Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush

Tasty! I’ve tried a few of Frank’s cucumber tea selections over the past couple of years, and have enjoyed them all, so I knew that I’d probably like this one too. The flavor is sweet, but, there is a hint of tart in there too, just enough to keep it balanced. I’m drinking this hot right now, but, this would be AMAZING iced too. Very refreshing.

When this tea first went up I was dying to get it. I really loved their Watermelon Blackberry Honeybush, and assumed this would be kind of similar (since, well, they were both fruity honeybushes), but I held off and was very glad I did since it ended up on sale! For $6 with shipping I was definitely willing to give this one a try.

I made this as a cold brew, since I can’t even imagine anything cucumber flavored being hot. I mean, cucumber = cold and crisp to me, so it has to be an iced tea! Like WBH this brews up really dark, like a black tea in color which is nice. Some part of me is still convinced I DON’T like honeybush, so it’s a bit of a brain trick haha. This blend actually smells a little… weird in the cup, kind of artificial? And a little medicinal too.

Thankfully it doesn’t taste artificial or medicinal! The cucumber is front and center, and contrary to how dark the brew is the flavor is actually quite light. It kind of tastes like cucumber water! There’s a little bit of fruitiness from the kiwi and some woodsy, sweet aspects from the honeybush but cucumber dominates the cup. It’s also got a hint of sourness, I’m not sure from what. It’s a good blend, though nothing at all like what I was expecting. I kind of expected a candy-aspect like the Watermelon Blackberry, which reminded me strongly of cotton candy, but this ended up being a very mellow, laid-back cup.

Thank you Fiddling for this sample.

In raw form this looks like any other honeybush tea until you smell it and take in the sweet and light fruity aroma. Not like kiwi as such but definitely exotic.

I cold steeped this for roughly 6 hours (as a side note this is my last cold steep for a while..I think). After the long 6 hour steep this tea is brown in colour and has a much stronger fruity scent that is so sweet and delicious it’s making me salivate. Reminds me very much of 52 Teas – Breakfast Smoothie blend which I adore.

Taste is similar to the Breakfast Smoothie blend too but lighter and with less fruit tones. It’s very sweet and tastes like some sort of tropical fruit gobstopper. The mild tones are like cucumber in as much as it’s light, refreshing and subtle in flavour but it’s not something I would be able to pick out if I didn’t know what it was. Same as the kiwi really, it’s not sour like I usually associate with kiwi but there are gentle fruit tones in there.

Overall it’s a perfect blend of light, sweet, fruit that remains refreshing throughout and leaves the most amazing taste in my mouth. Would make a great iced tea on very hot days, a true treat. I love it, as much as the Breakfast Smoothie Blend.

ps. If anyone has any of this to trade please let me know. :D

Used 1.75 tablespoons for ~375ml of water.

The primary scent in the brewed leaf is that of honeybush which gives a warm feeling to the aroma. I’m getting that burnt-out beeswax candle smell that I seem to be associating with other honeybush teas from 52teas. I can also detect the tanginess of the kiwi in the smell. There is something in there that reminds me of cucumber-scented hand-cream, otherwise I have never really been able to find a smell from a fresh cucumber. I’m also smelling something that reminds me of citrus.

On the sip, I’m detecting mostly a melon flavour which evolves into something that tastes like the scent of cucumber-scented hand-cream. There is only a hint of kiwi flavour in this one. I’m also tasting the burnt-out beeswax candle smell.

Overall, this tisane has a very mild flavour.

As the tisane cooled to room temperature it took on a refreshing flavour profile and reminded me of the taste of cucumber-infused water. I’m also being reminded of mint taste.

Many thanks to Ellyn for sharing this with me!

I’m honestly at a bit of a loss as to why this blend seems like such a hard sell, as I think that it’s quite enjoyable. Kiwi isn’t a flavour I’ve had the opportunity to try in a tea very often. And the last experience I had with Tea Forte’s kiwi tisane reminded me ore of Buckley’s cough syrup than of the fruit. This, on the other hand, is quite good. For one thing it manages to actually taste like real kiwifruit and the natural sweetness of the honeybush seems to soften its tanginess just the right amount. It has a pleasant fresh, clean tone to it that would probably make a good iced tea as well.

Thanks to Raritea for sharing some of this with me (via Ellyn!)

I couldn’t detect any aroma whatsoever from the dry tea, so really had quite low expectations for this blend, but I am getting flavour, and it’s actually not bad! I don’t distinctly taste cucumber (which is completely ok, because the one time I purchased cucumber water it made me gag! Not that I don’t like cucumbers though) and I’m not tasting as much kiwi as I would like, but it’s quite a refreshing blend. I’m actually kind of tempted to purchase it for myself if there’s another 52teas sale in the future, while it’s still available. I can definitely also taste the distinctive flavour of honeybush, which I do actually kind of enjoy, sometimes.

Thanks again you guys – this was a blend I’d been wavering about purchasing for a while, I just wish I’d gotten around to trying it sooner!

I really love cucumber tea. HOWEVER, this is just not my thing. I have tried it several times and can’t get into it. I am sending the rest of my packet on in a swap….I hope someone else likes it!

Backlogging as I was over at the neighbors with no internet access. Got this in a swap with Alphakitty. I have enough for another cup, so I will be trying it again. Here are the first impressions.

Dry: Smells strongly of honeybush with kiwi and cucumber aspects. For some reason, though, all of these together are smelling quite…chemical? Kinda like nail polish remover. Huh. I mean, I can smell all the different aspects of the tea, but when I try to take it all in as a whole I’m ending up with this odd scent.

Brewed: Once brewed the kiwi is strongest, followed closely by the honeybush, and the cucumber trailing behind. The chemical-ish smell is still hitting me… I’m thinking it’s the combination of the honeybush and the kiwi that’s giving off this scent. I’m hoping it doesn’t carry over into the taste.

Taste: Strong honeybush taste once brewed, especially in the front of the sip. The kiwi is strongest in the middle, and the cucumber finishes of the sip. I am getting the strange smell in taste form. I guess I just don’t dig the honeybush with these flavors. I’m thinking a white tea, like silver needles or shou mei, would’ve worked better for me. It’s not undrinkable. I do like the individual aspects of the tea…I think the kiwi is nice, and I find the cucumber accent at the back of the sip very crisp and refreshing. It’s just the chemical taste that the honeybush is creating with these flavors that I can’t get 100% past.

Next brew I think is going to be cold. We’ll see how that turns out. For now, I think I’ll leave this one un-rated.

Thanks again, Alphakitty, for passing some of this my way.

Special thanks to Ellyn for sending this in a swap!

This tea is wonderful! The cucumber makes it so refreshing and the kiwi adds a a bit of tartness that complements the flavor really well. It reminds me a lot of cucumber water in sweet honeybush form.

The first time I tried this tea, I accidentally steeped it for an hour and enjoyed it at room temperature. I think it would be amazing as an iced tea.

After trying my first sampling from 52teas today (their wonderful Neapolitan Honeybush blend, which I love dearly already!) I just couldn’t wait to try another. The Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush was the very first thing that caught my eye when I was deciding what to purchase in my first order from them, so I’m really excited to give it a try. :D

Much like with the Neapolitan blend, I could see the bits of dried kiwi among all the honeybush before I even opened the bag. I love that their teas are appealing to the senses before they’re even opened. I couldn’t smell a whole lot before I opened the bag, but wow, as soon as the seal was broken the scent of kiwi was like a smack upside the head to my senses. It’s not just kiwi either; it’s like kiwi distilled and boiled down and then maybe left in the sun for a while. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it smells really strong! My mom even remarked that she could smell it from across the room. There’s also a bit of an overpowering, nearly cloying sweetness to the scent that I wouldn’t usually associate with kiwi. I don’t want to call it artificial, but it’s not exactly a fresh, fruity sweetness either. Maybe it’s just something that goes along with super-strong-kiwi scent though, which is a scent I’m hardly accustomed to, after all. I should also mention that while the kiwi component was most definitely there, I didn’t get a whole lot of cucumber, but we’ll see what happens after it’s steeped.

The color of the liquid after steeping is a bit surprising to me. It’s pretty dark for a honeybush blend; more like what you’d expect from a black tea, I think. The scent has mellowed quite a bit though, and cucumber is certainly coming through nicely now. I want to say I’m enjoying it more, but it’s actually coming across with a bit of a medicinal undertone, which is slightly dampening my initial enthusiasm about this tea.

…And now that I’ve tasted it, I think I’m officially disappointed. My first sip started off nicely, with a refreshing blast of cucumber, but it was downhill from there. That medicinal undertone has turned into a medicinal aftertaste that is decidedly unpleasant. All of my subsequent tastes are a blend of that cloying “is this kiwi or not?” sweetness, the medicinal taste, and… cucumber, though the more I drink, the less fresh and natural it seems. I’m kind of starting to wonder if this is what that overpowering cucumber-scented body splash that was so popular when I was in high school must taste like. (Just in case you were wondering, that’s not a good thing.)

While I’m definitely not going to give up on 52teas after this – they have so many whimsical, fun blends that I’m still dying to try, and the Neapolitan Honeybush alone would make me buy from them again – saying that their Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush will not be a keeper for me is a bit of an understatement. I’m not even sure if I want to finish this cup, honestly. :-( I will give it another try, maybe with sugar and a shorting steeping time, or perhaps iced, but as of right now I’m not holding my breath.

I must be missing something, ‘cause I have no idea where to find brewing instructions for 52teas stuff. So far I’ve just been looking at other Steepsters’ logs to get an idea of how long to brew things. Hrmm.

Dry I love the smell of cucumber (I’m a fiend). Brewing it smells a bit like…chlorine. Or floor cleaner. But then tasting it, oh, it’s yummy. You can definitely taste the kiwi bits, not just the cucumber. I am always surprised when a tea tastes better than it smells, because so often it’s the other way around. Obviously I prefer the former, so I’m happy with this. I’m crossing my fingers this is one that will also taste great iced.