Tasting: Tracy Stern Tea & Co Iced Tea No. 6 Worth

It's been humid and grey in NYC today, so we are cheering up with some iced tea made with @2teaparty1 and beachy reminders! #tea #icedtea #VSCOcam

A photo posted by sara shacket (@tea_happiness) on Jul 8, 2015 at 4:25pm PDT

This week's tasting is from Tracy Stern Tea & Co, a company showcasing blends specifically made for iced tea. The blends are categorized by location -NY, Paris, and Palm Beach. I was given a choice of tea to sample, and I chose 'No. 6 Worth' which is from the Palm Beach collection. This is a black tea and raspberry blend. I usually shy away from flavored blends, but when it comes to iced tea, I tend to be a bit more adventurous. I often find fruity flavors work well with cold teas. Very unlike me, I know!

I received an eye catching bright pink tin, a color quite suitable for Palm Beach. The tin contains 6 very large tea bags. These are made to be used for 8 cups of iced tea. The ingredients list black tea, raspberry leaf, strawberry leaf, and natural flavoring.

The dry tea has a very strong 'berry' flavor that I've come to recognize from 'berry' blends. It's hard to say if it was specifically raspberry, but ripe red berries definitely come to mind. The directions note to steep the bag in 2 cups of hot water for 12 minutes, and then pour in 6 cups of cold water. I love cold brewing tea so I tried that first. I left the teabag in 8 cups of water overnight. The resulting tea had a strong berry flavor. Juicy, a little tart, and a bit of sweetness. But there was also a strange aftertaste that I couldn't identify. For the second round I followed the directions on the package to make the iced tea. I was surprised that the results were much better. The berry flavor was full and smooth. It's more on the subtle side, which some folks may not appreciate but I prefer it for flavored blends. This way the added flavor isn't punching you in the face. My contact at the company mentioned I could steep the tea in the full 8 cups of water for 15 minutes for a stronger brew. I was fine with these results though.

My family gave this tea a thumb's up. This is a fun go-to tea flavor for backyard sprinkler play-dates and beach picnics. I still prefer pure teas even for iced, but I'm happy to have tried something a bit different.

Thank you to Tracy Stern Tea & Co for the samples.