Tag: Fox Tea Club

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Fox Tea Club’s Chocolate Tea

Chocolate Tea by Fox Tea Club
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.98USD for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Chocolate Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I will be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about seeing a Chocolate Tea in the goodies that Fox Tea Club sent me, but I’m game to try just about anything as long as it doesn’t contain coffee. Chocolate Tea actually does smell like milk chocolate, which always a good start. I found that I couldn’t smell much of the black tea base, but given the name of the tea and the fact that the smell matches the name, all is forgiven.

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Chocolate Tea is made up of black tea, cacao beans, caramel, foxberry, and sea buckthorn. One curious thing is that the sprinkles aren’t mentioned in the ingredients list at the time of writing, but are very much present in the black tea blend itself. They remind me a lot of snowflakes, so perhaps this an early winter-themed tea review for you all.

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Preparation

There were no steeping instructions on the Fox Tea Club website, but the label suggested steeped in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes and that the tea could been steeped twice. I followed the steeping instructions for my initial steep of Chocolate Tea.

First Taste

Chocolate Tea steeps to a beautiful reddish-brown colour, very much like a regular black tea. There’s small flecks of oil across the top which I’m attributing to the snowflake sprinkles that melted in my tea. The steeped Chocolate Tea stills smell remarkably like milk chocolate, which I am pleasantly surprised by because usually teas that smell like chocolate prior to being steeped don’t necessarily smell like chocolate post-steep.

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I found on first sip, this tea was like a watery hot chocolate. It does taste like hot chocolate, but I can also taste the black tea base which is quite bold in comparison to the chocolate flavours. There’s a nice sweetness to it, which I think can be easily attributed to the sprinkles.

I did add some evaporated milk to this tea, and found that the taste was a lot more to my liking. Straight, I found the chocolate flavour be quite watery. With the addition of the milk, I found the tea to be more of a creamy chocolate flavour and it tasted more like hot chocolate.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Chocolate Tea, but found the flavours were lacking compared to the first steep and I didn’t enjoy it. I would say that Chocolate Tea is good for one steep only.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Fox Tea Club’s Chocolate Tea. If I were given a cup of this tea straight, I probably wouldn’t finish it because it tastes like a weak and watery hot chocolate. I would highly recommend adding some cream or evaporated milk into this tea to make it more creamy and it gets to be a lot closer to a hot chocolate flavour. It does smell a lot like chocolate both with the dry leaf and when it’s steeped, which is a nice quality about this black tea blend.

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Fox Tea Club’s Watermelon

Watermelon by Fox Tea Club
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$9.95USD for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Watermelon for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Autumn has been settling in quickly around here over the long weekend (it’s Thanksgiving in Canada), but let’s pretend it’s still summer for just a day, shall we? Watermelon from Fox Tea Club came to me in plain sample packaging with the name handwritten on the outside, and this fruit infusion smells remarkably like watermelon juice despite the lack of watermelon in the ingredients list. It’s pretty amazing how much the smell reminds me of a sweet, juicy slice of watermelon on a hot summer day.

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Watermelon consists of cherry, foxberry, hibiscus, rose and rosehips. Curiously enough, the product page for Watermelon on the Fox Tea Club website mentions bilberry in the description at the time of writing.

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Preparation

Unfortunately, there were no steeping instructions provided for Watermelon. I opted to do my initial steep of this fruity tea at 100°C (212°F) for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Watermelon steeps to a brilliantly deep ruby red colour – likely due to the combination of all the red coloured ingredients (and the hibiscus!). The smell that comes up from this fruity infusion still reminds me of watermelon fruit, but has a bit of a tart aroma that I attribute to either the cherry or the hibiscus.

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On first taste, I can see why Fox Tea Club gave this fruit infusion blend the name Watermelon. It has a refreshing taste and just a touch of tartness that rivals the sweet. I can taste the cherry and the hibiscus. Despite lacking in actual watermelon in the ingredients, the flavours that are the result of the blend is still reminding me of watermelon – just not as sweet as the actual fruit would be.

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Fox Tea Club recommends this infusion as iced. I did try it cold and found that I enjoyed it hot more. The tartness from the hibiscus was more subtle when the infusion was iced. If you’re not a huge fan of how tart the hibiscus is, a touch of honey or another sweetener helps fix that a bit and brighten up the fruity flavours.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Watermelon, but found that both the colour of the infusion and the flavour was lacking. I would say that Watermelon is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

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I loved Fox Tea Club’s Watermelon. It has a beautiful aroma and the flavour of this fruit blend is delicious and very similar to actual watermelon. I think that most people would probably be less picky than I am and enjoy this fruity infusion iced or cold, so it’s definitely a contender for those who are experiencing warmer weather than I am at this moment in time. I just find it so remarkable how much this blend reminds me of the smell and taste of watermelon.

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Fox Tea Club’s Coconut Milk Blooming Tea

Coconut Milk Blooming Tea by Fox Tea Club
White Tea / Flavoured
$15.95 for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Coconut Milk Blooming Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I adore blooming teas – it’s a bit like a mix of tea and art together. For those new to blooming teas, the tea leaves and flowers are tied together and when you first get it the tea is just a ball. After steeping, the flower and the tea opens up and it’s a beautiful arrangement in your tea top. I would definitely recommend steeping all blooming teas in a clear glass teapot or cup to get the full effect.

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That said, Coconut Milk Blooming Tea came to me in sample packaging from the Fox Tea Club. I received one tea ball from them and it smells incredibly like coconut with a hint of floral. There is not much that I can see beyond the tea leaves and a hint of pink from the clover flower. The ingredients for the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea are: clover flowers, jasmine, white tea. The description of the tea also includes coconut flavouring, but the ingredients list (at the time of writing) does not.

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Preparation

Fox Tea Club suggests using 1 ball in a clear teapot and to steep using 180°F (82°C) water for 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions for the initial steep.

First Taste

After the 5 minute steep, the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea has opened up quite a bit. The tea itself has a warm pinkish tone to it, I believe that is from the pink clover flowers. The tea smells of jasmine and coconut, and just has a hint of sweetness to it.

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I’m pleasantly surprised at how good this tea taste. It has a soft floral taste to it that I’m attributing to the jasmine – it’s much more vibrant than other jasmine teas I’ve had before because it’s present rather than only being used to scent the tea. The coconut flavour is sweet and quite strong, it holds itself well against the strength of the floral notes from the jasmine. The sweetness is not over-the-top, and it’s just enough to make it interesting. I would think that most people wouldn’t feel the need to add any sweetener to this floral tea.

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A Second Cup?

Fox Tea Club suggests that the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea can be resteeped 3 to 5 times, which always makes me excited to hear because I love resteeping teas – you find subtle flavour changes from time to time. I used the same temperature water, and increased each subsequent steep by 30 seconds.

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For the first 2 resteeps, I found that the coconut flavour was a bit weaker than the initial steep, but it was still quite good. By the third and fourth resteep, I found that the jasmine flavour was considerably stronger than the coconut, as the flavouring of the coconut had started to become weaker. It still has a touch of sweetness though. I didn’t find my last (fifth) resteep to be particularly good compared to the other steeps, so for me the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea was good for a total of four resteeps (five steeps total).

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Fox Tea Club’s Coconut Milk Blooming Tea. Not only was this tea fun to watch while it steeped, it also tasted really good. The coconut flavours were sweet and balanced well with the floral notes from the jasmine. I enjoyed the fact that this tea resteeped well and the changes in the flavour were subtle with each resteep. It’s a fun tea, and I think that blooming teas are best enjoyed with company – especially people who’ve never seen a blooming tea open up before.

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