Noms Berry Delight

Ah, the almost perfect nightcap. Sweet with a tart bite. The aroma is joyful. Like a bunch of berries playing in a field (Yes, I am thinking of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). Cherries, and strawberries. But… then comes the stevia. It isn’t incredibly strong but once you taste it, it’s all you can think about. Then it lingers on the palate. Besides the stevia the rest of it is great. I just don’t think it needs it.

STTB Tea

I didn’t realize this has stevia in it. :( Who would you ruin a perfectly good blend with stevia? I guess that explains why I had an upset stomach a few days ago.

The hibiscus wasn’t too strong. It actually got smoothed over by the other ingredients (green rooibos). Fairly flavourful with some berry notes. Nothing specific (I wish it was specifically raspberry, but I found it was more like generic berry). The rose hips were not needed but I guess this blend was aimed at people who like sour blends. Maybe the stevia actually made this blend better. I think this would make a fine iced tea for someone who enjoys this type of blend. It was nice to try some of the offerings from Cup of Te.

It’s not really fair, but I can’t help comparing this to Very Berry Delicious from My Cup of Tea. I was drinking that one yesterday and loving it. I used the same steeping parameters, but this one just isn’t as flavorful. It has that same red jello / sweet red fruit flavor, but it falls flat for me. I can tell that this has rooibos, because there’s a woodiness in the background. This is a miss for me iced, but I’d still like to try it hot. My husband, on the other hand, loves it both ways. He actually preferred this one over the Very Berry Delicious and has had two cups today already.

Samurai Traveling Tea Box – Tea #7

Really happy to see these blends from Cup of Te in the TTB – they’re on the list of Black owned tea companies, and there’s one blend on their site in particular that I’m really curious about but I can’t bring myself to order for just the one tea – so my hope it to find at least one more (ideally two) blends in this box that I like to help justify that order…

This is pretty nice! It’s sweet and syrupy berries with notes of hibiscus, woody rooibos, and raspberry – in that order. It does have stevia in it, and you taste that lingering “back of the palate” sweetness a little bit; I’m not overly adverse to stevia like some so it’s not bothering me in flavour but I am making a mental note of that sweetness.

Thing is, it’s not an incredibly unique fruity/raspberry rooibos blend and if I didn’t already have a TON of other rooibos teas with comparable profiles it probably would not be hard envisioning this having a place in my cupboard for that berry/fruity rooibos profile – especially for iced teas or cold brews. I do have a bunch of comparable blends though, so I don’t know that this is the one I’m looking for to help flesh out that order…

It’s still nice though!