Upon opening the pouch of “Organic Pomegranate Raspberry” tea, I immediately noticed two things: an incredibly pungent aroma and major stratification of the ingredients. So I tumbled the pouch around a bit to re-blend the contents to uniformity. The dry aroma was so very artificial, and it took me a while to identify it as the exact smell of Wrigley’s Juicyfruit Chewing Gum! Now I happen to like the smell & taste of Juicyfruit Gum, regardless of the artificiality of it, so I was optimistic. Note this contains no Camellia sinensis, so it is not actually tea, but rather is a tisane. Also, it contains papaya with added sugar.
I brewed it up as directed, western style: 1-2 tsp tisane with 8 oz boiled spring water, in a stainless micropore infusion basket for 5 min. The resulting liquor was golden colored and the juicyfruit fragrance had been driven off and replaced by a rather offputting vegetal scent, likely due to the papaya and drumstick tree leaves (Moringa oleifera). As it cooled, the fragrance shifted toward pleasant raspberries and apple, which remained through the rest of my sipping and lingered in the empty cup. While hot, the taste was reminiscent of apple dumpling (without cinnamon), and though inoffensive was not my favorite. As it cooled, the berry flavors reasserted themselves and I enjoyed the improvement! I never really noticed anything like pomegranate flavor, nor pomegranate flowers. I will prepare iced tea with my next infusion and report back on it. Overall, I would give this a Rating of 68, and recommend it to those who like strong fruity flavors. I’m not sure why the ingredient lists both raspberries and raspberry! Maybe for the same reason the description uses the word “perfect” twice in the same sentence?!
One other issue I note: The tea is labeled (but not on the website) as “organic”. I do not believe it, because of the papaya content. Virtually no papaya in commercial global production can be correctly labeled as USDA Organic. Same under EU regulations. (Though the package omits the term “USDA”.) Personally I don’t give a rats tail about organic foods, but I do care about misleading labeling. So take that label cum grano salis.
Flavors: Apple, Floral, Fruity, Juicy, Papaya, Raspberry, Sweet
