Cranberry

2009-11-24 4:30 pm
Preparation notes: Teavana’s Easy Tea Steeper with a dash of splenda

I figured out one reason that I dislike using the tea steeper – it’s much larger than my mug and when draining I can’t see how full my mug is to know if I need to pull the steeper off.

For this mug of tea I could have added more water (and probably should have, it’s pretty strong), but it’s guesswork. Perhaps I’ll just bring in a larger mug from home.

The leaves smell like cranberry, but the tea doesn’t. There’s a hint of fruit, but it’s not really identifable as cranberry to me. Maybe I just made the tea too strong so the tea flavor is overwhelming the cranberry flavor?

Not impressed. Teavana’s cranberry actually tastes like cranberry.

Home – 8:00 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 15

This is a sample that I added to my Adagio matcha order to reach the free shipping threshold. I figured cranberry is an unusual flavor, so why not?

This base tea is extremely earthy and mineral, which I don’t remember being the case with other Adagio black blends I’ve tried. Interesting. Even with a 3-minute steep, there’s a tinge of bitterness and astringency. The base tea here completely overpowers the flavoring. I can taste a little bit of dried cranberry, but it’s difficult to find with the strong base.

Not impressed with this one. The base tea tastes a bit too much like rocks…

Cranberries are good during winter, though I usually like them in pastries. There is a cranberry and raspberry scent, reminds me a little of juice. The flavour is somewhat tart, a bit sweet, and mostly berry. Good with rooibos cookies.

I’m not too sure how I feel about this one. It’s got a slight bit of… bitterness? maybe not… yeah maybe… I don’t know.

I am getting a bit of cranberry though. I am starting to realize that I do like cranberries, but I’m not sure if I like cranberries in tea. Either way, it’s an ok tea, but I wouldn’t refill it.

Finally getting around to reviewing this. I think I ordered it back in November, so it’s been waiting for a while.

The dry tea is well-decorated with raspberry leaf. I don’t know exactly what it tastes like on its own, so I’m not sure if it adds anything to the flavor of the tea or not. It could be like cornflowers for all I know. (No flavor, just decoration.) There are also little chunks of dried cranberry mixed in. A nice touch. I’m tempted to pick them out and eat them, but I will refrain!

Steeping, the tea has a very raspberry-like scent. So fruity! It reminds me of Tootsie Pops. You know, the ones in the dark red/maroon wrappers. Definitely not smelling cranberry. The flavor is pretty much the same. The berry flavor is vibrant and up-front without any tartness. However, I don’t think I would have made the distinction of it being a cranberry tea unless I knew ahead of time. I definitely would have guessed raspberry. Not that it’s bad in any way. I was just expecting something that tasted more like cranberry juice, I guess!

From the queue, written March 23rd 2014

Another from the EU TTB, round 2. A handy satchet with a fairly uncomplicated flavouring. That sounds like just the thing for me right now. I’m not sure if I’ve had Adagio’s cranberry flavoured black before, but I quite like cranberry. I just don’t seem to have it very often, with the exception of the Late Summer Blend from AC Perchs, which is vanilla and cranberry and which I am highly partial to.

It smells lovely. All berry-y and RED and juicy and sweet and fruity. I can detect the black base underneath, but not anything in particular about it. That’s okay. So long as I can tell that there is a tea there, I’m okay with it. Flavouring should never be stronger than one can still tell that one is drinking tea and not hot juice. I’m also reminded of the raspberry oolong that AC Perchs have which I loved dearly for years but haven’t had in a long time now. I just sort of reached the point where I didn’t find it any less nommy at all, I just felt… finished with it. For a while at least. I rather think I’ll be reacquainting myself with it again some time.

Anyway, this one is neither raspberry nor oolong, and it’s not from ACP either. But it smells lovely.

I tastes nice too. Cranberry is a slightly astringent flavour and I’m getting that here as well. Just a little bit, but not in the same way that a tea which has been brewed carelessly becomes astringent from unhappiness. It’s cranberry astringency. It’s rather difficult to explain. Just accept my word for it. It’s astringent, but it’s berry-astringent which is not the same thing as tea-astringent. Same sort of mouth-reaction, but feels different.

The flavouring is fairly strong and it feels quite juicy to swallow. Again, as in the aroma, the base is coming through as a sort of ‘default tea’ flavour to it all, so that I know what I’m drinking, but there’s nothing spectacular about it. I’ve seen plenty of people on Steepster write that Adagio’s flavoured teas didn’t really work for them, because they didn’t like the base. I don’t mind the base in these. It’s too anonymous for me to have an opinion either way.

This is not a tea that one sits down and deciphers. It’s something one drinks while logging on to Steam one late afternoon and debates with oneself whether to play Terraria or give that Aquaria game a second try.

Which is what I shall now do. (Any Steepsterites on Steam, do feel free to look me up if you like. Name to search for is Angrboda and I have the same icon as here, so you can’t miss me.)

Another tea from the european travelling box, a teabag this time (and whoa, only one more tea to sample from it I think!).

Not much to say about this – ceylon with cranberry, and not particularly strong tea base. Quite drinkable.

Enjoyed it. not a lot of cranberry

The black tea base works nicely with the cranberry flavor. Its not too overpowering of a cranberry taste.

I thought this would be a delightful tea for fall and the holidays. It is. I’m not a HUGE fan of cranberry; if you are, this will probably be even better to you. The flavoring is rather mild, which was good for me. It’s a lovely color and a nice scent. I think it may be good mixed with some spirits as it reminds me of a cosmo. :)