Fruit Fusion

Thank you DHart1214 for this tea sample!

DHart1214 sent me a bunch of little Persimmon Tree samples in little individual servings with a logo seal on them all neat and ready to go. Thanks!

This fruit tea was one of the only packets without caffeine, a good pick for the evening (watching the Project Runway Finale!).

I noticed the first ingredient was hibiscus flowers, then lemongrass and rose hip shells. I don’t mind hibiscus like some other people, but with the other two, I was worried that the sour factor was going to be way up in the high pucker upper range.

With blind faith, my pot of tea was brewed and ready 5 minutes later.

Fortunately, the tea tasted good.
It wasn’t too sour or bitter, but was certainly a tea for drinking with sweetening. If this was a lighter tea maybe you could drink it straight, but this had a heavier fruit liquor and needed sweetening to bring all the fruit flavor to full ripeness.

When sweetened, you could taste the strawberry and cherry as well as the tang from hibiscus and lemongrass. The blend worked well.

I’ve had similar tea’s that were successful when hibiscus and berry flavors were blended together.

Story
This isn’t a story, more of a grandma ‘brag’.
When 2 of my grandsons were adopted two years ago (they are brothers), they were thrilled that my daughter was going to Home School them. They ‘wanted’ their new mom to teach them. I remember Donovan (age 7) with tears telling my daughter, “I want the first words I learn to read to be from you.” It was so sweet. So they joined the other 4 kids and were taught by mom.

As time progressed here in Colorado, all the kids have done better emotionally. One by one several of the older teenagers have gone to local Charter Schools (excellent ones).

This year, all three boys began public Charter School with great excitement and gusto. They are Lovin school!

First Report Cards came today! All the boys got multiple A’s, some B’s and one C. All got A’s in Math and Science.
I’m sooo proud of them. These boys came from the worse situations and still are battling early childhood trauma. The youngest is bipolar. They are jewels!

I’m proud of my daughter for preparing them for this day!

Brag!

I’m not going to lie, I enjoy fruit tisanes that taste like juice. I mean, it’s hardly even tea even in the most generous sense of the word, but it’s tasty! Like fruit punch without all the sugar. A lot of Teavana’s blends are like this bu just a bit too tart for me, so I am looking for a less hibiscus-y version.

I got a sample of this on a whim, and oh boy am I glad I did. When I opened up the little bag I smelled… cinnamon! The first thing I thought was that my sample had been contaminated, but I have never had a sample from Persimmon Tree pick up flavors from other ones they are packaged in. Also, I don’t have any cinnamon teas in there—a chai, but the smell of that one is pure ginger and cardamom. My second, more reasonable thought was that my nose was just off so I cold brewed a cup and thought it would be totally fruity by morning.

Well, blessedly, it’s not! The smell is strong cinnamon and vanilla, with a strong fruity undertone. The taste is like cinnamon coffee cake with fruit compote on top, cherry and strawberry! I’m kind of fascinated by this since there are only fruity ingredients listed aside from the flavoring. But really, I’m sure if there was cinnamon/vanilla in here someone else would have made a note of it!

As it is, I would give this tea a ridiculously high score because it is just so so tasty. However, I don’t think it is really supposed to taste like this— happy accident indeed, but I am left wondering what happened.

Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Water: 500ml 200 °F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 6 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell:
MilitiaJim: That’s a lot of fruit. The strawberry is kinda takin’ over.
AmazonV: It smells like strawberry and cherry. Now that I’ve dug in a bit more I’m maybe getting the lemongrass?
Steeped Tea Smell:
MilitiaJim: fruit
AmazonV: strawberry, fruity, hint of lemongrass
Flavor:
MilitiaJim: They mixed everything together enough that its a hot fruit punch, not any fruit in particular.
AmazonV: A melody of fruits, hard to pick them out individually
Body: Full
Aftertaste: strawberry, apple
Liquor: translucent dark pink

Pictures: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/01/persimmon-tree-tea-company-loose-leaf_16.html

Even though I feel like garbage with a Lupus flair in full bloom, I still managed to accomplish something today and that makes me immensely happy. I am almost finished with my room rearrange and massive reorganize meaning I have a tea tasting station at my craft area (so much better lighting than the kitchen) now I can tea and craft in peace. I am fairly reclusive so always having to be social in the kitchen was grating on my nerves, plus it meant I was a whole room away from my craft supplies, tragic! Once I am finished I will have to post some photos, but I can tell you it involves Octopus art, a jellyfish lamp, a magical electric firefly in a jar, and of course my various Minecraft loot, it is an area conducive to creativity.

Today I am going to review a fruity and colorful tea from The Persimmon Tree, Fruit Fusion. I was extremely lucky and won a tin of this tea in a contest run by fellow tea enthusiast The Cup of Life. The tea (or really Tisane in this case) is made from Strawberries, Rose Hips, Hibiscus Flowers, Applies, Orange Peel, Cherries, Lemongrass, and Sunflower Petals, some amazing ingredients and a few that I am notorious for not being a fan of. The aroma is very sweet and super fruity, I love all the different fruits and can certainly detect the strawberries, cherries and apples. There is a tartness from the fruit (and hibiscus flowers) as well but it is not as strong as the sweet. The aroma vaguely reminds me of a fruity trail mix and is making me kinda hungry. Thankfully I do not smell any of the dreaded lemongrass, yay!

Giving the tisane a thorough steeping reveals an incredibly vibrant liquid, it is very red and reminds me of maple leaves. The aroma is very sweet, but it is also very tart, like a mixture of very tart cherries and fresh apples. There are also undertones of strawberries and citrus. The ruby liquid is very sweet, it has the aroma of fruit juice or maybe a wine-less Sangria. I can certainly say it smells delicious.

I am excited and a bit apprehensive to taste the tea, the aroma is sweet (which you all probably know by now I like naturally sweet things) but it is also tart (which, I really don’t like at all…but yet I love sour) so if it is more sweet than tart I will be a happy Enderman. Nope, nope, nope, it is tart, crazy intense tart! That popping sound was probably my salivary glands exploding from the tartness. I have no shame in admitting I am adding some sugar to this tea because I really want to taste it, I just find that much tart painful. With the sugar it is still tart but much easier for me to drink, the taste is very fruity as expected. The strongest flavor that pops through is cherry followed by rose hips and a bit of strawberry. I am not a huge fan of this tea, it is certainly a great fruit blend and the flavors are really clear, I just don’t like them. I gave a visiting friend who loves tart teas a cup of this and she loved it, so I can certainly say to this tea ’it’s not you, it’s me.’ I will certainly have to try more from this company though, so stay tuned.

Photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-persimmon-tree-fruit-fusion-tea.html

Well, this is very much like fruit juice. Truly, if I hadn’t had fruit juice in a while, which I haven’t, I would think it was fruit juice. Very fruity tisane. A bit too much hibiscus.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: mixture of various fruits

Steep: 7m

Aroma: Tart

Color: Deep Red

Taste: After not brewing tea for quite sometime i decided to give this one a try. It had a fairly tart aroma. As for the taste i didn’t notice anything special,it was just tart

I put the whole sample into my PerfecTea maker tonight. Well, it’s the boyfriend’s but he left it here, so yup. My first reaction to this tea was “sour!” Not really what I was going for after a long shift at work. This could be nice iced. With so many things to try out there, I don’t think this one will have a permanent spot in my cupboard. It is different and enjoyable though.