Liquified, not melted – Orange Ice Cream tea by BRUU

Melted ice-cream is never tempting, but a liquified one – sounds like a must-try! The world of herbal teas has changed significantly over the last couple of decades. Orange Ice Cream tea by Bruu promises a zesty orange and creamy vanilla flavour with an icy touch.

What is Orange Ice Cream tea?

Orange Ice Cream is an herbal/fruit tea blend from the UK based tea company BRUU. Sweet treats inspired many of BRUU's blends, such as Lemon Waffle or Strawberry Milkshake. Even though Orange Ice Cream is a herbal tea blend, it's far from a typical herbal tea. Not only it has a unique scent, it also contains a surprising ingredient. Which one? We'll come to that soon. So, how does Orange Ice Cream tea smell like?

This tea has a very intense and interesting scent – both fruit and herbal. Forget typical mint, herbaceous or fruity notes – Orange Ice Cream tea is unique. Of course, all these scents are there – a herbal touch, undeniable citrusy body and deep freshness, but they all blend well together to create a whole new experience. The scent is sweet, zesty and fresh with hints of creaminess.

Orange Ice Cream tea is blended with apple pieces, sour apple pieces, freeze-dried whole cape gooseberries, spearmint, marigold blossoms, safflowers and flavourings. With so many colourful ingredients, this is a very pretty-looking blend, too. One of the most interesting ingredients and the one you will instantly notice are cape gooseberries. Other name for this fruit is Physalis peruviana, and it's quite a rare ingredient in tea blends.

Another interesting ingredient in this tea is nana mint, a spearmint from Morocco. Spearmint has a lighter and sweeter, less sharp flavour than peppermint, and it's less commonly used too. It gives a real icy touch to this blend – not strong, not overpowering, but just enough to make it smell icy.

How to brew this tea

Since this is an herbal/fruit tea, you can brew it with boiling water. One teaspoon will be enough to make a cup of tea. Bruu recommends steeping it for 10-12 minutes.

This tea has a pretty light yellow-orange colour. It has a deep but light sweetness, hints of mint, slight zestiness and a creamy touch, with a light sweet aftertaste. It's not a sweet tea though, although it has a light natural sweetness. Orange Ice Cream tea is flavourful but light, and strong enough to serve it iced. If you want to make an iced tea, try steeping it with a freshly sliced orange and sweeten with some honey.

This is not a regular mint tea or a regular orange tea. It's not a regular herbal tea or a regular fruit tea. It's right in between. Because of its unique flavour, you may like it even if you don't like mint teas or orange teas. This tea would be great for tea drinkers that like to drink flavourful herbal caffeine-free iced teas.