Fruity Oasis

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #31
#drinkwhatyouown January slot 16/25

Sat 1/30 Before bed I had one travel mug left of this in fridge so I finished that up. This was a cold-brew pitcher with a pitcher pack. I love how refreshing this tea is, I actually like a rooibos tea haha :) I wish there were more teas with aloe vera in them.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Teabox Tuesday! There wasn’t much of this left in the Discovery Teabox, and I took what was left… I’m not sure if I had enough leaf for a proper sampling (especially since I personally go a little heavy on rooibos and what I put in my infuser didn’t look as heavy as I usually brew rooibos teas), so I dropped the water amount to attempt to accomodate for that. Hopefully I got close to the right ballpark to get a decent ratio for an herbal. If it turns out weak, well… I know the problem is probably going to be that there just wasn’t really much leaf left of this one. But I love hibi so I really wanted to try it! In fact, I’m surprised so many folks even touched this one in the teabox because of the hibi, considering it is so universally hated around here. Thank you to Skysamurai for organizing the Discovery Teabox and all participants for sharing!

My cup is a lovely deep red, not a watery-looking red or a strange pink or lavender shade, so I think I managed to get my leaf/water balance correct, phew (it did occur to me if the tea did turn out a bit weak from being the tail end of the leaf from the teabox, I could always supplement with a little plain hibi from my stash, heh). The aroma is very fruity; mostly I smell a red berry sweet, jammy aroma, and a hint of pineapple.

I like the flavor! I really am getting a very sweet, jammy taste at the forefront, that has a strong red berry flavor, with notes of strawberry and currant, with a tart/tangy juicy fruitiness at the end of the sip that tastes strongly of pineapple and citrus fruit. There is another flavor there too, and I can’t describe it, so it must be either the aloe or the prickly pear, as I’m not exactly familiar with either. I believe it’s the prickly pear, since one description says the juice is somewhat like a cross between bubblegum and watermelon, and that actually is very close to the flavor I’m tasting. It’s very sweet, and somewhat melon-like. I almost want to say watermelon Jolly Rancher, just not that intense.

I’d love to try this one iced, but sometimes a warm fruity hibi tea on a rainy evening feels very cozy and satisfying… I think it’s from the thicker mouthfeel, it feels very calming as it coats the throat and warms the tummy. Really enjoyed this cup.

Discovery tea box – Tea #4
A DEEP red, tart cup the first time around, but on a second steep, the flavor was much more muted. It basically tasted like punch…. hibiscus punch. This should be called ‘hibiscus oasis’. I wish more of the fruit flavors made it to the mug. I didn’t hate it. Sometimes you want a thirst quenching, tart cup. Not a lot of the time… but sometimes.

I normally avoid stevia-laden teas but I wanted to try some of teas from the TTB. I can’t taste any stevia, however.

This is fairly hibiscus-heavy and lightly tart. The rooibos helps add a bit of sweetness without being too rooibosy. There is a lot of generic fruity flavour. I can’t pick out any particular fruits, though.

Iced Tea Sipdown (375)

On the plus side, I don’t really taste much stevia. On the downside, I don’t taste much at all. Some fruitiness but nothing all that interesting.

I originally was underwhelmed by this fruity tea, but then took an iced-tea press sized sample out of town with me. As we were sight seeing, I kept adding water-fountain water to the used tea in my press, swirled it, re-pressed it, and it was drinkable. I don’t normally do that successfully.
This will go into my work rotation. Adding water definitely made it weak, but when I’m stuck at work, it’ll do.

Eh, picked up 50g on sale without trying it first and kind of wish I would have just grabbed more of something else that is also on sale. This is 95% tart hibiscus with a vague sweetness in the background from the stevia and fruits. I would have never known that there was pineapple and papaya in here. Syrupy hibiscus. It’s drinkable but not worth checking out, in my books.

This is… refreshing! It was soothing and relaxing and well enjoyed with a great comedy. It was what I was looking for while I just sat back and enjoyed the cool afternoon. My children though, or not so keen on it and I do not mind (more for me)!

I made a large jug of ice to share with the entire family. It smells like fruit punch dried with a hint of pineapple coming through. I love the colour it takes while brewing, a deep red. The taste is very similar to fruit punch with a bit of bitterness. It is not overly sweet which I like. The aroma brewed though I cannot identify other than similar to my hibiscus plant (which is dying on me as I attempt to bring it back to life).

A very fruity iced tea. Tastes like punch with pineapples.

Reminiscent of Queen of Tarts, the only flavour I get is hibiscus. The rooibos is slightly present, but honestly this tea lacks complexity. The aloe vera in the blend intrigued me, but I was left extremely underwhelmed.