Hibiscus + Mango

I was mailing out some tea for a friend yesterday and while I was at the post office I noticed a display with a bunch of sparkling drinks on it, including a nice feature on Healtea’s sparkling iced tisane line. Seems like they’ve updated all of the branding on their cans, and I have to say they look much more modern and approachable. The old designs were very dated looking IMO and between that and the focus on herbal ingredients they had a more niche/isolating “herbal remedy” kind of vibe to them that probably appealed to the “almond mom” type of consumer but I’d guess likely not a lot of other people…

As a local brand I’ve run across them quite a bit sampling at various venues (including MTL Tea Festival) and it’s almost always their dandelion or ginger drinks they’re sampling which taste fine but like… eh. All this to say that in this beautiful display I saw a flavour I’ve never seen them showcasing elsewhere: Hibiscus + Mango. I don’t know if that’s because this is new or maybe less popular. Couldn’t tell you. I did pick up a can though to drink on my commute home and damn it was good. Blew any other flavour I’ve tried from them way out of the water.

Even with the fizz from the carbination, there was a richness to the mouthfeel that I loved and feel like can sometimes be missing in hibiscus based drinks which can lean a little thin and sharp. This was bright, tangy, and tart – and anything but shrill. I got a ton of that deep red, berry-ish hibiscus flavour but also a really ripe and sweet mango puree that gave a tropical twist and almost cocktail-like note to the drink. The two were so tasty together!

Like… why is this not the thing you’re sampling at events!? It’s a winner!