Queued tasting note.
Bought this one from the Sobeys I work at; it’s one of the two Tea Squared blends that originally caught my interest – the other one being Honey Fig Tree. I know, both the ones that appealed to me were tisanes; but I think their herbals are far more original/creative than their other flavoured blends and both feature fruits I’m crazy about.
Since the Honey Fig Tree I started with really grew on me and was really well done I decided to give this one a chance and I picked some up when it was on sale for the week; $7.00 for 80g instead of the usual $10.00.
Dry this has a really powerful, aromatic smell! It’s definitely, definitely super sweet, almost candied cranberries but then this really intoxicating smell that reminded me of Fruit Punch or the red Fruit Roll Ups from Betty Crocker – which I think are meant to be strawberry though. But very bright, juicy and over the top overall.
And obviously I started off by cold brewing it; for many of the usual reasons (their’s hibiscus in the blend, cranberry is really good cold brewed, the convenience). I think it was definitely the way to go; this came out a crimson red colour and my immediate thought was “probably would’ve been rather harsh hot”. I’m sure I will eventually try it that way though.
And, it is a little bit tart but only in the way that cranberries naturally are – I really didn’t think the hibiscus was adding anything that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Very juicy and robust, with the same almost but not quite fruit punch (like Red Kool-Aid fruit punch)/Fruit Roll Up flavouring. Maybe a little bit of sweet red apple from the apple in this that’s obviously acting, primarily, as a filler? There’s an effervscent, sparkly quality that leads me to believe this would be to die for as a tea soda; so I’m definitely going to try it that way too.
It tastes like childhood summers; hyped up on snack foods and running around in my bathing suit through the Spray Park.
This is definitely another success for me; though I’m not quite sure how much of it is really me absolutely loving it and how much is just excitement/nostalgia so I’m gonna be a little conservative with my initial rating. If my second impression is as good as this one, I’ll likely be increasing my rating though.
And, just finished my phone call with Amoda – I’m really happy I could help them out. Everything they asked was really easy to answer and it wasn’t invasive at all so if you haven’t seen their post on the discussion boards or have but haven’t volunteered to do it you should really consider; it took like twelve minutes overall, and they were super nice!
Flavors: Cranberry, Fruit Punch, Red Apple
