Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Search for Fuel 5


My hunt for the perfect gaming tea continues. Three weeks ago I reordered a package of Cranberry/Chocolate Tea, along with a number of other flavors, and have been enjoying them tremendously. This time around I decided to temporarily end my love affair with Rooibos tea and ordered three more, rather different flavors. Below is my assessment.

Honey/Ginger/Echinacea with Green Tea Base - This is some good stuff in the sense that it both smells delicious and tastes delicious.  Very light in nature, as I personally feel a proper green tea should be, the honey and ginger mix nicely without one overpowering the other.  I can be picky about which green teas I drink because, to be honest, I generally can't stand green tea.  There are exceptions, however, which namely involve jasmine or peppermint.  When I order this again I would probably ask them to emphasize the ginger a little bit more, but overall I cannot find fault with this mixture.
          Current Verdict - Very Good. Definitely Reorder.

Cider/Apple with Black Tea Base - I'm not entirely certain what I expected from this tea since it clearly would not end up tasting like actual apple cider.  I really don't have a great deal to say about it.  The apple flavor is not necessarily apple-y tasting, but it is not bad either.  The apple + cider combination is a very good one and fits nicely with its black tea base.  Overall I give this combination a thumbs up.
          Current Verdict -   Pretty Good. Reorder occasionally.

Pomegranate/Vanilla with Oolong Tea Base -   The amount of knowledge I have about oolong tea could be stored on the end of my pinky finger.  I didn't grow up drinking it, I don't really know anyone else who drinks it, and as a result anything i know about it comes from my very recent experience with it.  Last time I ordered a hazelnut/chocolate tea + oolong base and was not initially blown away.  Since then I have drunk a few more cups of the tea and found that I actually quite like it.  The base seems to lend itself to darker flavors and hazelnut/chocolate is certainly that.  When ordering this time around I set about trying to think what else might be paired with oolong and concluded that there exist few common fruits that taste darker then pomegranate.  Vanilla seemed a different, but not too crazy companion flavor so there you go.  First of all let me say that this combination smells really, really good in the bag.  Taste wise though, I think I still need to get used to the oolong flavor.  I don't dislike this tea, but I'm not entirely certain that I like it yet.  The pomegranate and vanilla go well together, it's just the base I'm not too certain about.  There are too many times lately that I have said I didn't like something, however, only to turn around a month later and say I really like it.  As a result, we're holding off on a verdict for now.
          Current Verdict
- Reevaluate after it has a chance to grow on me.

Blackberry/Maple/Jasmine with Black Tea Base - This flavor (shown above in a clear bag) was a surprise gift from Design a Tea.  I'm fairly certain that I would not have ordered this on my own since I've had a number of dodgy experiences with "maple" things in the past.  I must say, however, that the overall flavor is quite good.  The maple is more of a suggestion then anything and really helps round out the tea's flavor.  It's not a dark tea by any stretch of the imagination (the jasmine helps ensure that) but it is not exactly light in nature either.  In the end I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but I know that I shall enjoy drinking it while working on final papers.  Thanks Brian :)
          Current Verdict - Good. Reorder.

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