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.

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What is Jaffa Cake tea?

Jaffa Cake tea from Birdhouse tea company is a handcrafted blend of black tea and red rooibos tea, with dried orange pieces and cacao husks. Open a box of real Jaffa cakes and you will be swept over by a delicious orange & chocolate scent. This blend is no different – it smells DELICIOUS. It honestly couldn’t be closer to the scent of Jaffa cakes. Beautiful black tea leaves and red rooibos, sprinkled with cocoa husk and dried orange chunks, look very pretty too. Since it’s blended with black tea, this tea contains caffeine.

How to this tea?

Just like with all flavoured dessert teas, using a bit more leaves if often better. No matter how good they sound and smell, flavoured teas are not meant to be overpowering and the best blends should allow the flavour of tea leaves to come through.

We brewed this one with 1.5 teaspoons of tea leaves in 200 ml of water at 100 degrees Celsius for about 5 minutes. You can steep it longer, and it won’t get bitter.

This truly is a lovely tea with light cocoa and light orange notes. There’s depth, there’s richness, there’s chocolate, and there’s even a sponge base. Earthy rooibos dominates this blend and pairs well with black tea. However, this tea is more of a cocoa rooibos blend than a traditional orange Jaffa.

So, what is the best way to drink it? Sometimes, some teas just need a little nudge to achieve their full potential. Try adding some freshly squeezed orange juice and this tea becomes a true liquid version of a popular cake.

Is it a keeper? Definitely.

Jaffa Cake tea would be great for tea drinkers that enjoy lighter flavours and the taste of natural tea rather than a cup filled with flavourings. We recommend steeping it with a slice of fresh orange or adding freshly squeezed orange juice.

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