986 Tasting Notes
Tried this one at work today. I love raspberries but dislike hibiscus, so I didn’t have super-high hopes. As I expected, this was quite similar to Celestial Seasonings’ Raspberry Zinger. It brews up to a deep pink color with a heavy raspberry aroma. The flavor starts off with sweet berry, but then shifts into tart hibiscus at the end of the sip. A bit of astringency lingers in the aftertaste. I would drink this again, but only if there were no better options available.
Flavors: Astringent, Hibiscus, Raspberry, Tart
Preparation
Flyawaybirdie kindly included a sample of this tea in her Christmas card. While I ordinarily prefer Chinese black teas to Indian, I quite liked this one. It’s surprisingly robust with a strong fruity flavor and another taste that I can’t quite put my finger on…it’s a bit earthy, but not in an unpleasant way. There is just a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste, so I may try a shorter steep time or a splash of milk next time.
Flavors: Bitter, Earth, Stonefruit
Preparation
Tried this one at work today. It wasn’t as bad as some other Bigelow blends I’ve tried, but I still wasn’t a fan. It’s very tart and slightly floral, thanks to the hibiscus (which also makes it a bright pink color). However, the lemon flavor itself isn’t the worst I’ve had; it’s fairly natural and not overly aggressive. I wouldn’t buy this one, but I’d drink it again if there weren’t any better options available.
Flavors: Hibiscus, Lemon
Preparation
Awww. Sorry this wasn’t a hit for you. I spent a lot of time trying to find a lemon I liked better from a bunch of companies across the price spectrum and never found one I liked better.
Stash’s Meyer Lemon is pretty good.
@ Morgana If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my journey with tea, it’s that tastes are super subjective! Time and again I’ve shared a tea I LOVED with a friend and found they didn’t care for it. This one wasn’t a hit for me, but glad you like it. :)
@ rosebudmelissa Thanks for the tip!
Holiday TTB
I received the decaf version of this tea in my Happy Bag last year and wasn’t a fan…the base tea had an odd aftertaste that really ruined the experience for me. I definitely prefer this one! The strawberry vanilla flavoring is sweet and natural and the base tea is nice and smooth. I still like Lupicia’s Strawberry Vanilla Green Tea better, but this one is good too!
Flavors: Smooth, Strawberry, Vanilla
Preparation
Holiday TTB
This is an absolutely inspired flavor combination! The sweetness of the peach flavoring balances the sharpness of the bergamot perfectly and the Formosa base adds an interesting complexity that makes it a bit more special than a typical earl grey. I’m hanging onto this one!
Flavors: Bergamot, Peach
Preparation
You thief! I’m glad you like it. I’m not a fan of black tea very often and my best friend loves earl grey so I took what I liked and added that element to it.
Well, it definitely works! I didn’t keep much from this particular TTB, but this tea was a winner for me. :)
Holiday TTB
Sampling a few more things from this TTB before I send it on its way tomorrow. I love a good peach tea, so decided to give this one a go. The dry leaf is lovely with lots of big pink peach blossoms mixed in with the crinkled oolong leaves. It steeps up to a very pale green color with a light floral peachy aroma. Sipping, I do taste some peach (very natural-tasting, not that artificial candy flavor that too many peach teas have), along with floral notes and a hint of the base tea peeking through. Although I would have liked a stronger flavor, this was a very smooth, pleasant cup of tea.
Flavors: Floral, Peach, Smooth
Preparation
Holiday TTB
Although Lupicia makes numerous amazing fruity-flavored blends, I’m not a huge fan of their black teas. Unfortunately, this one was no exception. The aroma was an enticing tropical fruit sweetness, but the flavor came across a bit artificial with a slight sourness that reminded me of gummy candies.
Flavors: Candy, Fruity, Sour, Tropical
Preparation
Holiday TTB
Lupicia is so good at these fruit-flavored teas and they really nailed it with this blend! The scent and flavor are dead-on sweet, ripe honeydew melon with nothing cloying or artificial about it. The silky-smooth oolong makes a perfect base. This was a refreshing taste of summer on this snowy winter day and I’m willing to bet it would brew up a to-die-for iced tea as well!
Flavors: Fruity, Honeydew, Melon, Smooth, Sweet
Preparation
I received a sample of this in my Christmas card from Haveteawilltravel. I’ve never heard of this company before, but I’m impressed by this particular tea! The leaves are BIG (tough to measure accurately; this is one of those teas that makes me wish I had a scale) and have a nice malty aroma when you open up the bag. Steeped, the tea is smooth and rich with a nice plummy flavor. A great tea to start the day with!
Flavors: Malt, Plum
Preparation
Haveteawilltravel kindly sent me a sachet of this one in his Christmas card. For a Twinings tea, this one seemed suprisingly high quality! The leaves I could see through the sachet were fairly large and unbroken, with a few golden tips. And the flavor was robust and full-bodied with lots of malt and honey notes. There was a bit of astringency, but with milk added, it was just about perfect. I just may have found a new favorite bagged breakfast blend to take on the road!
Flavors: Astringent, Honey, Malt
I like Raspberry Zinger, so I’ll have to check this out
They’re definitely very similar, so you’d probably like it! I’m not sure where you can buy teas from this brand; I received this one in a swap and I’d never heard of them before.
I don’t see them online anywhere. Oh well, Celestial Seasoning and Adagio both have a raspberry hibiscus blend I like, so no big loss.