Additional notes: This was a hibiscus blend done well when I first drank it five years ago. (I gave it an 85 rating! Wow!) This blend I’m drinking right now is only from last year, so it can’t be too much aging happening. I should have tried steeping it exactly the same as that note mentioned, because I’m not as in love with it now as I was. Sure, it will obviously be a different blend five years later, but this cup was mostly just tangy. It’s weird though because I actually remember the cup from five years ago being VERY deep red but the hibiscus wasn’t overwhelming. It actually could have been close to a ‘mulled wine’ profile. This time around, the cup is just a light pink but the taste is just sour. I’m guessing it’s a matter of the blend just being different now. Now the rating would probably be able a 64 (but I don’t like changing ratings lower).
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I need to revisit a good hibiscus tea. For a year when I was younger that’s all I drank, then one day, I just stopped (Like Forest Gump running then just stopped. No explanation.).
haha but that’s because you found better tea.
lol :D
……Are you bullying my baby Hibiscus again?!
lol
I actually had a problem where one of their “cider” type teas in my advent calendar didn’t really have enough hibi to make a proper base, and it was nasty. The pictures on their website showed it looking much redder, but my cup was pale lavender, like I got no hibi in my cup. It was like oily orange water. Until I added about half a gram of my own hibi so the orange had some sort of base to “bond” with, it was just a bad-tasting tea. I wonder if we have reached such levels of hibi-hate now they are not adding enough to the blend to make a good solid base for the flavors…
I love hibi ciders, though I’ve definitely had some bad ones. But that is speaking objectionably as a hibiscus lover that isn’t claiming the cider is bad because of the hibiscus, but because the blend itself was simply bad. And this year B&B released “Mulled Cider” instead of “Mulled Wine”. No idea how different it is, but I will definitely try my sampler teabag soon!
Yeah, maybe people complained too much to B&B about their hibiscus, but I have always thought they use the right amount to balance in their blends. Like this tea could possibly use MORE hibiscus because it already is too tart anyway, even with a pink cup. Like more hibiscus probably wouldn’t have hurt? I have had blends of both Mulled Cider and Mulled Wine from the same year and I can’t really tell the difference, but it’s not like I’m doing a side by side comparison or anything.
*always the right hibiscus meaning blends from years ago
Right, it looks like this one has a lot of citrus in it, which can also be quite sour/tart flavors depending on how those are done, and hibi can add a different balance since it is more like a tangy/tart berry fruit than citrusy in flavor. Different kinds of tart/tangy can balance each other if done right/in the right quantities. And the right kind of spices can take off the edge or add some sweetness (I’ve had one that was pretty weaksauce on the cinnamon, which was a bit meh). I usually see lavender or pale pink colors as a bad sign, personally, and will then add a dash more until I get at least a red color. Doesn’t have to be scarlet like the blood of my enemies, but if it is supposed to be red, at least be red!
I find it quite interesting they released the Mulled Wine and Mulled Cider in the same year, hahaha.
Mulled Wine is a blend they had years before Mulled Cider but they both just happened to be a gift box of five or so sample sized teas I bought on super sale one year… so who knows? haha
I had to do a quick google e-mail search for when I ordered that gift box and it was Christmas 2016 so the blends might be older making the flavor weaker? I thought it was last year. Ack. My poor teas.
I need to revisit a good hibiscus tea. For a year when I was younger that’s all I drank, then one day, I just stopped (Like Forest Gump running then just stopped. No explanation.).
haha but that’s because you found better tea.
lol :D
……Are you bullying my baby Hibiscus again?!
lol
I actually had a problem where one of their “cider” type teas in my advent calendar didn’t really have enough hibi to make a proper base, and it was nasty. The pictures on their website showed it looking much redder, but my cup was pale lavender, like I got no hibi in my cup. It was like oily orange water. Until I added about half a gram of my own hibi so the orange had some sort of base to “bond” with, it was just a bad-tasting tea. I wonder if we have reached such levels of hibi-hate now they are not adding enough to the blend to make a good solid base for the flavors…
I love hibi ciders, though I’ve definitely had some bad ones. But that is speaking objectionably as a hibiscus lover that isn’t claiming the cider is bad because of the hibiscus, but because the blend itself was simply bad. And this year B&B released “Mulled Cider” instead of “Mulled Wine”. No idea how different it is, but I will definitely try my sampler teabag soon!
Yeah, maybe people complained too much to B&B about their hibiscus, but I have always thought they use the right amount to balance in their blends. Like this tea could possibly use MORE hibiscus because it already is too tart anyway, even with a pink cup. Like more hibiscus probably wouldn’t have hurt? I have had blends of both Mulled Cider and Mulled Wine from the same year and I can’t really tell the difference, but it’s not like I’m doing a side by side comparison or anything.
*always the right hibiscus meaning blends from years ago
Right, it looks like this one has a lot of citrus in it, which can also be quite sour/tart flavors depending on how those are done, and hibi can add a different balance since it is more like a tangy/tart berry fruit than citrusy in flavor. Different kinds of tart/tangy can balance each other if done right/in the right quantities. And the right kind of spices can take off the edge or add some sweetness (I’ve had one that was pretty weaksauce on the cinnamon, which was a bit meh). I usually see lavender or pale pink colors as a bad sign, personally, and will then add a dash more until I get at least a red color. Doesn’t have to be scarlet like the blood of my enemies, but if it is supposed to be red, at least be red!
I find it quite interesting they released the Mulled Wine and Mulled Cider in the same year, hahaha.
Mulled Wine is a blend they had years before Mulled Cider but they both just happened to be a gift box of five or so sample sized teas I bought on super sale one year… so who knows? haha
I had to do a quick google e-mail search for when I ordered that gift box and it was Christmas 2016 so the blends might be older making the flavor weaker? I thought it was last year. Ack. My poor teas.