Fruity Sangria

As warm, smells citrus
As cold, there is fruit
Both delightful—BUT
Steep two left us mute!

Tea two of our tasting party. The prominent smells of the dry mix were orange peel and lemongrass. The liquor was a dark rose color and had a strong lemon scent (and hibiscus, says my mother who knows what that smells like). The taste was “a hibiscus tart to start rounded by citrus and finished with a spice that Mom attributes to elderberries”. We drank half our cups, then decided to put them in the refrigerator to cool while we did a second steep.

Cold, the smell was much more fruit/rose-y and the taste had more hibiscus pucker. The citrus flavor pretty much disappeared. Overall, we decided that cold it wasn’t better, but it was more (and very) refreshing.

The second steep was horrendous. We did not get past a few sips. The color was a watery mauve and it basically tasted like warm rose & lemongrass water with an unpleasant astringency.

I cold brewed this one – about four heaping tablespoons to 2L pitcher overnight. That’s already a good hunk of the tin I got, hopefully this tea is stronger hot brewed.

The hibiscus lends a pretty red color to the tea, and a touch of tartness. I’d told that it’s a little bitter and it tastes nothing like actual sangria. I wouldn’t know about the comparison to actual sangria, but the little bitterness I hardly noticed. I didn’t sweeten and certainly didn’t use carbonated water. The instructions on the tin are a bit confusing – I THINK that it’s telling me to cold brew in seltzer water or ginger ale, but with the flavor level on that LONG cold brew in normal water, I feel like the flavor might not be able to stand up against carbonation. I might try it one day though, I do have a sodastream.