This morning, with my selection of tea dwindling, I decided on a raspberry flavored black tea from Special Teas, who it seems has been subsumed by Teavana, for whatever that means. Anyway, a while back, we ordered a big grab bag of 2 oz. samples packages from Special Teas, including a bunch of fruit teas, and the fruit teas were all disappointing. They shouldn't have been; Special Teas does a great job with non-flavored teas, but the fruit teas are all bland. The tea base is boring and average, and the fruit flavors are muted and don't stand out. Which pretty much sums up the raspberry. Despite using real fruit to flavor the tea, even actual dried raspberry pieces, the tea was bland.
I made it in my usual stopgap, I need to replace this, it came from the 70's teapot. 1 flat teaspoon to a cup, 4 teaspoons to fill the pot, water at a rolling boil, brew for 3 minutes. Strain, add a dash of sugar and some milk...and meh. My wife added cream, and found that it gave a smoother texture and a sort of raspberry and cream flavor, which wasn't bad. I almost never use cream in tea...always milk, though there are a couple of exceptions, this being one.
Overall, a disappointment. I don't know how the merger with Teavana will affect Special Teas, but I'd shy away from their fruit teas, and stick to the estate teas and traditional blends that they do such a great job with.
Score: 60 (F)
To me, fruit flavored teas generally sound better than they really are.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I've found a few that are decent, but for the most part, I prefer unflavored teas.
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