell of alcohol. Not majorly, of course, but enough to where you knew the champagne flavor was in there somewhere. A nice smell. The tea itself was pretty, with ACTUAL MINI ROSEBUDS in the mix. Very pretty. :)

Wet the smell was about the same, a bit tarty-fruity. Bubbly could even describe it well.

Taste is the part I like most though. (Who doesn’t?) I must say I am new to Oolong, but I like it none the less. In this tea I can’t really say I can taste the oolong enough to describe it, since I have yet to taste just straight oolong tea. But the strawberry in this is pleasant, and their is a bubbly sweetness that’s really nice. It’s got the champagne flavor, and even though I am drinking it warm and it’s delicious, ice this baby and it’ll be even better, probably. I will update on that once I get around to it.

All in all this tea is very refreshing, and it’s good for a Friday!

Dry Smell: Fruity. Not sickingly sweet, though close to it.
Wet Smell: Pretty much the same.
1st Taste: Sweet tart. Like the candies giving out on halloween. The after tastes: really tart, bitter even, and kind of syrupy, in a medicinal kind of way. I have no experience with Champagne or with Oolong so I couldn’t tell you if it resembled either of those or not. My Kettle’s Setting for Oolong is 190, and Teavana’s suggestion was for 195. I decided to go with the French Press setting at 200, and waited for it come down a little. Maybe next time I’ll try the Oolong setting?

My first sipdown since starting Steepster! :D

For this cup I basically just upended the remnants out of my jar, so I don’t think there was much oolong in it at all…it still smelled lovely and looked delightful (full of little spice bits and fruit nubs), but I’m curious to see how this will change the taste.

Since there was almost no tea in the strainer I went ahead and pushed the steep time up to 4 minutes. Added a little sugar and honey since it’s been that kind of morning and waited for the first sip to be ready.

Again it brewed up to a rich reddish hue. I’ve always noticed a bit of particulate matter floating at the top, but this cup is particularly bad…probably because it’s bottom of the barrel. No matter. :)

Still smells sweet, but the taste fell a little flat for me this time. I love the scent – the almost-sickly strawberry and crisp champagne – but there just isn’t the oomph there to really back it up.

Sadly I don’t think I’ll be re-stocking this one. Not a bad tea, but perhaps not the right tea for me.

The girls at Teavana just know how to sucker me in to something new. I got about 3 oz of this at my last Teavana haul and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked the smell. Oolongs are my favorite tea and this one is sure to remain in my collection as long as it is available. 2.5 tsp/190*F for 3:15. A tsp of rock sugar (all my teas I take with sugar) and it is really soothing my itchy/sore throat this morning. Hint of strawberry, a nice floral rose flavor, and just a hint of champagne. Very beautiful tea.

I’m really digging this tea. It’s one of my favorite new ones. The hint of champagne is really interesting! The strawberry tastes quite natural, which is always nice. The oolong actually comes out a bit, too, which isn’t very common with Teavana’s flavored teas, and the rose complements it well. Definitely a fantastic blend.

Now this of the three I picked up on the weekend at Teavana really does send the message of spring. The alluring aroma and the taste are just heavenly. It’s a little tart but a little sweet at the same time. You taste more of the champagne notes than the strawberry that accents this special tea. The rose lends delicately over the predominant flavors that give this tea a slightly pink appearance.

Of the three I’d have to say this one is my favorite overall taste-wise. It’s just the romantic touch this one needed on this fine spring day. I hope everyone is enjoying the mild temperatures and the sweet sunshine. Cheers!

I really enjoyed this tea. I’ve had it both hot and iced. Hot I get much more strawberry flavor and iced I taste more champagne. It’s my favorite iced, it’s almost like I can taste the bubbles :-)

I went to Teavana today to restock on some tea, and as long as I was there I figured I would try one of their new ones. Strawberry Rose Champagne smelled pretty unique in comparison to the other fruity blends that were sent wafting my way so I decided to give it a go.

The taste is really interesting and different. You get the champagne quite a bit as well as the oolong. There is also quite a bit of rose flavor to it. Between the rose, and the champagne I’m not getting a lot of the strawberry. A nice, gentle floral/fruity tea. I don’t know that I would get this tea again, but I’m really glad I gave it a try.

This s my favorite from the new collection of teas. It has a nice balance between the fruity and the champagne/floral tastes. I have been able to reuse the leaves several times and get very close to the same flavor.

I can’t taste any oolong. Help! Where’s the oolong? I love oolong, so the lack of it kind of makes me mad. Grrr. This smells fantastic dry, but when steeped it really lacks flavor of any sort. I had to add two tablespoons to make it taste like anything.
The olympics are interesting. Slopestyle is perhaps the most exciting of any of the sports. It’s just really fun! Also, women’s curling gets super intense. Canada is winning everything, as usual. Go Canada!