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Thanks to Kittenna for this sample!

Another day, another cold brew. Doing a different tea a night is actually a pretty handy way to go through my huge sample box, and also a nice way to keep drinking tea when it’s so hot outside! I picked this one last night because I am on a cherry blossom kick after trying Den’s Sakura Sencha. Theirs is blended only with sakura blossoms it seems, and I have another blend with sakura, rose petals, and cherries. This one is different, because… well, there’s no sakura! Kind of weird since the name is Cherry Blossom, and there’s no cherry blossom in the ingredients list. There is a host of other stuff though, like coconut (?), dried cherries, rosebuds, and 4 or 5 different base teas blended together.

This tea is a little tart and a little sweet, with a nice cherry flavor. Not cherry blossom, but actual cherry. It’s not fresh cherry (which is a flavor I’ve never found properly replicated in tea) but it has a tart, juicy edge that’s pretty close to the real thing. I thought the rose would be more prominent, but I’m only getting a hint of it towards the end of the sip. The coconut is there too, in a mild way, adding some sweetness and another fruity dimension. If someone gave me this without me knowing what was in it I don’t think I’d ever guess “coconut” but there is definitely another fruit layer going on.

The disappointment comes with the base: you’d think with 4-5+ different kinds blended together, you’d get a ton of complexity. However, I’ve found that the more kinds of tea are in it, the less complex it is. Two is fine, especially if they are similar (white peony and a light Chinese green, for example), but add more than that and they are just competing for attention. There’s no fruity taste, no floral notes or grassiness, not even a hint of vegetal goodness. It’s just a basic “tea” taste, which is a shame because it seems like there are some interesting types in here: I think this would be better on a white peony or sencha base, to be honest. It’s not bad by any means and in fact I am really enjoying it, but you have to think of it as “cherry tea” rather than “complex floral cherry blossom tea.”