Hibiscus Berry Rose

Sipdown! I cold brewed the remainder of my sample, unfortunately it was a bit weak as there wasn’t much tea left. Still refreshing and something different though, for a caffeine free cold brew, this one is a top contender. Might re-order next year, but not for a while as I’m signed up to the Verdant blend club and I have enough blends coming my way for a while – excited about the preview of the November ones! See previous notes on this tea :)

Sorry I haven’t had the time to read everyone’s tasting notes lately. I’m scrambling to prepare for my fifth and final presentation for the semester, and am simultaneously trying out some of the Verdant teas I’ve been neglecting to figure out whether or not I should order some stuff during this weekend sale.

I cold brewed my sample of this. Dumped it in my 500ml measuring cup and let it steep in the fridge for about six hours. I’m left with a ruby red tisane smelling like… herbs?

I took a sip before reading the ingredients list, and right behind the tart hibiscus note, I thought to myself, “Huh? Am I tasting licorice in here?” And so I am! And there’s a powerful lingering herbal note that I’m picking up. Turns out that’s the coriander. I’m one of the lucky ones whose taste buds interpret cilantro as metal, and while coriander doesn’t quite do that to me, it’s still off-putting for me. This tisane leaves such a weird feeling on the tongue. I can barely tastes the berries in here.

The licorice and coriander are even overpowering the rose, which sucks. I liked the sound of berries and rose together. If I go a couple minutes without taking a sip, I’m only left with the licorice lingering on my tongue, which I don’t mind, as I really like licorice root, but it is so out of place here.

I appreciate the creativity but all this has done is remind me that I don’t like coriander. The more I sniff the concoction, the dirtier/muskier the coriander smells to me. Oh well.

Well, I’m going to try cold brewing this, but I think this one is a miss. I had to add some honey to cut the licorice root taste (there’s hardly any licorice root in it, but the aftertaste just lingers for me). I think it might be the coriander that’s just not working for me.

The idea of hibiscus and rose is a lovely one. I could see rose petals working really well in Agua de Jamaica.

Sipdown! I purchased a small sample of this one, knowing that i probably wouldn’t like it. While i don’t mind hibiscus, i am not a fan of floral teas. In drinking this one, I can see why verdant recommends that this be cold brewed. I think this would be one of those teas that really pops as a cold brew. I added a little honey to this one and it brought out the flavours of the goji berries. before the honey there was an abundance of rose and coriander. While this is an ok blend, it’s really not for me.

I am on a roll today with the rose teas, this is my third one of the day. I didn’t even realize I had this in my cupboard, it must have come as a free sample with my last Verdant order.

This really is an odd blend and one that is definitely not to my tastes. It was much lighter on the hibiscus than I expected, which was a plus since I don’t care for it. The coriander and licorice root gave the brewed tea an odd flavor which was followed up by the rose. I was glad that the rose wasn’t as overpowering as I expected based off the scent of the dry leaf.

After taking a sip of it hot I fully understand why Verdant recommends that this tea be cold steeped. It was much more enjoyable once I let it cool in the fridge, but still not something I would reorder.

Ok this tea warm is….. unnatural…and kinda gross…I wont lie.
I mean when I opened the bag I was a little put off because it wasn’t quite what I expected but ya know….wont know till you brew it.

Gonna put it on ice…..

It’s much better cold….I mean MUCH better…it’s an amazing transformation.

I taste rose and berries…..and surprisingly not so much hibiscus…it’s pretty mild…it’s kind of in the aftertaste…the after taste is like a tart-ish rose…a lot of rose in the after taste. but i wouldn’t call this a perfume-y tea by any means.

It’s a good floral herbal…but not one I think I’ll be restocking up on when it’s gone.

I’m actually drinking this one hot, but I’m quite sure that it would be really good as a cold steep.
I’m getting mostly berry, some tart – but not as much as I was expecting, and only a hint of floral at the end. I’m not really into florals but this isn’t too much, so I’m ok with it.
I’m happy to have tried this, but I don’t think it’s something that I need to keep stocked.

First time drinking this blend made it very warm, lovely color hint of rose, taste well blended berry taste, not too sweet. Maybe next time I try it with a little sugar.