Berry Black™ - Raspberry Darjeeling Black Tea

This was my first visit to a new local coffeehouse & cinema that is geared towards “geeks.” I was glad to see they had decent tea. I was prepared for anything from Bigelow teabags bags to locally blended loose leaf, so 12 flavors of Numi was not altogether a disappointment. They also serve chai lattes, but I’m not sure if they are from a powdered mix, liquid concentrate, etc. I’ll probably try one next time though.

This is nice. Neither darjeeling tea nor “berry” flavor are my favorites, but I mainly chose it because it was a Numi tea I knew I hadn’t tried before. With a packet of honey added, it was nicely sweet and flavorful (I’d say raspberry with a hint of strawberry.) I’m sure it would be great iced, and in fact the rest of my cup will probably end up in the fridge. The one thing I hate about coffeeshops is the drinks are always scalding hot for half the time you are there…

First tea of the day! Thank you Jenny Wren for including this in the tea swap! I read the reviews on this one, seems others have found it overly sour; I actually didn’t think so. I found it definitely a little tart, but still very drinkable. Would you really expect a raspberry/hibiscus tea to not be somewhat tart/sour? Is it a tea to write home about? No. But is it an easy little vitamin C wake up call? Sure. When it cools, the darjeeling is certainly more present.

Definitely tasting the berry in this tea. Tastes and looks like hibiscus is partly to blame for the bright red color of this tea, it’s slightly toned down from the actual darjeeling. I like the flavor, but may steep a minute less next time as to not have so much berry hibiscus going on. This was another tea sent from Brandy.

This was a “Shirley Temple Special” from Doulton that I was specifically saving for hot weather. Further research necessary—I didn’t care for my first sip hot; tasted awfully hibiscus-y; but on ice, the tartness took a backseat to the darjeeling. Wondering how it’ll behave with a little sweetener.

These are the voyages of the Starship Ewaprise

Dooooo doo doo doo doo doo DOOOOOOOOOOOOO dootiddy doo doo doo doo dootiddy doo, etc.

Captains Log, Stardate I have no idea.

While traveling through some kind of nebula, the ship’s supply of teabags, mysteriously disappeared. Since the ship was already low on energy, this resulted in a complete loss of power to the bridge. The ship floated aimlessly for a while, but when the crew began exhibiting signs of irritability, I decided to take action. By creating a singularity by reversing the polarity of the impulse thrusters we were able to achieve orbit around the planet Kaw Pheekart. An away team, consisting of myself, my first officer and Ensign Sodead (my sister’s boyfriend’s second cousin – I felt the lad could use some away team experience), took a shuttle down to the surface.

We landed in the country of Numi, where we learned that it’s sovereign, the Earl of Grey was temporarily out of the country, so we talked to his majordomo, Barry Black, who while a somewhat sour individual, was able to provide us with the energy we needed by converting excess rations to a cyclical nitrogenous liquid compatible with our systems. Unfortunately, Ensign Sodead was killed by a freak landslide on our way back to the shuttle.

As we left orbit, we ejected the warp core, just for giggles.

Tony & I went to breakfast at our usual haunt, with his 2 kids (both adults). This restaurant has the brown Numi box, & the selection is getting pretty thin. I tried a cup of this, sweetened with stevia. It was ok, definitely got the berry flavors in there, very bright tasting. It actually reminds me of berry flavored koolaid. Not something I’d buy.

Another sample packet I picked up, however my first impression of the concept – marrying berry with Darjeeling – isn’t very hopeful. The smell of the bag is lightly berry-like and pleasant, but steeping brings out the telltale bright red of hibiscus, which tells me to get the sugar ready. I don’t mind the flavor of hibiscus if I know that’s what I’m getting, just need to be ready with sweetener, as I find it really too sour otherwise.

The flavor is indeed really tart, so I’ve added twice as much sugar as I normally would. And it’s still pretty sour. In its defense, it does do a good job of bringing together berry and hibiscus flavors, but I’m having a hard time distinguishing the tea angle, let along something as specific as Darjeeling.

Nice to try, but I won’t be angling for this one again anytime soon.

I like Darjeeling and I like fruity hibiscus blends…Why don’t I like this? It almost tastes…rusty? Dumped this one down the drain…

1 bag for 250mL water, bare.

Ehrrr … I am not kindly disposed to this one. It will have hibiscus — ugh. And adding flavbouring to Darjeeling is risky, at best. Darjeeling is so wonderful on its own — and can be hard to get, so why wreck the limited supply with flavours?

But I digress. I might even be wrong.

Steeping the bag in a clear glass mug … um, yeah, it looks like it’s bleeding, not steeping. Damn you, hibiscus!

Decent muscatel scent, though a slightly earthy one.

If you want to give a vampire tea party, this is the tea to make. Quite striking — and bloody, really — against glass. I would imagine it would be so agasint white china, too.

First sip: all hibiscus.

Second sip: 90% hibiscus, 10% stale tea.

Berries? Where?

Like I said, I was prejudiced against this blend from the start, as I strongly dislike hisbiscus. It’s a bully!

Third sip: 60 hibiscus, 30 getting-bitter tea, 10 sharp mystery dirt.

Steep time: 2:30. I imagine the tea will develop and battle the hibiscus, but the tea’s already bitter. (Darjeeling, bitter? WTH?) Must go water a plant.

If you don’t mind hibiscus, maybe try this one at a very short steep. It shoudl yield you a cup of hibiscus water with a faint black tea infusion.

Not for me.

Another tea from my box of assorted Numi teas. It smells mildly tea-ish with an undertone of…raspberry? Hibiscus? I dunno.

When I added the water the tea instantly turned bright red – Y halo thar hibiscus. >.<

Unfortunately the hibiscus managed to dominate the tea with its tartness – I get the Darjeeling in the aftertaste and to be fair its wine-like astringency actually meshes quite well with the ‘berry’ flavour. The raspberry and strawberry flavours are there but the whole thing is just so frickin’ sour that I can’t really enjoy the tea at all. I drank it all, but it’s definitely NOT going to be on my Shopping List any day soon.

Well, if nothing else this tea succeeded in reminding me why I hate hibiscus.

I really liked this tea — it was great hot but even better once it cooled — I think it would make an awesome iced tea. :D

One word: meh

Something I picked up on my way to work today, I am not the hugest darjeeling fan but this was supposed to have sweet strawberry zest so I thought the combination of the two would be nice.

Unfortunately the darjeeling and the berry are totally overpowered by the hibiscus. This tea was kind of tart and left a funny aftertaste in my mouth. I had to struggle to finish it but it wasn’t so bad that I threw it away.

I had this tea at 3pm with cookies as a homework break. I don’t really enjoy hibiscus but I don’t hate it either and I liked its combination with darjeeling here. It really gave the tea a berry feel. Plus it gets bonus points for reminding me of a tea my mom used to make me in middle school.

Pleasant! Didn’t let it steep long because of the hibiscus and rosehips, but there is a full bodied quality I feel in my mouth when I sip this that I don’t normally taste from flavored, fruity teas. And that makes me pleased. Maybe not what I expected, but still enjoyable.

A bit too sweet for my tastes, and if I had added sugar, it would be like liquid candy. I can taste a bit of the raspberry when I put my mind to it, but it strikes me as a bit tart, and more like a substitute, generic berry than anything specific. What darjeeling there is seems overwhelmed by the hibiscus and rosehips (which frankly, I think we should ban altogether from tea), but it works better for this tea than I have tasted in other berry blends. No bitter aftertaste, but leaves my mouth feeling dry the way I do when I drink pink lemonade..?! It is biting cold outside, so I’m just happy to have a warm mug and tummy.

I like most Numi Teas and this is the first with which I’ve been a bit disappointed. This tea tastes like pink lemonade to me. Which is fine if you want pink lemonade, but if you want a black tea with a strong berry flavor, you won’t be happy. I think Numi needs to limit the hibiscus and rosehips which overwhelm any berry flavor.

Visually the tea is very pretty but we cannot live on vision alone.

Overall, Numi is a great company and this experience won’t deter me from trying their other blends.

Another tea drunk at work under less than optimal brewing conditions.

The aroma is subtle, a sort of toasty/fruity melange. The color is beautiful — deep red, almost wine-like.

I agree that the hibiscus and rose hips are too heavy in this blend. They dominate and make the tea too tart. The raspberry/strawberry flavor is there, but you have to get past the hibiscus and rose hips to get to it. The darjeeling is a nice backdrop. I am really liking darjeeling and I haven’t even had a fine loose version yet.

No berry flavour at all. Other reviews report evidence of berry and hibiscus but I do not see anything other than brewed leaf. Hope Numi responds to my query if this is normal. Ack, I committed to a box of 100 and I didn’t even get a cardboard box with the original artwork which I really wanted to frame up since they are phasing out this artwork for another design.

This has been one of my staple teas for awhile. I always make it iced, so it’s great for these hot days. It is sweet and tart with a great berry flavor, and I can still taste the Darjeeling base. There is no artificial aftertaste. It’s a clean taste with a very short crisp aftertaste.

This was one of the first teas that I liked so maybe I’m partial, but I’m surprised at the low ratings here. I’ve never tried it bagged. I buy the loose leaf directly from Numi. The loose tea is gorgeous by the way. Lots of pretty berry pieces and rolled whole leaves. And, I like hibiscus in iced teas. This tea is very similar to the Rishi Raspberry Green. I could keep either one to fill this slot in my cupboard.

Eugh. I have got to stay away from the hibiscus. This would have been fine without the hibiscus. It’s far too astringent with it. The rest of it could be good if it weren’t masking everything else.

I really like this one. There is some tartness, as others have noted, but nothing excessive. I think the tartness is about equal to a green apple. The flavor is more berry than tea. I’m sure it would be great iced. Prepared with splenda.