Hello my fellow tea lovers. Today I have for you a tea review. Now, the reason why I titled this review the Summer time Oolong tea review, is because during the summertime, I for one do not look forward to drinking hot tea. Especially in this crazy New York weather, where it has been rainy, hot, sticky, and, humid. Hot tea is certainly not on my list of things to drink. Which is why I think turning hot tea into iced tea is a great idea for the summer. So for this review I will be talking about both teas (yes, there are two), my experience with them both hot and cold, and my experience with The Persimmon Tree Tea Companies Rock sugar. But first, let’s look at the teas.
First up is the Jasmine Ancient Beauty. The tea made of jasmine blossoms and oolong tea. The scent of this tea is very floral with a sweet undertone behind it. I will say that while the scent is truly aromatic, it’s very strong and concentrated. The taste is delicious and smooth. You get the smoothness of the Jasmine Blossoms, with the featuring of the Oolong tea. I think this tea was perfectly paired together using Oolong over another tea type, because the oolong makes the tea crisp and gives it a fresh feel on the palate, while allowing the Jasmine to have a smooth bold body to it.
However, this tea was rather difficult to steep. Maybe it might be based on preference, but I found that when steeping the tea, the leaves took a little longer than usual for the water to go through the leaves. Maybe my water needed to be hotter, but it was pretty hot. None the less, when the tea finally did steep, it had a sweet hint to it that was subtle but noticeable. If you like teas that are naturally sweet without the need of sugar, then this tea is for you. But if you’re like me, you might like your tea on the sweeter side. (Foreshadowing moment maybe?)
Now even though I did find the tea to be a bit strong, I would still drink it hot. However, while playing around with water to tea ratio (and the fact that there was no juice in my house), I added some ice cubes and made iced tea. The combination of the floral notes and bold body, tasted great cold.
Next up is the Mandarin Cream. The tea is made of organic pouching tea, lemon myrtle, marigolds, and natural vanilla essence. Now this tea by far is one of the most interesting teas, I have ever tasted or smelled. For one, it emulates a different texture in tea form, and you can taste the texture as well. Upon smelling the tea you are instantly hit with a smooth, almost toned down citrus note and in the background, you can smell the marigolds the vanilla, which add to the smoothness of the tea. Brewing the tea was not as difficult as the other tea, but I noticed that the tea leaves where unusually hard. This in no way affected the taste of the tea which tasted great, but it was just something I noticed.
The taste of the tea was creamy. It tasted like a citrus cream-like drink. And it was so smooth on the pallet. The funny thing about this tea and teas in general, is that I hate marigolds in teas. To me it gives an off taste to the tea. But, because the vanilla pairs so well with it, I liked it. I enjoyed what the marigolds bought to the tea, especially with the creaminess I got in the tea, without adding any milk solids, is very fascinating to me. The marigolds and the vanilla mute the boldness and sharpness from the Oolong. And because of the cream-like texture of this tea, I did not make it into an iced tea, as I can see myself sipping on this in the winter months.
As for The Persimmon Tree Tea Company’s Rock Sugar, it complimented the teas. I liked how it was sweet with a natural taste and gave a pleasant sweet enhancement to the tea, rather than an over unnaturally sweetened taste. The rock sugar is great for people who like to sweeten their beverages, but have a fear of over sweetening them, this sugar is not as sweet as regular white sugar. I personally enjoyed this best with the Mandarin Cream.
For more information, check out The Persimmon Tree Tea Company.com
These items were sent to me courtesy of The Persimmon Tree Tea Company for testing-reviewing purposes only. This was not a paid review.
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