Cranberry Pear Crostata

I love Cranberry Pear flavoured teas so I’ve been nervous about trying this one. I just feel like the potential for disappointment for me personally is so high…

The dry leaf wasn’t off to a great start as it smelled potently of alcohol. Just such intense and fresh flavourings which clearly hadn’t been given enough time to air out and settle. Steeped up most of that boozier punch did dissipate, thankfully. It was still pretty artificial tasting once infused but I did sort of like it. The pear was almost like the Juicy Pear flavoured Jelly Belly candies but with a floral undertone, and there was a very nice light tartness from the hibiscus. I will say, I definitely got more “red fruit” than cranberry but I liked the duo of generic red fruit with this sweeter pear note.

It does kind of fail at being a baked good inspired blend. Like, there’s just nothing in the cup that reads that way aside from maybe potentially the rooibos base itself but that definitely feels like a stretch. Better cranberry pear blends exist, though…

Sipdown! (20 | 20)

Saved the one I was most interested in for last.

Sadly, this is not impressing me. I’m not really getting much cranberry or pear, mostly just hibiscus on a green rooibos base. Maybe it’s just that the cranberry and the hibiscus are too similar and I can’t differentiate between them well enough. There’s a touch of pear at the end of the sip, but it’s quite artificial-tasting.

Anyway, disappointing. I’d already cancelled my Almost subscription earlier this month since I don’t find myself as drawn to dessert teas these days, plus I just don’t need to be taking in any more tea. But if I hadn’t, I would probably cancel anyway after trying this second package, since none of the teas have really spoken to me. Oh well, was fun to try anyway!