Tiny Bee Tea (Sips by)

I love how shimmery this is! The flavor is unfortunately not my favorite. It tastes too much like bitter fruit rind. It’s a bit appley, but mostly rindy. Cold and sweetened, it’s not bad, but the balance is far from perfect.

Last one from the iced tea box.

This was pretty good. It’s meant to be a black currant Earl Grey with caramel, vanilla, and honey. But I mostly just taste the currant, with a gentle lemony citrus note that I wouldn’t identify as bergamot, and a touch of honey. Definitely don’t get caramel or vanilla, but honestly I’m okay with that since all of those flavors together sounds a bit busy to me anyway. The honey goes nicely with the citrus, which in turn brightens the deeper black currant flavor up a bit.

Nice enough tea, but not a reorder for me.

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Signed up for Sips by again, because why not. I was actually quite happy with the teas in my box this month, or at least the types of teas.

This one was, sadly, just okay. I was surprised and excited to see the base is an oxidized rolled oolong, which I find quite unusual for a flavored tea. In my experience, flavored oolongs are usually a either generic rolled green type (probably TGY), some form of baozhong, or a generic oxidized strip-style oolong. But even though this is rolled, it still tastes quite generic and similar to other flavored oxidized oolongs (Adagio’s, for instance). Perhaps it’s a bit roasted? Mostly it has a flat woody/autmny leafy flavor with a bit of minerality. The flavoring is too subtle IMO, I taste a bit of rose but only a hint of apricot.

Not a bad tea, just quite meh to me. A shame, as the packaging is super adorable.

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The last one from my August Sips by box!

To be honest, I fully expected to hate this tisane. As soon as I opened my Sips by box, I could smell the fake honey flavoring coming from this package. I love actual honey, but I never seem to get along with honey-flavored teas.

But honestly, it’s not bad. It does have that artificial honey taste, but it’s balanced well by the fruit. Mostly I taste sweet-tart apple with a touch of citrus and a slight herbal note from the lemongrass. There’s no hibiscus here, which I am thankful for – the apple and rosehip provide just enough tartness.

It’s not something I would order, not being a fan of fruit tisanes in general, but I enjoyed my potful of it, and would drink it again if it was offered to me.

Plus, the packaging is basically the cutest thing ever… And that always helps. ;)