Blackberry Fig

The other day I went to the mall with my youngest daughter, and whenever we are in an Oregon Mall, one of the stores I always visit is the Made In Oregon store, I like to shop there because I like the idea of supporting local business. That is where I found this tea.

I have had a couple of teas from The Jasmine Pearl in the past that I’ve purchased from Whole Foods, but, I have never seen this particular flavor of tea. The FIG part intrigued me first, because I love figs. I was further intrigued when I saw that it was a Darjeeling tea … and when I read the ingredient list and saw anise… I was sold! I had to try it.

Lovely! The strongest note in this tea is the tea itself, this is a very nice Darjeeling with a pleasant muscatel flavor that really compliments the blackberry flavor very well. The fig is present at the end of the sip. The anise reveals itself throughout, although it is strong it is not overwhelming… just very pleasant. I really like it.

It has a very nice balance of flavors, with nothing overwhelming anything else… everything is light and crisp and flavorful. NICE!

Another tea from LiberTEAS!!!! I’m so grateful!

This smells awesome! Very sugary or candy like. The first thing that popped into my head – to compare it to – would be like old fashioned ribbon candy around the holidays…no one flavor but all the flavors combined!?

The anise ingredient somewhat made me nervous but there is just a hint…not much…

There is a bit more blackberry than anise…which is great but I can’t necessarily pick out the fig individually, persay. I’m thinking the fig is giving it the candy-like or sugary taste and smell and that works well in my book!

This is a nice treat!

This tea is a bit strange…
I love darjeelings but I’m not really sure this combo does a lot for me.

The blackberry reminds me of elderberry and seems slightly medicinal. I’m usually a fan of anise but in this combination it just seems weird. At least it’s supposed to be good for your stomach. Probably my least favorite of the teas I got from the Jasmine Pearl so far but I will drink it eventually. I felt it was much improved by the addition of some soymilk.

I think this would be really nice as an iced tea — I will have to try it that way someday. :D

I received a bit of this to try from LiberTEAS and it was quite unusual.

The initial fragrance was strong of licorice and berry. Once brewed, it became slightly citrusy and sweet.

The taste isn’t what I expected. From the name, I thought this would be sweet and fruity. Instead, it had the citrusy, astringent “snap” of a good darjeeling (+ points) and a slightly bitter and herbal taste from the anise. I didn’t detect much in the way of blackberry but you could sense the fig as a mellow, lingering subtly sweet fruit aftertaste.

Overall, I really liked this as it has an excellent base. However, the product doesn’t seem to match its name well.