Berry Mint Cassis Rooibos Tea

So my internet ate my review of the new Teavana Cococaramel sea salt tea yesterday. :( But I’m back with a review of this one!
The Teavana smelled especially alluring yesterday. Maybe it was all the new stock? The worker kept making me laugh because they insist on wafting these at you and it was like he was aiming for my forehead. I must admit that these new teas are very visually appealing in person. Large chunks of colorful fruit, lots of different shapes, sizes, and the smell is very strong. I’m a very visual person so that really is a great way of selling me something. The new tins are also really stunning looking, but $12 for something like that is way too much for me.
The Cococaramel sea salt one was a must have for me, but this one just smelled so nice! I also sniffed the mate/pu’erh one and boy was it weird. I might go back and try it later just because it is a lower price than many of their other teas, but damn. I don’t know how they’ll swing that one.
My husband noticed the new nutrition booklets and how instantly useless they are. The worker actually agreed with us that it is a waste of paper to just tell us a bunch of 0s.
I’m actually very surprised about how dark this brew is. It could easily pass as a black tea; I just read it has hibiscus, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised after all! Reading off the full list of ingredients this sounds like something from Willy Wonka! Something about this smells like it should be paired with some of the really tart and in your face mate blends that Teavana carries.
This tea is, well, interesting to say the least. The first kick is mint and finishes with some kind of herbal note that I’ve never run into before. It’s almost odd! It has a berry flavor, but it is nearing medicinal. It would be a great mixer in my opinion, but I’m not sure I like it just plain. There is a sense of creaminess that comes into play that is interesting and I wonder what is making that happen. I really wonder what would happen if you added milk/coconut milk to this. I think it’d probably really pop! On its own it doesn’t stand too much and although tasty, it is a little strange.

Oh. God.

I must have gotten a bad batch of this, because it’s rated fairly high on here. I myself find it disgusting.

It’s weird hot. I sort of expect it to be a berry flavored tea, and there’s that, but then there’s also a mintiness afterwards… sort of like fruit-flavored gum. The hibiscus isn’t too strong, though, so yay?

And cold… I figured it would be better cold. It almost is. The vanilla comes out, as does the mint, and the fruit takes a bit of a backseat. It’s still sort of like gum, but the flavors jive a bit better. But there’s an unbearable bitterness, which I think comes from the orange rinds. I tried to finish the mug… but couldn’t.

I’ll leave off the rating, since people seem to think it’s okay, and I still have some of my bag left, but sigh. I’m disappointed. At least it was (fairly) cheap.

Hmm this has the same issue that many of these blends do, you can only taste hibiscus when its hot. However as it cools the mint and other berries come through. This is greatly enhanced by the rock sugar, no doubt about it. It’s very clean and fresh tasting and I actually forgot it was a rooibos. The vanilla doesn’t stand out strong but I think it smoothed things over. Would probably be good iced.

I stopped into my local Teavana today while out shopping with friends. They wanted to go in and I had been looking for a new travel mug. I must say I do like their travel mugs. Anyway after another interesting trip that will be documented someplace else we all walked away with a free cup to go. I chose this. I got a lot of the mint flavors and only hints here and there of the many other ingredients in this tea.

I did purchase some to take home and mess around with. For example I think adding more rooibos might help cut the mint flavors a little. Heck maybe adding some gunpowder green tea could even make this awesome. Right now it’s ok, but I feel like it needs a little help.

On the other hand, I love this one.

I’m pretty sure this has hibiscus (of course!), but…can it be? It doesn’t come through that strongly for me. The berries and fruit at least rival it! Mostly I get blueberry and pineapple; it’s almost like a gentler cousin of the Blueberry Kona Pop blend. There’s a taste in there that my brain only identifies as “red,” though. The ingredients say there’s red currant in here; maybe that’s it? There’s a great minty kick at the back, and some creaminess throughout the sip.

Basically, I have nothing to complain about.

I will update when this finishes chilling. I fully expect, however, for the mint to pop, which should be awesome.

Chilled Update: Okay, the mint did indeed pop…but what really surprised me is that the creaminess seemed to as well! Very refreshing iced. WIN.

…Of course, this would be a cheap one.

From Michelle.

I made to for the other half while he was finishing making dinner. He took one sip and said “holey f*#+ this is awesome!”. A ringing endorsement methinks. Yet, he said a number based evaluation would have to wait until he’d had another cup. I think this is a ploy to drink it all on me! At least Michelle was very generous with her sample!