Basilur

Low cranberry sour, low tartness, warming quality. Decent.

Potent, warming, deep, malty aroma. It may be just me but it kind of reminds me of dried mushrooms a slightly bit.
And deep, malty, earthy taste with zero bitterness and minimal, contrasting astringency. Surprisingly good.

I think this is my first tea from Uva region. And I like it. It is rich, malty, earthy, with distinct woody notes and low-level astringency. Definitely better than I expected.

Martin, I think this is the last of the fruit infusions you shared with me. I put it straight into a Mason jar to steep and it looked like a magic potion in motion—immediate swirls of red curling around the jar. Almost as fun as watching jellyfish in an aquarium! But I finally pulled my eyes loose and tucked it in to chill.

Fortunately, any hibiscus in the mix was well-behaved and only added a little sharpness to the fruit flavor. Like the other Basilur entries in this series, you might be hard pressed to guess “cranberry” in a blind taste test. Kool-Aid red fruit punch, more like. But on a hot afternoon, friendly, fruity and cold is all you really need.

This is very, very, very hibiscus-y. In most circumstances, that would lower my rating to the floor. However, I can stand a little hibby when it’s cold-steeped in the fridge, which I did today (100 F — I don’t care what I’m drinking as long as it’s cold). With some real lime wedges, it reminds me a little of Swee-Tarts on ice. (Thanks, Martin! These fruit infusions have been great for summer.)

This has a nice enough raspberry flavor – it’s quite authentic and doesn’t remind me of candy. I would like a bit more of it, I think, but overall this is quite well-balanced. I have other raspberry teas that I like better, but this is a decent one.

Martin, I’m slow to taste and review the little sample you sent me, but I’m glad I waited until hot weather. This makes a really nice iced tea. Truthfully, if I hadn’t read the label, I wouldn’t have guessed either mango or peach, but the combination is nicely fruity. Hibiscus always behaves better for me when it’s on ice as well. Thanks!

This is nice enough – sweet and candylike strawberry flavor with rich and custardy vanilla. The white tea itself came out a little bitter though, even though I only steeped it for 2 minutes. I do have two more flavors of this white tea line to try, so I’ll have to try a shorter steep next time to see if that helps.

First tea from Basilur! Courtesy of my new tea friend Jen, who lives in Germany.

I steeped for 2 minutes, as I find that when I steep fannings-style teabags longer, they can become quite astringent. The tea still has a deep russet color, so I think 2 minutes was long enough, even though the wrapper suggests 3-5.

This has a good balance of tea and flavoring. The tea itself is nothing special, as I would expect, but it’s pleasant and gives a good foundation for the flavoring without being too brisk or too watery. The lime here is very Jell-O, but I’m quite enjoying it, as it isn’t overbearing. Actually, I think it reminds me most of lime Life Savers. I do taste the lemon as well, and maybe its citrusy freshness is what helps keep the candylike lime from becoming cloying.

A fairly good first impression for Basilur, excited to try the many other flavors she so generously sent my way!

(This tea break sponsored by our friend Martin.)There are so many different fruit flavors happening here—papaya, pineapple, strawberry, apricot—it’s a little hard to pick a single one out, but together, they make a cheerful little fruit punch blend. Fruity “mishmash” teas are generally very good iced down. I think I’ll try the rest of the sample that way.

A sipdown! (M: 2 Y: 45), prompt: A tea that reminds you of a garden

Raspberries are definitely something that belongs to our garden and I’m happy we have those bushes there. Yes, autumn “maintenance” is awful, even we have not thorny variety; but usually it is in time when lots of other work must be done as well.

Anyway to the tea, it’s quite sweet, and quite real to actual raspberries, mixed up with, but not tart, hibiscus. Iced, it can be lovely I assume.

But honestly it is somehow too simple. maybe I just miss some complex flavours… but considering it’s justa atea bag, it’s fine enough.

I was one of those kids who never voluntarily tried unfamiliar fruits or vegetables, and the bad habit has stuck over the years…so in a blind fruit test, I doubt I could recognize an actual pomegranate by taste or texture. However, since it became a trendy flavor several years ago, I’ve had multiple variations and mutations of pomegranate teas and drinks. This is a pleasant one. Fruity with only a little tartness. Not sure I caught any raspberry, but I still liked it. Reminds me of one you could serve your kiddos.

Speaking of whom, you should have seen mine at work. Volunteer day. We spent a couple hours at our former city library which is in the process of becoming a children’s science center. The building has been vacant since 2017, and my crew swept, vacuumed, Swiffered, hauled boxes, arranged furniture, and organized dozens of boxes of supplies the non-profit staff had moved from their temporary home.

One fifth-grade girl who ducks behind her older cousin rather than make direct eye contact smiled at me while hauling a folding table that weighed about as much as she did and said, “I think this is making me come out of my shell!” One of my fifth grade boys, given a vacuum cleaner, remarked, “Wow. I’ve never done this before!” Priceless.

Oh, and two of the girls found a lizard skeleton. Brought it in a dustpan to the center’s director, who grinned and said, “Hey! I’ve got a glass jar about the right size for that.”
Hope your Sunday afternoon was just as much fun, wherever you were.

Martin mentioned that he had to go plum hunting with this fruit tea; I agree—I got lost in the woods myself. Not plummy, but it wasn’t unpleasantly tart, either—reminded me a little bit of red Hi-C with less sugar. It was fruity enough to enjoy while surveying the fruits of our labor this afternoon: the backyard glider is sanded, touched up, and refreshed with a much-needed coat of polyurethane.

This one’s nice! I could smell the rich citrus as soon as the water hit the teabag. Reminds me a little bit of orange slice gumdrop candy, minus the overbearing sweetness. No overbearing tartness. Just bearing :)

One of my favorite webcams when I need eye candy is the Las Vegas Bellagio Conservatory. As I write this, they’re in construction mode for their spring display. You’ll appreciate the theme! https://www.earthcam.com/usa/nevada/lasvegas/bellagio/?cam=bellagio (I hope the link gets you there.)

I tried my second sample bag this evening as a nightcap, and confirmed my theory that an overnight cold steep was causing some bitterness. About half-cool, it’s juicy and pleasant. Martin mentioned a little lime flavor in his review. I’m getting that, too. Very pert and springy!

March 3; all our windows are open; we’re in t-shirts and barefoot. Unheard of in this part of the country. (This is not a complaint, just an observation.) Spent a little bit of time walking the backyard to pick up all the sticks the wind has thrown around all winter and sanding the ancient backyard glider. My internal solar batteries are humming happily.

In anticipation of some outdoor time, I steeped a pint jar of this lemonade blend overnight in the fridge. (Iced tea in March…there’s another anomaly!) Basilur treats its fruit flavor with respect and doesn’t hibisc-ify everything, so the lemonade part of this blend is perfectly, pleasantly lemony. The mixed fruit part does remind me of the canned fruit cocktail served in the school cafeteria—I would drink the syrup and leave the fruit, except for the maraschino cherry.

There was just a hint of bitterness that I’m attributing to the overnight steep, but not enough to ruin it. Next one, I’ll steep normally, then chill later to see if that fixes the issue.

Once you read name of this tea, it will remind you Stash’s green tea with the same name. I hope that Basilur took notes and made a better tea for us. First of all, this is not a green tea. It does contain stevia though. And no raspberries in; instead there is half of the bag filled with hibiscus (yes, sometimes it has raspberry flavour, indeed) and there is more of the orange (8 per cent) than pomegranate (4 per cent)

But it smells actually nice and genuine. I do notice raspberries (well, there is an aroma of it) as well juicy pomegranate. At least, aromas fit the promised notes.

Even flavours seems to be fitting the name. Juicy pomergranate with something like raspberry seed note; also there is something tart but both fruits are a bit tart themselves, so this is not a flaw because too much hibiscus used. I assume that the stevia tames it (and well done). Also it’s not metallic, herbaceous or other off notes as that dreadful tea I mentioned by the beginning of the note.

I assume it is pretty good example of this flavour profile. Juicy, a little tart, fruity, both flavours well presented.

A sipdown! (M: 7, Y: 27), prompt: February 13 – Mardi Gras! Drink colorful tea or tea from your most colorful tin!
Not a tin, but a box, cardboard box. Even not original one anymore. I put all the Basilur tea bags to the one box.

But the tea… orange is a bit artificial, so does Passion Fruit; it tastes a bit like Tang powdered drinks or something similar. But actually it was quite good and tasty, and again, very refreshing… another tea to be intended cold I assume.

A sipdown! (M: 1 Y: 47)
Ah, what a shame.
But I wanted something refreshing in the evening of today. And lemonade-tea sounded so good. Temperature isn’t so high, and I am really sure it is a blast cold, but even hot it is definitely refreshing enough. A tea-pop maybe would make this tea just great. And again, no tartness from hibiscus here. A tea I would consider buying a whole box… if I didn’t had enough of other teas in tea bags. They are somehow much slower in sipdowns than their looseleaf counterparts.

I assume that this blend is intended to be cold-steeped or iced as it has got lovely lemonade flavour with lots of lemon and lime; tropical fruits background and no hibiscus tartness. Possibly they have used white hibiscus, which doesn’t turn the liquor deep red and isn’t that tart as well.

Hmm, I have been searching anything about Noni and found almost nothing related to fruit; like how it should taste or something. Plum, on the other hand is well-known fruit for me; and this tea is… very ripe plum forward; very fruity and hibiscus is quite tamed when steeped short.
But actually, this blend was a bit of dismal for me. It was somehow plum-like, maybe a bit more of raw flavour would be a bit better than ripe; as it just together with hibiscus it blends into one single “fruit tea” profile.

It’s hard to go pass colorful boxes of Basilur teas; moreover a sampler boxes. Sooo… I bought two fruit tea boxes, each with 5 flavours. Some are overlapping, some aren’t. But looking forward to try those caffeine-free teas from my favorite brand.

I have prepared this tea for first time yesterday for my brother and he said it is well done tea with both fruits being present and that it was tasty. So, today I have prepared it for myself, with a bit longer steep and less water (he was using huge mug, while I used little one).

Well, I have to agree with him — mango was present and peach as well. Both fruits ripe and juicy, but sadly hibiscus is it ruining it for me a bit. It’s also tart. Not so much, but more than I would like in those fruits.
Maybe… it was because my 7 minutes steep.
But intended flavours are genuine and fresh, not artificial, so I will try to cut down steeping time and I assume it will be very fine then.

I’ve decided to do a back-to-back tasting this morning this one verses Uva from Basilur. This is very opaque for an English Breakfast. However, I do think the steep time helped with that a bit. This is a soft brew with a nice amount of astringency. Cedar notes along with some sweet wood dance around each other. A good one for maca nut milk or oat milk. Or even a thicker regular milk.