Anjou Pear-adise Oolong Tea

Had this one again today to decide whether it was a keeper or if it will be going in a swap.

I found this tea extremely tart this time and the flavour sub par. Again, it reminded me of one of my favourites, Silk Road’s Japanese Sour Cherry. The difference is that this tea gets its tartness from hibiscus and it gives you that dry mouth feeling. I don’t know where the sour cherry get’s its sour from, but it’s a totally different mouth feel. This tea does not have any specific fruit flavour, whereas sour cherry is strictly cherry. I guess if this reminds me of sour cherry then it must taste a little like cherry. Japanese sour cherry is an awesome tea and an awesome experience.

But anyway, back to this tea. It tastes like a tart fruit, but not any specific fruit, definitely not pear. I don’t detect any oolong whatsoever, which surprises me because out of all my Teavana teas, this one has the biggest tea leaves to other crap ratio. I can see how someone may like this tea because it’s not horrible, it’s just not one I would restock, or even finish the bag.

I didn’t expect to like this tea. I’ve been getting set in my ways about tea preferences lately and I’ve been approaching my swap box with caution rather than enthusiasm. There are a lot of nasty flavors out there, lol (^.^) There are also a lot of teas that claim to be better iced, but I prefer hot beverages; even in the summer. I rarely crave any cold liquids besides water and even that I don’t drink below room temperature.

Onto the tea: It really tastes like pear! Like real yummy, sweet pears. It probably would lend itself best towards iced preparation and I may try it out during my rare and uncharacteristic mixin-it-up moments, but it’s definitely good hot too imo. I used two teaspoons for my 10oz cup and I don’t find it too mild as many other reviews claimed it to be. It isn’t powerful by any means, but I’d label it a step above subtle. I tend to like a lot subtle teas (go figure as my favorite coffees are extra bold :p ).

I also really like that it doesn’t have a funky aftertaste. That’s always an important rating factor in my book.

Not necessarily a tea I’d buy again as I am too in love with my pure and unflavored leaves and have limited funds for the frilly extras, but I appreciate them while I have them.

A big thanks to DianeInOz for the sample :)

This was one of my first purchases from the Teavana website. I know its buyer beware when you purchase things over the internet but I thought I would take a chance, as the reviews were good. I was very disappointed when it arrived. It does not smell or taste of pear. I have had to add quite a bit of sweetener just to bring out any fruity flavour.
Although the tea is palatable, I will not be purchasing it again.

Apparently I’m on a pear kick.

This tea is very subtle. It has a blush color when steeped. In the bag, it has a more noticeable pear aroma. I notice more of the oolong in the aroma once it’s steeped.

Oolongs are kind of hit and miss with me. This one I enjoy. I don’t really notice the hibiscus and find the hint of pear to be pleasant.

The last time I had this tea I remembered not caring for it, but today I decided to make a pitcher of iced tea so I’d have something to take with me to work, and of course I had to sneak a taste of it while it was still hot. I was surprised! I liked it a lot more than I remember the last time I had it! Maybe I just didn’t steep it properly…

I added a little sugar to it while it was still hot because I like to sweeten my iced tea a little bit. Mmmm…this stuff is really good iced! I’ll be enjoying this during a long day of work.

Oh Teavana, always too strong or really weak. You describe this tea as subtle, but that isn’t the word I’d use for it. Weak is much closer to the reality.

A friend sent me this one up over the border (she’s awesome and sends me the ones from Teavana that interest me) and I excitedly brewed it up. I’ve yet to find a pear tea that truly captures what a pear tastes like to me, and I was hopeful that this one would be it. My mistake was forgetting that anjous, while sweet, are a really mild pear, and so of course a tea named after them wouldn’t be overly pear-ful. There is definite hints of pear here, but overall the tea isn’t that great. I even tried blending it with a lemon oolong I have to see if that would pop flavours but instead it managed to bland down my lemon! Not one I’ll be asking for a resend on, sadly.

I brewed the last of my 2 oz. bag this morning, and I was surprised because Anjou Pear-adise hasn’t made much of an impression on me, so I was sure I hadn’t drank it more than once or twice.

It isn’t amazing, but it isn’t terrible. Just a nice, light tea that verges on the generic and unmemorable.

This is definitely not what I expected. The brew is quite dark, both in color and in aroma. The pear is quite prominent in aroma, but is mixed with the floral accents, as well as a deep rose color. This will be interesting.

With much of the fruit, I would have expected a fresher flavor, but it comes more of a darker, floral taste, which I would think would come from the hibiscus and rose petals. The salad of fruit is there, but behind the flowers, which is quite disappointing.

I would have preferred more fruit than flower, and a brighter flavor than dark. Nonetheless, it is a good dark tea.

So when I was putting this in my infuser, I did not see any actual tea in it, just pieces of dried fruit. Since normally I only buy herbal (nontea) tea from Teavana, I have not noticed this before. This discovery has brought me to the decision that I will stick to only buying herbals from them in future, because while I love herbal tea, this was supposed to be an oolong lol. At least on the bright side, this probably has very little caffeine in it. This has a very fruity aroma and a very fruity taste, and to my surprise there is some tea flavor that comes out in the taste of this tea. I am fan of pears, so I was excited to try this tea, and it does have a nice pear flavor. I drank it hot, but it seems like it would also be good iced. This is a nice tea, but not something I would repurchase.

nice light tea.