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My boyfriend’s sister went to New York on holiday in the autumn last year, and she bought two teas for me from Zabar’s on Broadway. Nothing else of this brand existed on Steepster and I looked Zabar’s website up, but couldn’t find any of these two that she bought me. I think maybe they’re re-branded or something. The website looks like it’s some sort of department store or something? Perhaps New Yorkers among my Steepsterites could enlighten me here.

Anyway, this particular one just says ‘loose tea’ on the bag and apart from an educated guess about berries, I have no clue what’s in it. It doesn’t look like there is actual tea in it, but there are single bits here and there that look like they might be tea leaves. Other than that I can see dried berries and plenty of orange peel and there’s a spicy aroma to it. It’s a christmas-y smell. Cinnamon, I think. Perhaps cloves. definitely ginger.

I can’t, however, immediately see any red flowers.

This gives me chai thoughts. I’m trying it out now with a normal steep and depending on how that goes, I might try and do it stovetop later on.

I have to say, I’m not generally a fan of things like this, so I’m feeling pretty sceptical and trying to work out how to tell the boyfriend’s sister that I didn’t like her gift. (At least I’ve tried the other one she bought me, although I haven’t posted about it yet, and that one seemed quite nice)

On pouring it’s very suspiciously pink. Oh no. Please just be the dried berries!

The aroma is very spicy now. There’s definitely cloves in this, I think.

Okay, here goes.

grimace

Okay, it wasn’t colour from dried berries. Hibiscus on its own is bad enough. Spiced up hibiscus is not an improvement. Nothing wrecks a blend as completely as hibiscus does.
I can’t even taste any single one of the other elements in this stuff. Not becuase they aren’t there or the hibiscus is particularly overwhelming. I don’t know if it is. It’s just that I dislike hibiscus enough to be unable to disregard it when it’s there.

I can’t drink this. It’s free to a good home.