Tropic Tango by DavidsTea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g
First Impressions
Tropic Tango was an online exclusive that I had purchased a while ago from DavidsTea. Like quite a few people, I no longer super close to several retail locations, which honestly bums me out! But it just gives me an excuse to pick up exclusives that aren’t available in store since, why not? Tropic Tango comes in a familiar sealed, resealable silver pouch with a bright yellow product label across the front. The thing that really made me want to try it was the ingredients list when I read it (mostly because it includes mango and coconut and just sounds delicious).
Tropic Tango consists of apple, candied papaya, candied mango, hibiscus blossoms, natural flavouring, beetroot, carrot, coconut and cornflower blossoms. The ingredients are fairly identifable. Tropic Tango smells primarily like the coconut because it’s just such a strong aroma that it overtakes the other ingredients fairly easily – papaya and mango are just milder in comparison. I do smell the mango in the blend, but the papaya is definitely a bit lost compared to the coconut.
Preparation
DavidsTea recommends steeping Tropic Tango in 95°C (200°F) water for 5+ minutes. I followed the recommended water temperature and did an initial steep of Tropic Tango for 7 minutes.
First Taste
Tropic Tango steeps to a really pretty peachy pink (although it is much deeper in my teapot!). It has a great coconut aroma to it. The flavour is sweet and fruity with just a hint of tartness. I really taste the coconut and mango, there’s some sweetness to it that likely comes from all the candied fruit and the apple. There’s a bit of an oil slick across the top, which comes from the natural oils of the coconut itself. The tartness I attribute to the hibiscus, and I think it’s lovely. This is definitely a blend made for having iced, and I’m looking forward to warmer temperatures as I start getting my iced tea pitchers on regular rotation in my fridge.
A Second Cup?
I did attempt to resteep Tropic Tango, but like most tisanes, Tropic Tango does fall a bit flat in the flavour department during the second steep with the same leaves. I would recommend Tropic Tango for just the initial steep.
My Overall Impression
I liked DavidsTea’s Tropic Tango. The aroma of the dry leaf, the colour of the steeped tea, and the cup of tea that I got from this tisane was tasty – I think Tropic Tango will make a great iced tea for this summer and I’ll likely mix it with a splash of lemonade from some added freshness and brightness to help quench the thirst. The thing that really didn’t make this a favourite off the bat was the fact that the coconut was just so overpowering compared to the other tropic ingredients (papaya and mango) – I would have enjoyed it a lot better if the mango was more forward, either just being more plentiful in the ratio compared to the other ingredients, or just the coconut cut back on.
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