Cold Brew!
This was kindly gifted to me by the company to try and review – when I cracked open the sample bag it smelled so fresh and fruity. Aromatic orange and a hint of berry! Steeped up, it’s very dark in colour – from the hibiscus but elderberry too. A beautiful reddish/burgundy hue. It almost felt a shame to transfer it into a Perfect Tumbler where I couldn’t see the pretty liquor any more.
It was very refreshing tasting, and a lot stronger/richer of a flavour than I maybe would have assumed just from the ingredients list. The most prominent taste was the darker subtly sweet blood orange – very thick, natural and a bit juicy. It was accompanied by the body and tartness of hibiscus, but that tartness was well balanced out by the sweetness of the elderberry and, especially, the licorice root and spearmint. I love the cooling edge that the spearmint gave to the mix and how much it heightened the refreshing feeling of the tea while rounding out the flavour profile. I also adore that I got the sweetness of the licorice root without the clear taste of it – I’m not a licorice root fan.
There are other ingredients in the mix, like chamomile and Honeybush, but I didn’t find they were very noticeable in the taste – honestly, I don’t think they were needed in terms of flavour balance. It was a nice tea, and I’m curious to try it now as a hot cuppa once advent season settles!