Uh oh..I broke my long run of not buying more tea (except my monthly Verdant subscription) when I went to the mall today and decided I needed to check out the new summer collection and Hot Tropic. I was going to leave with only 25g of each and told the clerk that, but he gave me about 50g of each (so much tea) but on the bright side, I can now try them hot and iced, iced tea pitchers take up so much tea! So it was a happy mistake lol. And I also decided I needed a new Timolino, at least one to alternate with my old one, the old is so caked with tea grime I need to deep clean it before using it again, the new one is shiny and also blue (oolong blue). Overall a good day shopping!
Anyways, onto the tea, this is the first one I tried of the summer teas, well, except for the free sample of the mango one from last year that I got in the store. That one is okay but I had it last year, don’t need it again. So I decided to try this one first, as it smelled amazing in store, berry like with definite wine notes! My own bag is much stronger and smells much more boozy lol, maybe a bit chemical. But luckily it doesn’t taste like that!
I brewed it for 5 minutes, and yes I had it hot first. The resulting liquor was bright reddish pink, definitely hibiscus in this. But surprisingly, I really enjoyed the flavor! It is tart, yes, be forewarned – but there was enough sweetness that it actually worked quite nicely for my tastes. It was refreshing and sweet and although not as good as actual sangria, it was still an enjoyable beverage. There was a nice berry flavor present. I won’t compare this directly to alcoholic sangria anyways, it’s more of a nice fruity drink haha, and no wine headache after! :D although I am tempted to try adding some wine when I make this cold. I bet it would be awesome! Love the large strawberries in the blend, they make the dry leaf very pretty.Overall, a good start to the summer collection this year. I drank the cup really fast lol, that’s why the note isn’t super descriptive. But so far, this one is a win for me, even with its tartness :)
Flavors: Strawberry, Sweet, Tart
