Youthberry White Tea

F-ck, this is disgusting. (Can I even drop the f-bomb on this site? Is it against the rules?)

I asked for a to-go cup of this iced today, and still have some left that I stuck in the fridge when I got home. Never again. It’s icky. I can taste floral notes, I can taste fruit, but I can also taste something that makes me think of what licking the bottom of a pair of Crocs would be like. I don’t normally complain about artificial flavours, and maybe it’s actually just that this weird combo of fruity-floral-tart-sour tastes artificial to me. But something about this, when I put it in my mouth, triggers my brain to scream, “NOT. REAL. FOOD!”

Blech!

I didn’t read the description of this until after I drank it. And now I see why I thought it was just mediocre:

Rosehips AND hibiscus.

Is there a more terrifying combination in all of the land? I think not.

This was too tart and tasted like every other tropical white/green tea out there. After trying several of Teavana’s teas now, I realize that they have a big issue with subtle flavors. Maybe it’s because their teas are geared toward newbies; I don’t know. But I have yet to try a Teavana tea that isn’t screaming FRUITY (or chocolate, mostly) FLAVORRR.

This tea iced is very appropriate for hot summer days, when ICED. Can’t even imagine this one hot as it’s super flowery and berrylicious! This tea has a very light essence and tends to be pretty tart at times. I think bashing this tea and saying that it’s terrible wouldn’t be useful at all, I won’t say that I enjoyed it because I didn’t, I even cringed at the taste of the flowerliness and over pummel of berries. However I have to give credit where credit is due, it’s a nice & light beach summer iced tea. Maybe blended with something else it would be okay, would have to experiment with this one. But as I grabbed this at teavana today don’t think I’ll be going back for this one. 2 for 2 today for teas I disliked. What’s up with me today goshhh haha

Fantastic day today, only seems fitting that this is what I had! I had an iced brew:

In a pitcher:
2 scoops Youthberry (Teavana)
1 scoop Peachberry Jasmine Sutra (Teavana)
1/2 scoop Rock Sugar
Add 1/3 pitcher of hot water, steep 3 minutes, fill with 1/3 ice to shock the tea and the rest of the way with cold water.
Refrigerate/Steep overnight

Drank this with and after lunch today. The Youthberry gives a fruit punch red colored liquor, it is tangy and fruity. The tang comes mostly from the rosehips and hibiscus, but the pineapple and apple are not helping to reduce the tang. The Peachberry blend helps to mild out the Youthberry in that the Jasmine, though entirely lost in the brew, will kill some of the tang making this palatable. The blend of kiwi, strawberries and peaches in the Peachberry, plus the green tea, add a slightly sweetened note to the brew. I am pretty sure that the Youthberry also contains grapes, as there is a slightly wine-y (not a word, sorry, essence of wine?) taste to it. Sugar also helps to make it palatable and I highly suggest adding some.

I say today was fantastic because I had my lunch and was still sipping some of my tea as I strolled into my local mall on my lunch hour and low-and-behold, as I window-shopped and hit my favorite store (Sephora) across the way, I saw a new store coming, and I bet you can guess what it was…TEAVANA! I do not know when it will open, but I can assure you that when it does, expect of flux of Teavana reviews!

Back to the tea: this blend is good, albeit still a little tart/tangy, especially if oversteeped in any way. I mean oversteeped hot or oversteeped as left in the fridge too long, either way will make it tangier. I do not mind the tartness of this, but it can get old making this a tea and tea blend I cannot drink everyday. As a note, neither tea is really all that great on it’s own, but blending them does make it better.

Another suggestion to combatting this tea’s tartness is to add Peachberry Jasmine Sutra AND a Jasmine tea, I suggest the Jasmine Pearls. But this will be another review.

PS Looking back, apparently I never rated this tea on its own, though I have a four ounce tin, how did that happen? I will write a rating of this following my usual format later on.

Courtesy of the TTB 1.2

I did not have high expectations for this tea although the dry mix had a delightful aroma. It was a typical Teavana tea in that there were lots of colors and different sized chunks making up the tea. I brewed it just under boiling for 7 minutes.

This tea is remarkably flavorful. It has a heavy berry flavor that is at the same time quite delicate. It was really good hot but I expect it will be much better cold so I put a pitcher of cold-brew in the fridge. I will be reporting back sometime tomorrow. The rating is subject to change after I try this cold.

Meh, I had this iced and it was OK. I picked up mainly apple and then a jumble of the other ingredients. I tried this again iced, mixed with Jasmine Pearls and it was better…smoothed out the jumbledness of this tea and it now tastes like an apple-fruit punch-jasmine tea…still it’s “meh”. I wouldn’t purchase again and not so much that it’s bad, but because there are much better fruity white teas out there that is worth the price!

ANOTHER SAMPLE FROM STARFISHEY THANK YOU!! Wow I actually liked this more than I thought IDK WHY PEOPLE HATE IT SO MUCH EITHER whateva!! I was a little scared because I’m honestly not a fan of overly-fruity teas I LOVE FRUIT and fruit accents but I dunno when teas get too purely fruity it’s just kinda a turn off I guess I’d just rather drink juice, really.

BUT ANYWAY this tea is actually REALLY PECULIAR? I smelled it and kinda had a hard time figuring out what I was smelling other than kinda flowery and fruity… and then I tasted it and I really have no idea what I just tasted. The hibiscus was pretty strong I definitely got that but then there were just all these RANDOM FRUITY FLAVORS in the background and they were all really mild and I LIKED THAT. For me it wasn’t overpowering or tart at all, it was really light and unique!

Just got this as a blend with Wild Orange Blossom….DANG….this is GOOD.

Very light and refreshing. Would be excellent iced as well.

The only downside…it is as pink as pink can be, several people double take when they see a guy like me drinking this stuff…..it is worth it.

We bought Youthberry to blend with Wild Orange Blossom like they do at the Teavana store but I couldn’t get the Wild Orange Blossom can to open so I’m drinking it solo. I like it. It’s flowery and tart at the same time which I know a lot of people hate. I definitely prefer it blended with the Wild Orange Blossom. It’s not that it’s bad, I just like the orange flavor added in. Unless I miraculously start looking younger over the next month as we drink this tea, I don’t think I will get it again because I don’t like it well enough for the price.

Thursday Dec. 16, 2010 supplemental post
1st Steep of the day.
This was a IN SHOP SAMPLE at Teavana in Lancaster.
Blended with Teavana’s Youthberry White Tea
It Made a GREAT 1st Steep of My Day.
Could not get away with out buying 2oz’s for home.
This is a Light White Blend with Super Fruit Flavor
including South American Acai Palm.
Looking to future Pots of this here at Home.
Keep on Steepin

Nothing really special about this. Mildly tart and floral. Probably a tea you have to add lots of tea to in order to get a decent flavor. Definately better cold.

Another record breaking temperature, at 75 degrees. Having a floor on the third floor really bites, and makes me want to do anything BUT drink hot tea.

So I tried to make an iced tea. Using my 16oz tea maker I put around 6 teaspoons, and steeped for 2 minutes. I put it into my teapot and then put a handful of ice in. I repeated this with a second steep.

The result?? A little tart and a tad watery, apparently I still am not so good at brewing iced tea. My roommate liked the result, but I like more of a flavor to my ice tea. And when i tasted the tea before putting ice in it was EXTREMELY flavorful. I must have put too much ice in, even though I didn’t think so.

Oh well, maybe next time I will have more success.

Not exactly what you’d expect from the smell, but good. Tart.

I’m all about bold flavors, as I don’t think I have the greatest sense of smell, so I’m a big fan of this one. The dry leaf smells amazing, the taste is mostly apple/berry , the floral notes are there but are subtle to me (and I love hibiscus and rosehips) I do notice that unlike some of my other teas it can turn bitter if steeped too long as it it a white tea.

A few of my friends told me how much they enjoyed this tea so I decided to give it a try. I kept drinking it hoping that I’d actually enjoy it but I never did. First of all the smell is so overpowering it almost makes me feel nauseous. Also, even though in theory this tea should taste good, I find the flavor too artificial tasting.
I bought 50 grams of it and I don’t think I’ll ever get through it.

Like in mix, but not alone. On it’s own it tastes too floral and it gives me a mild headache.

The sample in store was fantastic, light, floral and fruity. My boyfriend bought me a couple ounces (the sales person tried to push more on us, and a tin. It was really awkward) and I got it home and was super excited to try it again. I followed the directions for temp and steep time and quantity and was disappointed to find my cup was watery, weak and just a little bit sour.
I looked around online to see if I could find a better way to brew it, and found on this site that apparently Teavana brews and sweetens their samples differently than they instruct home users to do.
Second time around, I tried more tea and a longer steep time, and was disappointed with an incredibly bitter cup. Then I tried more tea and the original amount of steep time and was back to watery and sour again. So finally, I ended up just straight boiling a gratuitous amount tea for three minutes and adding a little more honey and it’s almost like the sample. I kind of wonder if the sample I tried in store was not in fact a white tea, and perhaps the sales person just gave us white tea because it cost more. Very disappointed. Next time I go in there, I’m going to be a lot more attentive so they don’t lie to me and cheat me.
This tea was not at all what I was expecting and requires too much work to make it palatable.

This is a recent favourite of mind. Naturally delicious.

Okay, so this tea smelled amazing when I first opened the package…and still does. But, with such a great smell I would think it would taste just as good if not better. The tea is very good, but not what I expected. I followed the directions for steeping time and the water to tea ratio and it was very bland. I put honey in it and it was fine, but I believe it should have been naturally good.

This tea, I love this tea. I don’t quite understand all the hate going around for this tea, but that’s okay. Whenever I need something light and fruity, or something to mix with my other teas this is one my first options. I also enjoy mixing it with superfruit unity; FRUIT ON FRUIT ON FRUIT. Delish.

I will say that steeping it for the recommended 2 minutes isn’t enough for me at all. I steep it between 4-5 minutes, and sometimes add some honey.