Sour Cherry Serenade

hibiscus blossoms, apple bits, sour cherries, orange peels…can you cram any MORE sour and tart factors into this one? LOL

Yes! It’s the day of challenges for me today! The day where I will try anything and really taste outside my comfort zone! :)

Knowing that I don’t usually like tarty teas and noting a lot of the negative reviews on this I saw the suggested infusion time of 1-2 minutes. I went about 60-70 seconds. I might even go a little less next time. BUT…it’s not bad if you like sour. I am basing this review mostly on the fact that it is-what-it-is…it’s SOUR…but most people would only try this if that is what ‘floats their boat’ so I am keeping that in mind.

On the other hand – most sour teas freak me out…this one isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’m drinking it hot…but honestly, I think COLD it would be fairly good.

It says it’s a flavored black but I can’t taste the black tea for the life of me. I would basically just say tarty-fruity herbal.

Regardless it’s not as bad as I thought it would be, or could be. I will try this iced at some point…based on all of the above and that it surprised me like it did I will score a little higher…

Had this iced while shopping today. I had the gal at Teavana make it for me. They use a large amount of leaf to make their iced tea. The liqour was a deep, dark burgundy. Very tart, sour cherry flavor, really covered up the black tea base. Great for an iced tea. Wouldn’t buy a whole 2oz though. Maybe with more water to leaf ratio it would be more to my liking.

I’m kind of confused by all of the terrible reviews on this; I quite like it. Then again, I love anything sour, but I don’t find this to be overwhelmingly sour. There’s a slight hint of sweet cherry (not the medicinal kind) and then the sourness dances on the tongue and down the throat.

I taste more green tea in this than I do black.

This is sour, as the name claims. I’m not a fan.

I think I actually made the red Steepster face when I took my first sip.

Well, it’s definitely sour, but that’s about it. If this tea had more body, I think it would be a lot better, but nothing I’ve mixed it with seems to help in this area without completely destroying what little flavor there is. I think it might be the green tea they have in there. If it were all black, I might like it more. As it is now, picking the rehydrated cherries out of the wet leaves has proved tastier than the actual drink.

The smell, on the other hand, is heavenly. However, I cannot drink a smell. I think I might put the rest in a bag and hide it in my car somewhere as an air freshener.

Looks like potpourri in the canister. Orange peel bits, flowers, bits of I don’t know what. Makes a beautiful red liquor. Smells like sour cherry. All I taste is hibiscus, and a little orange. I don’t even taste any tea, but I know it’s in there, I saw the leaves. I love hibiscus, but if I wanted hibiscus tea, I would drink Passion tea from Tazo. Maybe if I relabel the canister and come back to it later, I can trick myself thinking it’s hibiscus and enjoy it.

Preparation Details:
Zarafina Tea Maker: Black, Loose, Medium, 2 cups water, 4 scoops tea
Sweetened with rock sugar, then iced.

Definitely sour and puckery, but I like sour and puckery. The cherry is very strong, much stronger than the black tea flavor. I can’t seem to decide if I like this better iced or hot. I think it’s less puckery when it’s iced.

I know from experience that a second infusion would taste like black tea and have no cherry, so I don’t bother.

One of my old favorites. We used to drink this while playing card games over the coffee table.

One of my favorite teas. It’s great both iced or hot. Very fruity and tart.

Smells absolutely amazing in the tin, but taste-wise, there’s not a whole lot going on. I love all things sour/tart, and this definitely hits the spot in that regard – I actually steep it for about 4 minutes (note that my cup is rather large, though) and any less than that it seems a little too watery. There’s an immediate tart flavor and a nice sweet aftertaste. Not a bad tea but I wish there was more body to it and more discernable flavors.

This is OK, but not one of my favorites. I prefer milk in my tea and this one curdles the milk (even powdered creamer).