Here's the third offering reviewed here, and the second-best to me, from a 4-pack sample of the various seasonal holiday teas Murchie's produces. As with the others, they are flavored loose blends, in this case composed of black tea, jasmine green, calendula flowers, elder flowers, and unspecified "natural and artificial flavouring".

I enjoy this one a lot now, even though it was a little weird at first (nowhere nearly as strange as their Evergreen blend, to which I also ultimately adjusted well). That's because jasmine and apricot (or peach) is an uncommon combination. The scent sequence on this was fascinating. The dry aroma wafts forth from the sack strongly fruity, to me more peachy than apricot-like, even though their website advertises "a merry blend of jasmine and apricot". But since I'm a Southern man who loves peach tea, that's all right with me. The floral element is there, especially jasmine, but definitely stands way behind fruit in both dry and in-cup aromas. By the time I reached wet leaves, that scent was where the green tea came out the strongest, and it was a somewhat rice-like, vegetal and mildly algal scent I've come to expect from good-quality loose green teas. As for flavor, that's where the black tea comes to bear better, and so do the florals, making a really nice balance that's still somewhat peach/apricot-dominant. One can think of this as a fancy, complex, florally enhanced peach tea. If you're into those social circles (unlike me), this tea could be served at a high-class soiree or debutante ball, and the guests, having never tasted anything quite like it, would deem it as "fabulously nouveau".

Even though Ode to Joy is nominally a winter-holiday tea, I'm going to save much of the 2-oz. sack for summertime and drink it as an iced tea. Peach iced tea on the patio, in the warm afternoon breezes of late spring and early summer? Count me in, every time. I'm very confident this is going to brew up well as a "sun tea" despite being a flavored green/black blend.

As long as the $CAD/USD exchange rate stays favorable for the southern side, most Murchie's teas that are of nice quality will be at least "good" value, if not "excellent", on the RateTea scale.

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