Opening this packet was a pleasant surprise. I was immediately greeted by the strong scent of dried fruit, and the sight of the pieces, which are larger that I was reasonably expecting. I can clearly pick out orange peel, pieces of strawberry, cherry and apple, and rosehips. There’s also something that looks suspicuously like a whole hibiscus flower. I’m not the greatest fan of hibiscus, but you’ve got to admit that the quality’s there. This is definetly an improvement on some brands I could mention. The smell is very tart, but I was expecting that. It’s something I can even enjoy in a fruit tea, from time to time, provided it’s not overwhelming.
Reassuringly, this tea takes a while to colour, and doesn’t turn instantly red as heavily hibiscused fruit teas tend to. To taste, it is, of course, tart. I find I can identify some of the fruit flavours, though, which is a definite point in its flavour. The strawberry is quite prominent, giving it a sweetly delicate, summery flavour. This isn’t at all the cloying, deep red drink I was expecting given my experiences so far, and I’, very pleasantly surprised. There’s also a slight tang from the apple, which cuts through some of the natural fruit sweetness, and provides an interesting counterpoint to the red fruit flavours.
All in all, I’m really impressed with this. Far more so than I was with Adagio’s Berry Blues. I’m still holding on to the hope that one day I will find a red fruit or berry tea which doesn’t include hibiscus at all, but until that day this is perfectly palatable. A hit, rather than the miss I was dreading!
