A Berry Frui-tea July! Another T2 sampler sipdown! I usually prepare these iced, but this one had yogurt granules in it, so I decided to just drink it as a hot cuppa instead of waiting for it to chill (I didn’t want to cold steep it since I wanted the yogurt granules to melt, and was feeling lazy to wait for the hot tea to chill, so figured, eh, a warm fruit tea with my raspberry jam toast at breakfast certainly can’t hurt!) I wanted to use the sampler up and it makes two servings, so I used my big ol’ 16 oz. mug and had a large double-sized cuppa. Such a bright red infusion on ol’ Red White and Blue Day, too!
The dry leaf had lots of apple in it, but the brewed cup definitely smells very strawberry. It has a very rich berry profile, but that could be because I’m drinking it warm rather than iced, and I find that hibiscus tends to have a thicker mouthfeel to me when prepared that way (which is why I prefer these kinds of teas iced). There is a sweet strawberry top note, but the hibi-hip gives it an underlying dark berry flavor note that follows. There is a nice juxtaposion of sweet and tangy fruit notes that play on the tongue — it starts sweet, has a tangy mid-sip, and ends sweet. It’s really nice! There is a lot of tart ‘n tangy hibi-hip, but the apple and yogurt add a lot of sweetness to the cup too, and I’m really enjoying how those flavors mesh with each other. I’d probably like this more as an iced tea, but am pleasantly surprised how enjoyable this was as a warm cuppa. Something about the warm strawberry was very relaxing, reminding me of hot pastry filling.
Flavors: Berries, Fruity, Hibiscus, Strawberry, Sweet, Tangy, Tart, Thick
