Hibiscus Punch

(DavidsTea 118)

H is for… Hibiscus Punch!

Well, if this isn’t an accurate tea name… It was definitely a big, sour hibiscus punch to the tastebuds! With backup rooibos notes, and cinnamon. However, strange as it sounds, I actually did not hate it, and drank it unaltered. It was ridiculously puckering but for whatever reason I appreciated it; I believe that some sweetener could have made this into a decent iced tea. Not a tea I’d keep around, but certainly appreciate that it was true to its name!

Yeah, stevia.

Mind you, my mother was a big fan of sour and tart things, so my palate got accustomed to these tastes early, even though I was not much of a fan.

Enter Hibiscus Punch. I love Hibiscus, so when this went on sale, I thought what could possibly go wrong here? Thus, I ended up with mountains of this. Stevia, cinnamon, and hibiscus, ouf, no. Ginger too, I think.

I applied my Sleigh Ride approach of half leaf and half pure hibiscus, and now I am happy with it. The non-hibiscus flavours have thus been toned down. I quite like this now. This is my second day cold-steeping it this way for a refreshing afternoon drink. My rating reflects the low side of my doctored version, not the straight tea.

Also, who puts rooibos into a fruit or herbal tea? Who?

The hibiscus is definitely prominent in this tea, but the fruityness of the flavours come through quite nice with a little hint of ginger flavour. It can be a bit tart in some steepings and a strong cinnamon flavour can take over, but overall it is enjoyable. I don’t recommend it cold as the hibiscus flavour really takes over then.

I expected to hate this tea, but I didn’t. It was rather pleasant to drink. I think that’s because when I brewed it, the hibiscus took a back seat to the fruitiness and ginger spice. (I’m not a huge fan of hibiscus. But, sometimes it works well in a blend.) But, this tea didn’t knock my socks off. Pretty forgettable, thus it scores just an average 3-star rating. This was March in the 2014 Tea of the Month 2014 collection I bought in December. I just recently finished all 12 samples. But, I didn’t have time to review all of them when I drank them. So, this tea was one of the ones I don’t remember very well.

Some people hate hibiscus in their tea; I get it, it’s sour and fruity and kind of one note. Besides, it is one ingredient that brews up flavorful and colorful no matter what, so it’s added in every fruit blend under the sun. I don’t have a vendetta against hibiscus, I think it’s pretty good. That said, this tea is only okay for me. I can taste the stevia and would have rather this been uber-tart than to have added sweetener, even if it’s a natural sweetener. I choose to get this tea over another flavor because hibiscus punch is caffeine free, so it has that going for it, and it is still pink and fruity and cool. This tea is just about what you expect, but be sure you like your tea sweet.

Herbal Traveling Tea Box

Bleh. I like hibiscus, and even this was just so sour. There was even evident tartness after sweetener, but at least it toned down the hibiscus some and brought out the cinnamon. Without, it was nearly undrinkable. The only way I would ever imagine this would be halfway decent would be iced and sweetened. Teavana Passion is tart, but it’s lovely iced and I don’t even sweeten mine these days. Something tells me this wouldn’t work as well.

Just under 2 tsp but steepster doesn’t allow non-whole numbers. I was hoping the cinnamon would somehow overwhelm the hibiscus and tried this hot. Big mistake, huuuge mistake

Tart + Spicy + Fruity. Love it!

Oh goodness NO!!!!
How many levels of ewww can a tea travel? Many, apparently, I can assure you.
I didn’t exactly read the ingredients list before purchasing this one, so I didn’t realize there was enough cinnamon in here for an unruly teen to participate in the “cinnamon challenge”!! Ugh. Whoever thought hibby, stevia, ginger AND cinnamon would blend well together must have been delirious. Stevia? Really? I’ve seen it work in some dessert teas, but I never imagined it working with any spices or spicy type additives, and that was evidently for a reason.
Of course, in the spirit of disclosure, I am in a terrible mood, having been laid off from the job that I really didn’t like. I’m part relieved and yet horrified. Sure, it was THE least challenging role I’ve ever taken on (asides from retail back in Uni that is) but then I really need the funding to pay some bills. Moreover, for my tea! ha!
Nevermind that. This is still a nasty tea. Slightly better when cold, where I can actually taste some of the hibby. Funny, I never thought I’d see the day when something could dominate that formidable flower… but then I hadn’t considered pitting the two most overpowering tea additives I know of against each other. Makes sense, I suppose, to match the intensity of flavours. But then, isn’t that somewhat like mixing soy sauce and oatmeal??
Bleh. Overall, I think it is the general combination of things that makes it all so terrible. Stevia is the icing on the proverbial cake (Ick. cake is delicious. Or at least it is supposed to be!)

When I first tried this tea, it seemed a bit cold for something as spring related as this tea, it was actually right during a snowstorm. Needless to say I was not feeling the spring vibe, but I don’t think that is the source of my indifference to this tea.

I’m personally not a fan of this tea. It was way too cinnamon-y for me. Just like last month’s tea of the month was has way too much cinnamon, this one does too. It’ not even like I have anything against cinnamon, it’s just that this tea really overdoes it with the cinnamon.

I wasn’t even expecting it to have cinnamon at all (because of its name). I was expecting a more floral and fruity type tea, but obviously that was not the case. It was only a little bit floral (because there was way too much cinnamon) and not fruity at all.

No.

No no no no no. We went in to getthe Spring teas, and this was on sample and no… no no no. I tried it and smelt it first. Cinnamon. Okay, not so bad…Tasted it.

And died a little inside. I should have known from the name, Hibiscus and me and tea, do not agree. At all. All I could taste was some strange hybrid of what probably would happen if you mixed tea, cinnamon, beer, vodka and the cheapest wine you could possibly find, all in a bowl.

No. I just… No. >_<