One of my old B&B teas from the Bluebird days; it’s a sealed 50g package, but apparently I purchased this from tea-sipper in a cupboard sale way back when, so thanks tea-sipper!

The dry leaf looked far more like a “fruit herbal” than a “green tea” to me, so I leafed it pretty heavily to do a liter cold brew overnight in the fridge. Rather than getting a sweet fruity taste, or even a tart/tangy berry (which I would be fine with, as hibi’s BFF on this site), it has come out tasting very medicinal to me, like cough syrup; normally I only get this particular flavor when fruity flavors are combined with rooibos, and I had to double check the package that there was no rooibos involved in this blend. I’m not sure what, exactly, is making it have that particular distinct flavor to me. Perhaps age is the culprit…

Cold brew is typically my preferred way to drink fruity hibi-hip teas, but I decided to try a warm cup, just to see if I got the same result. And, I actually didn’t get the weird cough syrup taste, but it also just tasted very flat… like a slightly strawberry flavored cup of hot water.

Both results just felt off somehow, so I’m guessing age didn’t do this one well. Usually fruit teas with a strong hibi-hip presense are right in my domain, so I feel some ingredient must be in a bad place for me to have issues. Withholding rating as a result. I have one last experiment up my sleeve, which is steeping the remainder of the packet in lemonade. I’m hoping that might balance some of the strange off-notes and bring out more of the fruitiness.

Thanks for sharing, tea-sipper!

Flavors: Berries, Cranberry, Fruity, Medicinal, Strawberry, Tart

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML
Kawaii433

Ah too bad. I often get taken up by the name and Strawberry split sounds so good.

Mastress Alita

Steeping it in lemonade worked well! Tastes somewhere between strawberry lemonade and fruit punch. More importantly, the weird medicinal notes I got steeping in water are gone.

tea-sipper

Yeah, this one didn’t age well. It was never really STRAWBERRY SPLIT to me but the flavors are quite faded now… I don’t notice it tasting like cough syrup though!

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Comments

Kawaii433

Ah too bad. I often get taken up by the name and Strawberry split sounds so good.

Mastress Alita

Steeping it in lemonade worked well! Tastes somewhere between strawberry lemonade and fruit punch. More importantly, the weird medicinal notes I got steeping in water are gone.

tea-sipper

Yeah, this one didn’t age well. It was never really STRAWBERRY SPLIT to me but the flavors are quite faded now… I don’t notice it tasting like cough syrup though!

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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