I don’t know about you but if I was going to be stranded on an island I would love for it to be a place called Strawberry Island.
Whilst raw this consists of lovely small cut black twisted leaves with green chopped up parts (that look like a leaf and after reading the ingredients must be the raspberry leaf) and some sort of dark brown stick (maybe vanilla). All of this blend of ingredients smells like sweet strawberry gummy sweets (so it’s somewhat artificial smelling).
Once brewed this is a dark reddy brown colour (similar to an assam but a little redder…maybe the exact colour to describe this would be red honey). The boiling water has brought out more of a berry smell rather then focusing just on the strawberry but it’s still as sweet.
First few sips bring out a fair bit of berry sweetness and a touch of earthiness and a slight bitterness in the after taste. A sugar/sweetener would take the edge nicely off this tea and may bring out the berry/fruit flavours but for me this is sweet enough. I’m still finding that the sweetness tastes a little artificial and usually I am not a fan but this is balanced nicely.
The fruity flavour comes out once the tea has cooled slightly so I would recommend drinking this one around 70-80 degrees (if you opt for a hot tea and not iced that is). Perhaps reduce the steeping time slightly as well to remove the subtle touch of bitterness in the back.
A very good effort and a nice sweet fruity tea, this is definitely something that I could drink happily. :)
