Today's Tea: Sleigh Ride

Sleigh Ride from DAVIDsTEA

Ingredients: Apples, hibiscus blossoms, candied pineapple, candied papaya, beetroot pieces, cinnamon stick pieces, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds, popped rice, artificial flavouring.

Allergens: Tree nuts, coconut

(From DAVIDsTEA: Sleigh Ride)

Steph's Thoughts:

It makes your house smell like Christmas! Hubby and I pulled out the Christmas tree and the decorations, and started wrapping gifts today. He decided that he wanted tea, and asked me if I wanted some too. I said yes, and he told me to choose one for both of us. This is a PERFECT tea to complement this Christmassing-up process.

I was initially surprised that it brewed red, but when I looked at the ingredients, I shouldn't have been surprised - beetroot and hibiscus often mean redder teas!

I will also say that I was very skeptical of the tea when I bought the set (it comes in the Holiday Collection along with Santa's Secret, a minty black tea, and Merry Cranberry, a green tea with cranberries, anise and mistletoe. I wish I could write this post with footnotes instead of brackets because brackets break up my sentences...) because it wasn't my most favourite smelling tea, nor did "apple, hibiscus blossoms" strike my fancy,  but now I'm a huge fan!

Getting down to taste, the cinnamon is obvious but not overwhelming. Again, it comes from having the cinnamon bark in the tea, rather than ground cinnamon. It took me a few sips to figure out what else it tasted like - apple cider. But it's not your regular "hot apple with cinnamon in." It's a TWISTY cider! Hubby was trying to figure this out too. We went through the ingredient list, and thought for a few minutes. Then he said, "It's TROPICAL apple cider!" It makes a lot of sense, though. Pineapple, papaya, coconut, and almonds are not typical apple cider ingredients, but boy howdy, do they make one TASTY cup of tea-cider. I would love to brew this up in a great big pot (I'd probably need an entire tin full, rather than the mini-tin in the collection!) for caroling or for other activities in which cider would be an apropos drink.

I like this better than apple cider, though, because it is sweet enough to drink on its own with no added sugar, and it's not quite so "APPLECINNAMON" in your face.

Plus, it looks lovely in a white cup. Or a white and green cup, if you're so lucky.

Verdict: Win.