DATES!! Tealux has such interesting blends, this one has dates as a base. I’d love to try any and all teas with dates, since I tried 52Teas Date Nut Muffin blend and loved it (though that may also be the walnuts that I love in that blend.) I thought I’d try a bit of my sample of this one while reading my book about Afghanistan. Seemed appropriate — they mentioned dates a few pages ago. Sadly, I just read about the head of the family locking fruit in a cupboard because the rest of his family wasn’t allowed to eat any fruit. Cruel! Fruit is one of my favorite things.
The picture of this one just looks delicious. I taste tested this one as I was infusing, but suddenly at ten minutes the hibiscus overpowered the rest of the blend. I’m slowly learning the longer you steep hibiscus, the worse it gets. But I wanted the flavor of the dates as much as possible! Next time, I can’t steep that long. I peeked in the infuser post-steep there are actually a ton of dark raisins in the blend too. I guess the raisins and dates had a similar coating so they looked alike. I’m not sure how much flavor the raisins actually give to the tea… Also, where does the vanilla in this name come from? Definitely no vanilla here. I couldn’t see any strawberries in my infuser either. The dates are very sweet. Mixed with hibiscus, it is reminding me of a very sweet cranberry. I wish the flavor of hibiscus was as great as the steep color — a nice magenta. The hibiscus is bearable in this blend… probably because of the sweetness of the dates. I wouldn’t mind buying more of this. It would be one of the few hibiscus blends I could like. Stop ruining teas, hibiscus! I wouldn’t mind just the flavor of dates…
