Strawberry Lemonade

One of the teas from my last Bluebird Tea Co monthly club package. I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while, strawberry lemonade sounds like a delicious tea creation that would be great for the summer.

I can taste the strawberry which has a jam like quality in terms of flavour, thickness and sweetness but it’s also a little tart and sour with the lemon and hibiscus coming through. It lightens up however in the after taste and it’s sweetness increases.

As it cools the hibiscus becomes stronger and over takes most of the lemon flavour to make it more strawberry hibiscus jam like than strawberry lemonade.

It’s nice but I think it has a little too much hibiscus for my liking. I will try it iced too and see if it’s more to my taste. Will report tomorrow.

I loved strawberry lemonade when I was a child (and anything pink, come to that). Now I’m all grown up, I like tea more than carbonated drinks — and fruit tea is a particularl favourite. When the two can combine, it’s a good day in my book. The dry leaves of this tea are insanely summery. Huge chunks of strawberry, lemon and orange peel, small pieces of apple, hibiscus, and sunflower petals. The scent isn’t exactly strawberry lemonade — it’s somehow more sherbet-like than that. I suppose that could be the “fizz” element. Either way, it definetly smells of strawberries, with maybe the faintest hint of lemon. Fresh, sweet, beautiful!

I tried this cold brewed a couple of weekends back, and was a tiny bit disappointed with how well the strawberry came out. It was a little flat tasting, and the hibiscus seemed to take over, so I’ll be interested to see whether it’s different brewed hot.

Brewed, this is definetly a fight between the strawberry and the hibiscus, but I think the strawberry just about wins. The same sherbetty element I picked out in the smell survives and adds a certain lemonade-esque quality to this tea. The lemon itself comes out really clearly in the aftertaste. On balance, I wish there was a little bit less hibiscus, but this is a pretty good fruit tea. I certainly get strawberry lemonade from it, and accurate taste can sometimes be a rare commodity in fruit teas. I could drink this happily all summer — it’s so juicy, naturally sweet, and nicely balanced in flavour. Great work, Bluebird!

Sample sipdown!

Sipping at this tea while I crochet a commission (it’s soo cute!) My husband also just came home post dentist with a super temp front tooth. Insurance rolls over next month, so hopefully the tooth stays in place. No beef jerky for him until then!

Yeah, I really need to get these samples down. This one, hmmmm. A bit of citrus with hibscius and quite tart. I made this iced with a bit of honey. I’m not getting much strawberry, mostly a mid sip murmur. Not bad iced, but this would be much better with fresh lemon slices and some frozen strawberries.

First cup of the day and it’s a herbal. The liquor is a pinkish red and it smells like citrus laced red berry jam, or strawberry rhubarb pie. Hot, it tastes jam sweet, with a smooth, floral rose bridge, and a tart hibiscus/citrus finish. I’m liking this a lot more than I though I would, particularly for the citrus, but it’s not going to win over those wary of hibiscus. It’s also not distinctly strawberry at this stage.

I’m going to put the rest in the fridge and revisit this note later. This tastes like it would be just the thing iced or cooled.

Update cold cup- now it’s cold and I’m getting the sour and citric lemonade aspect from it. When it comes to teas I’m not a sweetener person, but this is unsweetened lemonade and would probably taste great with some syrup or agave. The flavours are still more berry citrus hibiscus than strawberry but it’s an enjoyable, refreshing cup. I think I prefer it hot though, for the pie jam.

Received a sample of this with my Bluebird order.

The dry smell is pleasant; very fruity & sweet. It steeps to a red, sangria-colored tisane with a somewhat floral aroma that smells (to me) like a strawberry pie filling. I can see hibiscus listed as the first ingredient (uh-oh), but since it smells so good, I’m hoping it won’t be an issue.

First sip… Yep, there’s the hibiscus. Maybe I’m sensitive to the flavor of hibiscus, but it’s really the only thing I can taste in this. Tart hibiscus with a slightly sweet aftertaste from the fruit. Disappointing, because all the other ingredients seem like something that I might like.

Oh well, I guess it’s just not the tisane for me.

I received this as a sample with my Bluebird order. I tossed the sachet into a cup of water and cold steeped in the fridge overnight. The flavors, while pleasant, aren’t very strong. This was a pretty generic fruit flavored tisane. It probably did taste of some strawberry, but it was more just “berry” and I didn’t get any “lemonade” at all. I thought it was ok but not really anything special.

Advent Day 12

Steeping up very red and I’m hoping it’s beetroot related. Nope, hibiscus. This had a citrusy fruity flavor in the first few sips and smells like strawberries and lemons, but it changed over to that gross hib tang in the start of the sip and then alkaline at the back. Very unpleasant, but it’s what I’ve come to expect in blends that have hib in any amount above the most miniscule. Hibiscus is like my cilantro. This tea is not for me!

B & B Caffeine Free Advent Calendar Day 1:

This was my my evening cup last night. It was pleasant. I am not a fan of hibiscus and it was very present here. It did not completely overwhelm the flavor, so I was able to drink it. There are two teabags in each window, and I think I’ll be able to drink the other bag, or maybe save it for when my friends Brandi (who likes fruity teas with hibby) comes over. So my take o nthis tea is that I am glad to have tried it, but it will most definitely not be a re-order.

This month I’m focusing on the various samples of Bird & Blend, between the advents I didn’t do during advent season and a separate sampler. I also got a sample of this with my last order, so it seemed appropriate to start here.

It’s a pleasant hibiscus blend, but the hibiscus is most of what I get here. I’m not sure I notice anything that feels particularly like strawberry lemonade. There’s a bit of a vague berry and a little more brightness to the hibiscus than in most of my other blends, perhaps from the lemon? It’s pretty in the bag and makes a solid fruity cup. I attempted to use a couple bags to make a small iced tea and it wasn’t potent enough – you’d need a lot of this to get good iced flavor.

Retroactively updating my tea logging.
I made this bird and blend sample in my travel cup and as such it was steeped rather long as I crossed the country.
This one isn’t my favourite, it seems a bit bitter and rind-ey for a lemonade flavour. I am aware that could be the steeping time, but it is as it is. This rind flavour kind of overpowered the strawberry, which on its own wasn’t unpleasant but the whole became a bit soapy towards the back of a sip.