Crisp Cranberry Soda Green Rooibos

52Teas 12 Teas of Christmas: Day 3

Sipped on this zesty lil number during my final [online] class of the semester! It evokes an effervescent lemon-lime soda to me, with lovely cranberry notes. It’s tart, but also a little syrupy, but also a little saline? I bet it would be absolutely smashing cold-brewed, maybe with a bit of seltzer added.

So good!

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 10

Again, not loving rooibos much lately, but Anne does a lovely soda tea. It’s convincingly effervescent, tangy-sweet, and crisp. Not too sweet though – more like an Italian soda, or tonic water with a dash of citrus. This blend is pleasant iced or cold steeped.

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas Day 10

“Is it something floral?”

You’ll never guess this one.

“Orangina. laughs No. Let me get my device. I see you. I see you sneakin’ around.

(We have a few neighborhood sistercats that moved into the house the way neighborhood cats do after my cat Sophia passed away in September. The fast and feisty grey one I call Little Piggy or Junebug is playing in Kiki’s bedroom.)

Starfruit. No. laughs, plays some slot machine game on her phone Cantaloupe? sips Honeydew. She’s a troublemaker, that one. Like a monkey. Gotta get into everything. smacks lips I’ll never get it, huh? I’m not even close."

What do you taste in the aftertaste?

“Kinda like a hard candy like a lilikoi or something. Like that fruit berry with a little seed in it that we used to get in Chinatown. And kinda like jello. An orange, orangey, an orange color.” sips

You’re not too far off.

“Um, what are those candies you get at the Chinese, uh- "

-Oh, lychee.

“Kinda like that, that lychee. It’s good, I like it. It kinda has a little astringency like hibiscus does but not as extreme. More of a smooth astringent, a creamy astringent. It tastes just like a candy. I could drink it hot or iced. I like it. Not grapefruit. Cuz grapefruit’s kind of astringent isn’t it? I give it a 9, I give it a 9 out of 10.”

It’s called Crisp Cranberry Soda Green Rooibos.

“Oh, that’s soda.”

Can you taste the lemon-lime, like 7-Up?

“Yeah I guess so but it tastes more like the… not the loquat… whatever that candy is. Cranberry — I guess it’s astringent like the cranberry. I guess it is that dusty dirty thing like the rooibos but it’s not upfront. Maybe it blends the rest of the flavors. It fills in the spots between. I like it, I do. I think it’s good. It’s discriminating.” cackles

You mean- (I’m buzzed from some ancho chile liqueur I cracked open this evening and am thus slow to form words :D )

“-Yeah. For the finer tastebuds of life. chuckles, pause of several minutes For the discriminating palate.” cackles

- - - -

I really like this tea. Like I said earlier — short for words. Bummed there’s not enough for 3 servings in this bag :P

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 10

Yassssss! This is the tea that I’ve most wanted to try when I’ve seen it in past years, so happy that it made it into this year’s box as well.

It’s very true to the name, with a crisp lemon-lime soda flavor and a touch of red berry. I wouldn’t say specifically cranberry, but generally those cranberry-flavored sodas don’t specifically taste like cranberry to me either he he.

Just really nice, and it does taste just like a cranberry Sprite to me. Which reminds me, I should buy some more cranberry ginger ale the time I’m at the store… :P

Day 3 of 52teas’ advent calendar. I enjoyed this in last year’s calendar so I’m glad to see it back again! Even though I prefer to drink it cold/room temp, it’s very much a fall/winter tea in my mind because of the cranberry. That cranberry note is just right, and I’ve been getting the soda note pretty consistently by brewing it hot and then allowing to cool. It’s almost salty in the way seltzer is. This won’t last long!

Strange VariaTEA TTB #21

I didn’t get much cranberry from this, but it definitely had a soda-like quality with a pleasant lemon/lime flavor and a nice effervescence from the green rooibos. (Side note: why don’t more tea companies use green rooibos instead of red??? It has a way more pleasant flavor, IMO.) It was a bit weird drinking it hot (like a warm, flat soda) but I’ll bet it would be super refreshing iced or as a cold brew. If we were headed into summer instead of winter right now, I might hang onto this for some summer iced tea!

Was this one I missed from last year? I think so. Either way, it was yummy – not sure I got enough cranberry from it, but someone’s likening of it to Sprite is rather accurate, and I like that it’s caffeine-free.

This tea tastes like Sprite! I really like it! I don’t know how it achieves this almost bubbly quality, but it’s great! I cold brew a second steep, and that turns out very tasty as well. Definitely a new favorite. Totally a unique tea. I prefer this one room temperature.

I had coldbrewed a 2017 packet of this and reviewed it about two years ago (here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/397660 ) TL;DR: the coldbrew had a great lemon lime flavor, and was extremely refreshing, but I never did taste the cranberry. Now I’ve pulled my packet from the 2018 Advent Calendar. Last night I tried my first warm cup, and found that even more disappointing than the cold brew… it had a bit of the refreshing lime but mostly, the green rooibos just became overpowering and washed out any flavor. And still no cranberry.

I coldbrewed the remainder of the packet overnight last night, and decided to make it as an actual soda/pop. I strained the coldbrew, then infused it with three bursts of Co2 from my DrinkMate. And this. is. A-MAZ-ING! Hands down, 100% tastes like a lemon-lime-CRANBERRY soda! I even taste the cranberry this time! Perhaps something about that sort of sharp/crisp flavor of the carbonation is really making it pop.

I didn’t even add sweetener, and am perfectly happy with this. Likely if I added some sugar syrup into my cold brew, it might have an even closer replication from that syrupy/sweet quality.

If any other packets of this ever make their way to me again, I’m carbonating from now on! Raising rating!

Cold Brew!

I don’t know how Anne gets the lemon lime soda flavouring so perfect in this tea, but it just wows me every time I drink so. This was practically the perfect cold brew – refreshing and light citrus with a splash of tart cranberry with the best sweetness level and just enough of the green rooibos coming through to not be lost!