Tiny Bee Tea (Sips by)

I love how shimmery this is! The flavor is unfortunately not my favorite. It tastes too much like bitter fruit rind. It’s a bit appley, but mostly rindy. Cold and sweetened, it’s not bad, but the balance is far from perfect.

This reminds me of some other tea I’ve had before, but I don’t remember which. I find the flavor to be pretty boring with a really weird twang like there’s too much citrus peel. It tastes sort of like peaches but sort of fake, like a low quality apricot juice from the store. I ended up passing it along because that one flavor bothers me too much.

Last one from the iced tea box.

This was pretty good. It’s meant to be a black currant Earl Grey with caramel, vanilla, and honey. But I mostly just taste the currant, with a gentle lemony citrus note that I wouldn’t identify as bergamot, and a touch of honey. Definitely don’t get caramel or vanilla, but honestly I’m okay with that since all of those flavors together sounds a bit busy to me anyway. The honey goes nicely with the citrus, which in turn brightens the deeper black currant flavor up a bit.

Nice enough tea, but not a reorder for me.

Yum, this is quite tasty. I love grapefruit things, and for some reason grapefruit teas in particular are often disappointing. This has a strong, zesty, and slightly bitter grapefruit flavor that almost tastes like the real thing. There’s just a little bit of a Pixy Stix sort of tart candy vibe going on as well, but mostly it’s fresh grapefruit. I honestly don’t detect much elderflower, perhaps a hint in the finish. But I’m not complaining, because I’d rather the grapefruit be the star!

Would consider ordering a bag of this one…

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Signed up for Sips by again, because why not. I was actually quite happy with the teas in my box this month, or at least the types of teas.

This one was, sadly, just okay. I was surprised and excited to see the base is an oxidized rolled oolong, which I find quite unusual for a flavored tea. In my experience, flavored oolongs are usually a either generic rolled green type (probably TGY), some form of baozhong, or a generic oxidized strip-style oolong. But even though this is rolled, it still tastes quite generic and similar to other flavored oxidized oolongs (Adagio’s, for instance). Perhaps it’s a bit roasted? Mostly it has a flat woody/autmny leafy flavor with a bit of minerality. The flavoring is too subtle IMO, I taste a bit of rose but only a hint of apricot.

Not a bad tea, just quite meh to me. A shame, as the packaging is super adorable.

Cold Brew!

This was so good! Pleasantly pithy yet tart and pucker inducing with a nicely balanced mix of pink grapefruit and lemon notes. Zesty, jussssttt sweet enough and a little bit floral in its undertones from the elderflower in a way that conveys freshness and adds an interesting nuance and sophistication to the profile. It almost gives off “craft mocktail” vibes in the way you might get from a nice high tea service in a hotel – which I say as a compliment!

Cold Brew!

Really, really loved this cold brew. It was so bright and lively tasting with a spectacularly sharply tart yet juicy and sweet pink grapefruit and lemon note. Just enough of a hint of pith to keep it balanced and really natural/realistic tasting. Ultra refreshing, and bottom line just kind of chuggable.

Cold Brew!

This tea tastes so intensely familiar and it reaalllyyyy bothered me that I couldn’t at all place why throughout my entire cold brew of it. Serious case of deja vu aside, though, it was really good. The flavour is very, very bright and lively with a sweet and slightly sour note of pink grapefruit crossed with an almond lemonade-style of lemon. Ultra refreshing and even thought it had a hint of sourness to it the flavour was still really fresh and light and didn’t have any astringency, pith, or anything that would make it feel “heavy” at all – and that works.

The elderflower is definitely lighter than the grapefruit, but it adds a hint of something floral and just enough nuance to keep this from feeling like a run of the mill citrus heavy fruit blend. With that said, if you’re sensitive to floral flavours I don’t think this is strong enough to be a turn off – it’s a very delicate wink to elderflower.

Overall? Colour me impressed! This was one of the best and more refreshing cold brews that I’ve had in a good, long while.

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The last one from my August Sips by box!

To be honest, I fully expected to hate this tisane. As soon as I opened my Sips by box, I could smell the fake honey flavoring coming from this package. I love actual honey, but I never seem to get along with honey-flavored teas.

But honestly, it’s not bad. It does have that artificial honey taste, but it’s balanced well by the fruit. Mostly I taste sweet-tart apple with a touch of citrus and a slight herbal note from the lemongrass. There’s no hibiscus here, which I am thankful for – the apple and rosehip provide just enough tartness.

It’s not something I would order, not being a fan of fruit tisanes in general, but I enjoyed my potful of it, and would drink it again if it was offered to me.

Plus, the packaging is basically the cutest thing ever… And that always helps. ;)