One of my old B&B teas from the Bluebird days; it’s a sealed 50g package, but apparently I purchased this from tea-sipper in a cupboard sale way back when, so thanks tea-sipper!
The dry leaf looked far more like a “fruit herbal” than a “green tea” to me, so I leafed it pretty heavily to do a liter cold brew overnight in the fridge. Rather than getting a sweet fruity taste, or even a tart/tangy berry (which I would be fine with, as hibi’s BFF on this site), it has come out tasting very medicinal to me, like cough syrup; normally I only get this particular flavor when fruity flavors are combined with rooibos, and I had to double check the package that there was no rooibos involved in this blend. I’m not sure what, exactly, is making it have that particular distinct flavor to me. Perhaps age is the culprit…
Cold brew is typically my preferred way to drink fruity hibi-hip teas, but I decided to try a warm cup, just to see if I got the same result. And, I actually didn’t get the weird cough syrup taste, but it also just tasted very flat… like a slightly strawberry flavored cup of hot water.
Both results just felt off somehow, so I’m guessing age didn’t do this one well. Usually fruit teas with a strong hibi-hip presense are right in my domain, so I feel some ingredient must be in a bad place for me to have issues. Withholding rating as a result. I have one last experiment up my sleeve, which is steeping the remainder of the packet in lemonade. I’m hoping that might balance some of the strange off-notes and bring out more of the fruitiness.
Thanks for sharing, tea-sipper!
Flavors: Berries, Cranberry, Fruity, Medicinal, Strawberry, Tart
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Ah too bad. I often get taken up by the name and Strawberry split sounds so good.
Steeping it in lemonade worked well! Tastes somewhere between strawberry lemonade and fruit punch. More importantly, the weird medicinal notes I got steeping in water are gone.
Yeah, this one didn’t age well. It was never really STRAWBERRY SPLIT to me but the flavors are quite faded now… I don’t notice it tasting like cough syrup though!
Ah too bad. I often get taken up by the name and Strawberry split sounds so good.
Steeping it in lemonade worked well! Tastes somewhere between strawberry lemonade and fruit punch. More importantly, the weird medicinal notes I got steeping in water are gone.
Yeah, this one didn’t age well. It was never really STRAWBERRY SPLIT to me but the flavors are quite faded now… I don’t notice it tasting like cough syrup though!