Strawberry Cherry Decaf

I have tried to like this tea, honestly I have. It is just too weak in the tea department and too tart in the strawberry department for me. That said, I DO know this is a decaf intended for children, and I served it today to two little girls aged 4 and 6 who LOVED it. Their mom tried it and she liked it. I am delighted to have a tea for children that is well-liked and that the mommies don’t mind them drinking since it won’t make them hyperactive or keep them up! But give me Marco Polo for my tea and strawberry fix!

I’ve had this tea around for awhile…long enough that mine has the old Panda Berry label! Part of my reason for joining this site was to encourage myself to start rooting around in the depths of my tea cupboard a bit more, and this has definitely been a lurker. I can’t recall what it tasted like anymore, and on opening the canister I discovered that uh…I’ve probably had this all of 2 or 3 times. Looking at the tin vs the Republic’s website ( I added their ingredients to the Steepster listing), the ingredients have remained the same after the name change, with the exception of “natural cream flavoring” having been replaced with (or renamed as) “natural vanilla flavoring”.

The scent of the dry tea is a strong, sweet cherry/berry scent. I like my fruity tea strong, so I brewed it for an extra minute, as it was still looking pretty pale at 4 minutes. Once brewed, the berry scent is quite faint, and unsweetened, it tastes kind of like slightly berry flavored hot water. In an attempt to bring some of the flavors out, I added a little honey. It didn’t make much of a difference – now it tastes like sweet slightly berry flavored hot water! I don’t taste black tea in this at all. I don’t have any lemon around, but there’s a chance it might improve this tea a bit.

On the container, it said to let it cool to room temperature (although I suspect that’s just to avoid scorching your kids), but I decided to give that a try, just to give this a fair shake. It didn’t do much sadly – now it’s just cool, sweet, slightly berry flavored water…blargh.

This tea isn’t undrinkable (I finished my cup), but it’s pretty ho-hum. I’m going to go brew up a cup of something else!

Now that I’ve rated this poorly, if anyone out there still wants what I have left (probably around 45 bags) for their kids, or just to try, please PM me – I feel kind of guilty chucking it (although I think I’ll keep the canister to air out and put other tea in). I suppose for now, it’ll just go back to lurking until I need the space!

This tea would be best for kids. They’ll love the strawberry and cherry hints and cream flavor.

I find it best with milk and sugar.

Got this for my little guy (20 months) who always begs for “Sip, daddy, sip!” when I am drinking my brew of the day. Since mine are always caffeinated I thought I’d get him something appropriate. I have brewed this twice (different steep times), added honey to sweeten it, tried it warm and cool, and he refuses it either way. When I tried it (both times) I think I know why… It tastes like what I can only describe as “wet paper.” I know this taste because I shot spitwads as a kid in school, and used the institutional roll paper towels from the restrooms. This tea tastes just like that!

Maybe it was just a bad batch of bag material, I don’t know. I am returning it for a refund, and will try to find something else for my little tea-maven!