Cranberry Acai (Herbal Blend)

My brain totally registered this as a white tea for some reason, so my steeping parameters for the first cup were all wrong and then some. And while the cup still tasted pretty decent (phew), it’s definitely better when done right.

Once I did this right, it’s a very nice tea. Lemony with earthy pine-like notes from the stinging nettle (which is an ingredient that is totally growing on me). I was fearing (and expecting) something more tart, and was pleased it was a more subtle cranberry tartness that didn’t make me pucker up. There’s a salty savoriness to the cup that works well, too.

Thank you so much KallieBoo!

Out of all the weird-ass herbals I have, this one might be my favourite. It’s a bit of a toss up between Kapha by TeaG, Cacao Mint by Samovar, and this.

I think this one is more drinkable at any time, so it might take 1st place.

Sipping it hot with cranberry honey tonight. So juicy and medicinal… Yep, it’s a winner for me. :)

Thank you OMGsrsly for this lovely sample. I made it in the Breville to make sure I steeped it properly, so this is a whole liter of tea, plus a sipdown.

This is actually cup #2; cup #1 was devoured hours ago, and I liked it more for some reason. Perhaps because I re-boiled this cup so that I had hot tea? Before it tasted more like an herbal, an unusual fruit herbal, and now I’m mostly getting apple in there, with a bit of something that makes me think of bamboo.

Received this one from RogersCK in round 1 of the secret pumpkin swap.

I had been avoiding this one because for some reason I thought it was green tea. But on closer inspection today I realized it was a herbal (confirmed by looking it up here on steepster).

This one tastes very similar to Lucky Bamboo from McQuarries, which I quite like, even though the only similar ingredients appear to be apple, verbena and lemon grass. This one has a very sweet and light lemon grass flavour. It is quite refreshing that is isn’t knock your socks off lemon grass. I can taste the verbena as well. There is a definite sweetness to this tea. I had anticipated it to be tart due to it being cranberry acai but I am not picking up any tartness at all. I am getting the slightest hint of saltiness that reminds me of Tulsi. Not sure if it is from the flavouring or what, but it is working with the blend.

Overall I think I prefer Lucky Bamboo but this is a good substitute.

Another sample I bought from Zen! This had a blend of ingredients that sounded nice and healthy and also… NO hibiscus! Many halves of cranberries fell into my infuser. I steeped this for eight minutes, as recommended, and I was worried that the blackberry leaves would taste funky if steeped for that long, but it tastes fine. I’m not sure if it was the stinging nettle, but my mouth did have something of a sting to it. There is a tiny bit of a cranberry flavor. Otherwise, the rest of the ingredients like to combine to make their own flavor. It does taste a bit medicinal, so there are teas that are more interesting and fun. But I like this one.

Last tea review for the day! (Then off to bed, or try to knit some more… I had about 9 rows of cable stitching done, and some of it looked great, but one part was horribly ruined. So…. I frogged it and am restarting. I think I’ve done those first 3 rows about 10 times now – no exaggerating. But I’m really learning a lot this way, and I’ll be happier with the end result!)

Anyway – THE TEA:
This smells like cranberry, and it tastes sorta like cranberry and pine needles. That can’t be right? Maybe that’s a combination of the verbena and lemon grass. But it makes me think of Christmas!

There’s a bit of an odd aftertaste I can’t identity, and then another piney one after that! What is going on in my mouth? :P I tried looking up verbena on wikipedia to see if that was one of the odd notes I’m getting and I learned that apparently verbena is good for nursing moms, and it’s also a sex steroid. So… the more you know…

Gosh, I’m all over the place today. In summary, this is an odd tea, mostly because I haven’t had a lot of these ingredients before so I’m not really sure what I’m tasting. I look forward to trying it again!

Backlog! I had this last night before bed. I forgot how yummy it was. The cranberry is there but it’s not too tart and it’s not too overpowering. There is nice lemon notes, too :]

The last of the free samples I got from Zen Tea! This is quite good and nothing I would have bought, so doubly enjoying it. Lemongrassssss~!

So I made this in my tea tumbler for work, knowing that generally fruit teas do better over the day then anything black. I drank a cup through the day when it was still warm and then when I got home I drank the rest. The one at work, moderately okay with an awesome scent. The one when I got home was delicious. Legitamatly not sure if this was because of the work situation or because of the extra time in the water. This is the first true cranberry tea I’ve had that was looseleaf, and I’m amazingly impressed. Probably going to buy more if only for using while at work.

Samples Only TTB

Tonight I decided to try two more teas as I have about 11 left I want to try before passing this thing onward. Gotta keep it moving. :)

I picked out a green at random and a herbal, let the water get to 180, poured it over the green, put it back on and let it boil, poured it over the herbal, which was a pyramid teabag in a cup. I have never used the pyramid teabags before but they’re so damned cute and I just had to try one, even tho it was Lipton and I wasn’t expecting to be impressed. More on that one later.

There isn’t much of an aroma to this tea out of the bag. It’s green and the fruit is dry. I can’t smell much of anything… So I brewed it up. Aroma is lightly fruity and barely present.

I took a drink and was happy. It’s a green tea that doesn’t taste of grass which is a bonus. It’s smooth, round, with a sweet fruity accent, not a hint of sour or bitter or tang. Everything I ever wanted in a green tea. Finally.

I take deeper drinks as this tea cools and it’s just … delightful. I keep saying I’m not a green tea drinker. I think it’s because I haven’t found the right green teas. I did sweeten it, as I sweeten… everything… But it didn’t require a lot of sugar. Typically, greens really take extra sugar for me to like it.

I am not sure if it’s just that this is a better green, or if it’s that I finally didn’t overheat the water… I don’t know. I just know I liked this tea and I’d drink it again. I may have to get some. :)