Scandinavian Wild Berry

This night has been a dark, cold, damp one and I find myself unable to slumber here in the wee hours, so I looked for a soothing tisane. I’ve had this one sealed up in my tea cabinet for a few years (time flies!) so I pulled it out and got to brewing. And I find that mastressalita added a note on it much more recently. Well, she did a fabulous job of reporting, so there is little more for me to add. I used 1-1/2 heaping tsp of material in a steel infusion basket with 8 oz boiling spring water, and let it steep for 5 min, as recommended by Tealyra. I also found the hibiscus very subtle, and to give a nice gentle tartness to an otherwise sweet-tasting cuppa. Though it really wasn’t very sweet, only giving the impression of sweetness! I did not discern any piney aroma or flavor, mainly just berries – berries – berries! Yes, there were notes of blackcurrents, but there was no such ingredient: it must be the reputed flavor of the buchu leaf. I really did enjoy the tea while hot, and I found as it cooled that the berry notes in aroma and flavor intensified, as did the sensation of sweetness. I loved how the sweet aftertaste wrapped itself around my tongue for many lingering minutes. I am resisting the urge to spike some sugar into the brew, because it seems like cheating — and unnecessary! I’ll rate this as an 85 for the pleasure I got out of the cup. Gonna brew a second cup right now…….
EDIT: Second cup was also good, but I wonder if the ingredients were truly caffeine/stimulent-free, because sleep did not finally arrive ’til 5 AM.

I think at the time I ordered this I was thinking this would be a hibi/fruit tea with a lignonberry leaning, which appealed highly to me. It is actually something very different, but still incredibly tasty. The base, while including some hibi, is actually composed more of fluffy green blackberry and buchu leaves, but it isn’t really sweet. Sniffing the tea, it has an aroma of berries (leaning towards currant or grape on the nose) with a sort of bright pine needle aroma, and the flavor matches that pretty well. I have no idea exactly what it is in the blend producing that pine note, but I assume it must be the buchu leaf since I’m not particulary familiar with it. It is sort of crisp and a little savory leaning… a bit like rosemary but with a sort of piney finish, and since I love pine/evergreen notes in tea, I really like it! The berry note is rich and tangy, leaning a bit more toward the blueberry/black current line than brighter and sweeter red berries… the name of the tea had me thinking along the lines of cranberries or lingonberries, but it doesn’t really go there. I do really like the fresh pine flavor with the thick black currant notes, though. I don’t find the tea particularly tart (though I’m a terrible judge since I love hibiscus and can drink it plain), but I do think the sort of savory element of the tea would require a certain palate. Definitely a winner for me, though!