Category: Review

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DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast

Blackberry Jasmine Blast by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Blackberry Jasmine Blast was a tea that I had gotten to sample in store and really enjoyed it, so I decided to buy some to steep at home. This green tea blend has a really nice berry aroma with lovely floral notes. I found that it smells more like roses and hibiscus to me than jasmine, which is likely because those two are just much stronger in fragrance compared to jasmine petals. I got to try this one iced in store and thought it was great.

Blackberry Jasmine Blast consists of: apple, green tea scented with jasmine flowers, hibiscus, rosehip shells, blackberries, and natural flavouring. While I can definitely see the apple pieces, I don’t really smell them too much – which I don’t think is a bad thing since apple is often an ingredient that’s present for a general fruity flavour and sweetness.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Blackberry Jasmine Blast in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 to 4 minutes. My initial steep was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Blackberry Jasmine Blasts steeps to a gorgeous deep berry pink colour – a quality that I fully attribute to the hibiscus flowers in the blend. There’s a lovely hint of floral from the tea, but it’s primary a berry aroma that I smell. On first taste, I note that Blackberry Jasmine Blast is quite fruity – it has a nice ‘mixed berries’ kind of flavour to it. I found it was light on the floral notes, although it is still present. I taste the hibiscus the most, and very little of the green tea base and the jasmine, which is a bit disappointing (but not surprising given that hibiscus is such a strong ingredient.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once and found that the colour and taste was really weak in comparison to the initial steep. My recommendation would be to just steep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast was just okay. While I really enjoy this green tea blend as an iced tea, I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of green or jasmine in the flavour of the steeped tea. It’s mostly the berries and hibiscus that run the show when it comes to Blackberry Jasmine Blend. However, as a fruity hibiscus iced tea blend, I would definitely give it a 4 out of 4 since it makes the tastebuds happy as an iced tea – just not as a green tea.

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Oteas’s Berry Blend

Berry Blend by Oteas
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$6.95 for 30g (12 tea sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Berry Blend for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Another week, another Oteas tea to drink! This week’s review is actually of a fruit infusion blend, called Berry Blend. The tisane comes prepackaged into biodegradable tea sachets, that came to me in a shrink-wrapped cardstock box. Berry Blend has a really bright, mixed berries aroma to it, which is really inviting because the weather is getting warmer where I am and it reminds me a lot of a fruit punch.

Berry Blend consists of: currants, hibiscus, elderberries, grapes, blackberries, flavour, and raspberry fruit granulate. I did have to look up what ‘fruit granulate’ is, and the general gist of it is that fruit granulate is freeze-dried fruit pieces – the more you know!

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Berry Blend in 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 10 minutes. I did an initial steep of Berry Blend for 7 minutes.

First Taste

Berry Blend steeps to a beautiful dark pink colour – it’s actually pretty close to what colour my hair is currently. There’s a really bright and fresh berry aroma from it. On first taste, I notice that Berry Blend has a really sweet, fruity/berry flavour to it. There is a tartness to it, which isn’t surprising because this fruit infusion has hibiscus in it and that generally gives drinks a pink colour and tart flavour. It is tasty though, and would make for an excellent iced tea.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Berry Blend, but found that the flavours and colour were not quite where I wanted it to be in comparison to the initial steep. I would recommend Berry Blend for just one steep (and have it iced!).

My Overall Impression

I loved Oteas’s Berry Blend. With he weather warming up, I’m really enjoying more teas and tisanes that taste good at a cooler temperature or iced. I really enjoyed drinking it because it had a great fruity flavour and the colour was just so intense! I can see this making a great iced tea during the summer and it’s quite refreshing because of the sweet and tart flavours.

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The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea

Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea by The Secret Garden Tea Company
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.00 for 100g

First Impressions

I bought Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea when I was at The Secret Garden Tea Company for afternoon tea back in March. The retail side of their shop was full of tea paraphernalia (teacups and tea pots everywhere!) and I couldn’t help but make a little purchase since I was already there. This was one of the teas that was recommended by the server that my friend and I had, and while I didn’t end up getting it as my tea choice, my friend had and said it was “Really, really good!” so I had to give it at try at home. Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea comes in a plastic-lined paper pouch that closes with a metal band. It’s not air-tight, but it makes for a nice presentation. If you’re like me, you have a lot of extra glass mason jars or tea tins on hand, so it’s an easy issue to fix.

The loose leaf black has some nice citrus notes, with a hint of vanilla in the background. The packaging only mentions the name of the tea with no information regarding the ingredients or steeping instructions. I was able to find the ingredients list on the product page on The Secret Garden Tea Company’s website. Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea consists of: organic black tea, osmanthus flowers, and organic natural flavouring. I can definitely smell the bergamot and vanilla, which are two flavours mentioned on the product page.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions for Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea on either the packaging itself or on the product page online. I opted to do an initial steep with 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes.

If you’re ever stuck on a tea because there’s no instructions included, you can check out my Steeping Times for Different Teas guide for suggestions on how to steep your tea.

First Taste

Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea steeps to a nice golden orange colour. There’s a nice citrus aroma from the tea, with a hint of the vanilla in the background. I found the flavour to be quite pleasant – the bergamot is strong, and there’s a creamy vanilla flavour to it. The black tea flavour is strong, and it has a nice boldness to it that has a slight malty note to it. I found that with an initial steep of 3 minutes there was no astringency or bitterness that I could detect.

I tried it both straight and with a bit of added cream, which I found helped amplify the creamy vanilla flavour and didn’t temper the bergamot too much so it was still quite tasty.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the first resteep was quite similar to the initial steep – with less bergamot and vanilla. For the second steep, I found very little bergamot and vanilla flavour. I would recommend Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea for just one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea. I can see why the server had made a recommendation for this tea as it’s quite delicious. I normally don’t find creamy Earl Grey teas to be that good, since I like to add my own cream/milk to it, but this one had a great vanilla flavour to it that really added to the overall creaminess and smoothness to the tea. It had a great mouthfeel texture to it, and it did great for resteep which is always important in my opinion!

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