Orange Grapefruit - herb fruit

I am on a quest to find the perfect grapefruit tea, so of course I had to ask for this blend when I got my samples from Zen Tea! Anything with grapefruit, I’ll get. Orange grapefruit usually isn’t my favorite combo though, I find that the orange is often used to mask the grapefruit and in the end it tastes just like, well, an orange blend. I decided to be brave and cold brew this one: cold brewing anything with hibiscus makes me nervous since it tends to overwhelm everything when made that way. And when I strained this one, wow, it’s bright red. Like… Kool-aid red, fruit punch red. BUT there’s beet in this used to get that lovely ruby tone, so I wasn’t too worried about the tartness.

This blend is hibiscus done right! It’s so mild and really only comes in at the very very end of the sip, a little tartness which goes well with grapefruit and kind of mimics/adds to the grapefruit taste. And the grapefruit… wow! It’s really present! The orange doesn’t take away from it but just adds another layer of citrusy goodness, a little sweetness as well. Kind of like if you mixed grapefruit juice and orange-ade.

Halfway through my glass and I’m convinced something magical is going on in here. You can taste all the components: citrus from grapefruit, orange & lemongrass, fruity sweetness from the carrot & beet, a slight tartness from the hibiscus and a really nice, brisk herbaceous tone from the eucalyptus. But together.. it’s magic! SO GOOD! The eucalyptus is what does it I think, I’d swear it was juniper berry but it just ties everything together and elevates it into what I honestly think is the best herbal tisane I’ve ever had. I am so so impressed by these samples, and sad I only have one left to try! Definitely placing an order soon, hopefully with a ton of this beauty.

I totally forgot to mention it, but this blend is stunning! Whole orange slices, gorgeous whole herbs, bits of carrot and beet! Just lovely, everything about this cuppa is perfection.

Thanks for this one, Starfevre! With all the great tea companies out there, zentealife.com quickly became one of my favorites. I’d love to try all of their blends. A very nice herbal here! It’s a big and interesting list of ingredients. And it just looks delicious and healthy with big orange pieces. Definitely need those oranges in the winter.. that might be why! After steeping for ten minutes, I could have swore the first thing that hit me was rosemary, but that isn’t actually listed in the ingredients. There are too many other things here to guess what it might be. The flavor is refreshing while not being too tart (it seems to have the right amount of hibiscus, at least in this cup, just a hint.) Otherwise, I can taste orange and lemongrass. I’m not sure why it’s called grapefruit, since there doesn’t seem to be any in the blend. (That’s fine with me though!) Overall, a really nice combination with the right ratios of things. A fresh, bright and tasty cup! Another great tea from Zen.

Craving a soda so badly but there is none in the house and I’m not going to the grocery store to get one so made a pot of this instead. First cup I put a bit too much sugar in and it overwhelmed some of the flavours with sweetness. Second cup with less sugar and it tastes much like my previous tasting note indicates.

Now to go try to figure out what I lost when all my browser tabs closed without my permission.

Oooh!! Alphakitty sent me this without my even asking..how did she know I would fall in love? Before I even opened her package, I smelled this one. I was like a tea addict sniffing at the box. It smells amazing…all tangy grapefruit with subdued orange flavoring. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about such a tea, but I’m excited. I followed her directions to brew at boiling for 5 to 10 minutes. Chose the longer time limit of 10 minutes. The smell is amazing and rejuvenating. A nice citrus scent that reminds me of lemonade and summer days, which is odd since it did snow in Jersey last night.

The taste is lightly tangy with an underlying hint of orange and apple. I absolutely love it and the smell alone refreshed me before drinking it. I never would have bought this on my own, so I’m so happy that I had a sample!

This is a nice citrus-fruit tea. It’s interesting, the ingredients are almost identical to those in Orange Lemonade (tealux) (http://steepster.com/teas/tealux/33530-orange-lemonade) . . . except here there is “flavouring”, which presumably is the grapefruit flavour, as grapefruit isn’t specifically listed.

Overall, it’s a pleasant tea, and I liked it almost as much as the Orange Lemonade. Very nice blend of flavours. In a clear glass, it has a beautiful soft pink-champagne colour.

. . . Except for the grapefruit flavour, which is a slight drawback for me — there’s a bit of bitterness (or something) in grapefruit, that makes it not as appealing as the tart freshness of lemon. And I also prefer the more vivid orange flavour in the Orange Lemonade. Here, I found the orange a little muted.