Cherry Lime Cola

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 141)

C is for… Cherry Lime Cola!

I love (real) cherry-flavoured things, and lime, and cola… so this should be a winner – and yup. I couldn’t pick out the cherry; the blend is nice and tart from the potent lime, backed by a solid cola flavour. It’s possible that a different base might work better here (I’m thinking… kukicha?) but it’s pretty good as is. So much so that I have another cola tea in today’s lineup now.

I don’t enjoy lime flavoring generally, and I often don’t prefer green tea blends. But this one showed up in a mystery bag that I ordered, so hey I tried it. Yeah, I’m not loving it. It has the lime I don’t like and the green tea that gets too bitter and intrusive for me. I do like the soda flavor, but sadly there’s only a hint of that in the background. I tried a cold brew as well, but that seemed to only amp up the unpleasant lime. I accidentally left it out overnight, and when I tried it again in the morning, the soda flavor was suddenly coming through quite clearly. So I guess cold brew plus letting it sit is the way to go? Though I still do taste the negative/bitter flavors, they’re not so strong now. Also I have never noticed a single hint of cherry.

Sipdown (809)!

This was a Kittenna share – a flavour I was skeptical about, not in concept but just in how hard it would be to nail those three very distinct flavours in execution. I also wasn’t thrilled about the green tea base choice, though it does make sense with the higher/brighter notes like the lime, and as something to play off the citrus elements in cola. I needn’t have been concerned though, it tastes exactly like lime, cherries, and cola – emphasis on the cola. I enjoyed the cup a lot, and much to my own surprise it’s a flavour that I would actually drink again!!

52Teas did a great job blending this one. All three title ingredients have a tendency to take over a brew, but this one is well-balanced. Sweet dark cherry is a perfect partner for the slight spice of the cola flavor, and a zing of lime helps sell this as a green tea. It probably helps that I love cherry cola in real life, so of course I’m drawn to it in tea form as well. Like the ginger cola black tea, this blend smells amazing when dry or brewed and always helps pick up my mood.

I’ve been at work most of the day getting the subscriptions ready to ship (shipping out on Tuesday since tomorrow is a holiday) & I decided I needed a little break. And of course, what break is really a break without some tea? Since this is the tea I just finished processing, I decided to go ahead and brew some of it – mostly because it smells so amazing that I was craving it by the time I finished packaging it all up.

Dry – it smells amazing (as I’ve already mentioned). It smells like sweet cola with fruit. Brewed, the smell is still there – but it is a bit softer than the dry leaf.

The flavor of the cola is a bit different with a green tea base than with the black tea base. The natural fruity tones and sometimes malty tones of the black teas seem to match up really well with the cola notes. The green tea is a bit less fruity and a bit more grassy/vegetal, but that’s not to say it tastes ‘bad’ or even “less than” in comparison to the black tea . . . just different. It’s less of a ‘sticky sweet’ cola and more of a light cola, like maybe one you made with club soda and perhaps half a shot of cola syrup. Less sticky sweet, but still sweet and cola-like in flavor – which makes it an ideal choice for hot summer weather (which we haven’t actually gotten much of up here in the Pacific Northwest, I’m happy to say).

The cherry and lime are also a bit more delicate than what you might encounter in a sticky sweet cola – but those flavors are definitely there and I find them to be more noticeable if I add just a teensy bit of sugar (about a half teaspoon?)

I really like this – I did hot brew it this time, but I really prefer it cold-brewed. Perhaps I will brew some overnight tonight to enjoy tomorrow.