Youthberry White Tea

F-ck, this is disgusting. (Can I even drop the f-bomb on this site? Is it against the rules?)

I asked for a to-go cup of this iced today, and still have some left that I stuck in the fridge when I got home. Never again. It’s icky. I can taste floral notes, I can taste fruit, but I can also taste something that makes me think of what licking the bottom of a pair of Crocs would be like. I don’t normally complain about artificial flavours, and maybe it’s actually just that this weird combo of fruity-floral-tart-sour tastes artificial to me. But something about this, when I put it in my mouth, triggers my brain to scream, “NOT. REAL. FOOD!”

Blech!

I didn’t read the description of this until after I drank it. And now I see why I thought it was just mediocre:

Rosehips AND hibiscus.

Is there a more terrifying combination in all of the land? I think not.

This was too tart and tasted like every other tropical white/green tea out there. After trying several of Teavana’s teas now, I realize that they have a big issue with subtle flavors. Maybe it’s because their teas are geared toward newbies; I don’t know. But I have yet to try a Teavana tea that isn’t screaming FRUITY (or chocolate, mostly) FLAVORRR.

Fantastic day today, only seems fitting that this is what I had! I had an iced brew:

In a pitcher:
2 scoops Youthberry (Teavana)
1 scoop Peachberry Jasmine Sutra (Teavana)
1/2 scoop Rock Sugar
Add 1/3 pitcher of hot water, steep 3 minutes, fill with 1/3 ice to shock the tea and the rest of the way with cold water.
Refrigerate/Steep overnight

Drank this with and after lunch today. The Youthberry gives a fruit punch red colored liquor, it is tangy and fruity. The tang comes mostly from the rosehips and hibiscus, but the pineapple and apple are not helping to reduce the tang. The Peachberry blend helps to mild out the Youthberry in that the Jasmine, though entirely lost in the brew, will kill some of the tang making this palatable. The blend of kiwi, strawberries and peaches in the Peachberry, plus the green tea, add a slightly sweetened note to the brew. I am pretty sure that the Youthberry also contains grapes, as there is a slightly wine-y (not a word, sorry, essence of wine?) taste to it. Sugar also helps to make it palatable and I highly suggest adding some.

I say today was fantastic because I had my lunch and was still sipping some of my tea as I strolled into my local mall on my lunch hour and low-and-behold, as I window-shopped and hit my favorite store (Sephora) across the way, I saw a new store coming, and I bet you can guess what it was…TEAVANA! I do not know when it will open, but I can assure you that when it does, expect of flux of Teavana reviews!

Back to the tea: this blend is good, albeit still a little tart/tangy, especially if oversteeped in any way. I mean oversteeped hot or oversteeped as left in the fridge too long, either way will make it tangier. I do not mind the tartness of this, but it can get old making this a tea and tea blend I cannot drink everyday. As a note, neither tea is really all that great on it’s own, but blending them does make it better.

Another suggestion to combatting this tea’s tartness is to add Peachberry Jasmine Sutra AND a Jasmine tea, I suggest the Jasmine Pearls. But this will be another review.

PS Looking back, apparently I never rated this tea on its own, though I have a four ounce tin, how did that happen? I will write a rating of this following my usual format later on.

This tea was just okay hot, but it really shines when iced. I’ve been cold brewing this tea for my husband a lot lately, but today was the first time I really sat down and tried a cup of it. This is truly one of the better iced teas I’ve made, very smooth with a slight tartness that plays with the floral aspects nicely. This tea is especially great with a small amount of strawberry creamed honey.

This tea iced is very appropriate for hot summer days, when ICED. Can’t even imagine this one hot as it’s super flowery and berrylicious! This tea has a very light essence and tends to be pretty tart at times. I think bashing this tea and saying that it’s terrible wouldn’t be useful at all, I won’t say that I enjoyed it because I didn’t, I even cringed at the taste of the flowerliness and over pummel of berries. However I have to give credit where credit is due, it’s a nice & light beach summer iced tea. Maybe blended with something else it would be okay, would have to experiment with this one. But as I grabbed this at teavana today don’t think I’ll be going back for this one. 2 for 2 today for teas I disliked. What’s up with me today goshhh haha

Iced is the way to go with this one. But I am not saying I love it or even like it…but…it’s drinkable to finish what I have in my stash…

This is a profoundly foul tea…when dry it smells almost tolerable – floral and a little artificial – but when it brewed up it was horrific. It smelled fruity, yes, but fruity in a way that spoke of almost-rotten peaches left forgotten in a corner of the pantry…

I made it through one sip of the stuff and chucked it straight into the sink. I’m not making another cup; I’m just done with this mess. :/

Just got this as a blend with Wild Orange Blossom….DANG….this is GOOD.

Very light and refreshing. Would be excellent iced as well.

The only downside…it is as pink as pink can be, several people double take when they see a guy like me drinking this stuff…..it is worth it.

Meh, I had this iced and it was OK. I picked up mainly apple and then a jumble of the other ingredients. I tried this again iced, mixed with Jasmine Pearls and it was better…smoothed out the jumbledness of this tea and it now tastes like an apple-fruit punch-jasmine tea…still it’s “meh”. I wouldn’t purchase again and not so much that it’s bad, but because there are much better fruity white teas out there that is worth the price!

ANOTHER SAMPLE FROM STARFISHEY THANK YOU!! Wow I actually liked this more than I thought IDK WHY PEOPLE HATE IT SO MUCH EITHER whateva!! I was a little scared because I’m honestly not a fan of overly-fruity teas I LOVE FRUIT and fruit accents but I dunno when teas get too purely fruity it’s just kinda a turn off I guess I’d just rather drink juice, really.

BUT ANYWAY this tea is actually REALLY PECULIAR? I smelled it and kinda had a hard time figuring out what I was smelling other than kinda flowery and fruity… and then I tasted it and I really have no idea what I just tasted. The hibiscus was pretty strong I definitely got that but then there were just all these RANDOM FRUITY FLAVORS in the background and they were all really mild and I LIKED THAT. For me it wasn’t overpowering or tart at all, it was really light and unique!