I stumbled upon a tea find at the most recent Dayre tea party:
This is a blend of oolong, peach, and osmanthus. The peaches used are dried peaches, not peach flavourings, and they are very sweet. I’m not really a fan of osmanthus in tea because of a few bad experiences, but this was a lovely blend. The sweet peach flavour went well with the floral notes of oolong tea and while it was flavourful, it wasn’t overly sweet. This was very well-received by the partea gatherers and the favourite blend among the three in my office.
Saigon Supreme
I was super excited for this blend because it’s not often that I see Vietnamese tea!
Brewed hot: Unfortunately, the taste of peppermint overshadowed the green tea in the first brew. I think my mom would have enjoyed that but I was really hoping to be able to taste the green tea. Luckily, the peppermint taste wasn’t as strong in the second brew and I got to taste the green tea. Turns out that Vietnamese green tea is similar to Sri Lankan green tea, with less umami notes.
Brewed cold: The peppermint notes weren’t as strong when I made it using an overnight cold brew and I thought it was a lot more balanced (plus I could taste the green tea). The only catch is that for some reason, there was a slightly bitter taste to the tea in the cold brew that I didn’t find in the one made with hot water – not sure if I left it in too long or what.
Sandman’s Stardust
Brewed hot: This blend consists of chamomile, lavender, and rose. I really liked this and thought it was much more balanced than Ette’s Hotel Chamomile because I could taste and smell the lavender notes from during the first brew. The rose notes were much lighter, but this was still a very lovely tea that would be suitable for day and night.
Cold brew: The cold-brew is very much like the tea when brewed hot, only that the floral rose notes become a bit more pronounced which makes the tea even more balanced. Would definitely recommend this as a cold brew.
The first time I brewed these teas, I used the normal “hot water in tea bags” or Dr. Drinks but Typical Tea is actually blended for cold brewing! Which is why I did a second round of testing using the cold brew method before posting my review (the only one I didn’t cold brew was Dragon Dreams because we finished it). And guess what? They really do taste better cold! The teas turned out a bit more balanced, although I would be careful with the time used to make the cold brew because you can over-steep teas even when using cold water.
