Yo Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of...Rum?
The lines between rum and tea are blurred in this particular tea, from Baltimore Coffee and Tea. This particular tea is rum and pina colada flavored. Upon opening the tin, the tea drinker is rewarded with a heavy whiff of pina colada, invoking Caribbean beaches and blended beverages. But how does it do on taste?
When brewed, the liquor is a dark brown, as a result of the orange pekoe tea that the artificial flavoring is blended with and has very little odor. As for taste, it's a little weak, but definitely tastes like a pina colada, especially in the level of coconut flavoring. It's naturally sweet, with no need for sugar, and has a great potential as a smoothie base, if made a bit stronger. It might also make a good iced tea, as a no-calorie alternative to a virgin pina colada.
Because of the inherent creaminess, I did experiment with adding milk, but it took away from the flavor and overpowered the already weak quality of the tea.
The tin is attractive, matching the Malibu coconut rum bottle, and interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of advice on the back, beyond the usual "steep for 3-5 min" business, with a suggestion to use "near to boiling" water as "water which has been boiled for long has been deaerated and brews flat tea." Quite a bit of advice for a package of paper tea bags.
This tea had a lot more potential, and I think would be a lot better if it were made with a higher quality black tea to begin with. Although I don't usually like artificial flavorings, the flavor itself was quite pleasant.
I think I'll do my rum and pina colados the old fashioned way!
Posted by:David Wolfe | August 21, 2007 at 02:15 AM
We carry a butter rum in teabags that tastes great and a Pina Colada in teabags but I have never tried it. Look here if interested.
http://www.tealaden.com/teaweb/mlesna_teabags.htm
Posted by:Tea Laden | August 23, 2007 at 12:52 PM