Waterlilies Fruit Tea

Another sample from Momo, thanks!

I was a bit wary of this one because of the roselle/hibiscus, but was curious anyhow. I kept the infusion time a bit shorter than recommended though, as I’d like to be able to drink this, not have to pour it down the sink!

The aroma is fairly generic fruity… oh damn, hazards of tea near computer… just spilled on my keyboard. No major crisis though…

Anyhow, flavourwise, this one is definitely quite tart! However, it’s a pleasant sort of tart even though I know it’s from hibiscus, and I’m actually enjoying it! I wonder if the pineapple is taming the hibiscus somehow (although I have also read that roselle is not quite as…. potent? as “regular” hibiscus.

Either way, I agree with Missy that this is rather like a fruit punch, although tart, so I imagine it would be delicious iced! Always love when the tartness of hibiscus is actually used effectively!

ETA: Second infusion is… pineapply-tart? Odd. Probably would be good sweetened. I don’t think this has another infusion in it, but it is a herbal after all.

this blend smells just like Pineapple Kona Pop from Teavana, which I enjoy… even though it’s not anything like tea. It’s pretty much juice, delicious tart juice. Except less calories!

However, PKP is a little sour for me most days, so I was a bit worried about getting this. But with samples so cheap, how could I resist? After all, I love pineapple.

This blend is surprisingly light looking, not that ominous red you can get from hibiscus. But roselle is a bit different, right? Less tart, I think. And indeed, this doesn’t brew up very sour—it’s light and fruity, almost airy. It’s not packed full of flavor, but it’s a nice tropical drink.

This is a pretty good tisane. The rosehips add tart to balance the sweeter fruit out. I definitely get apple and pineapple but the rest is hard for me to discern. It’s kind of like a fruit punch. This would probably be totally awesome iced.

So this is a sample from Azzrian and I have to say, it’s pretty tasty. I totally don’t get pineapple when I drink it but what I do get is a nice tangy refreshing beverage. I think this would be pretty awesome cold so I’m going to use the last of my sample to give that a try tomorrow. This would be a really nice drink on a hot summer day…even hot :) it’s that right balance of sweet and tangy that throws a party in your mouth that your mind can dance to heh thanks Azz!

I think Missy got this with her last set of samples from Angel, so thank you to Angel :)

Hoooo boy, this hit my tart button good and hard. Wow. I think this one needs a couple gallons of sugar and some ice before I think I’m going to want to keep it around. I’ll have to grab a bit of this and try it sugared up. Until then… I think I’ll skip a number :)

(This very generous sample was provided courtesy of Angel Chen at Teavivre. Thank you so much, Angel!)

It was actually kind of hard to put this tisane (7 tsp.-ish of it for 2 cups water) into the steeping basket of my Breville because it smelled and looked so tasty (kind of like trail mix) that I wanted to eat it rather than wait for it to be infused.

When this brews up, it is easily the bright red color of fruit punch. The scent of the steeped tea is heavy on the pineapple to me – it manages to smell both sweet and tart together. The first taste of it is very true to smell – I get the sweetness of pineapple at first and that leads into a very tart hibiscus that dominates the rest of the sip. It is so juicy! At first I thought it was too tart – but even thinking that, I managed to go through about half the mug unsweetened.

I did finally add a little bit of sweetener to it (much less than I normally add to that amount of tea) and the result was a perfectly balanced juicy beverage that, while good hot, will be absolutely amazing iced. The second of the two cups I made hot is currently cooling off to be tried iced to affirm this, and when it does I will likely bump this up a few more points.

I ended up steeping this tea for quite some time, long past the eight and a half minutes I set my timer for. I was playing Minecraft and not paying attention, so I didn’t hear the beep.

But this tea does not suffer one bit from oversteeping. True, it’s very dark maroon and a little tart, but it’s still great. I like this one more than the other fruit tea I’ve tried by Teavivre, Apple Awakening. The pineapple is a great touch and goes well with the rose hips. It’s like a hot, mouth-watering fruit punch. I bet it would be perfect iced, which is what’s happening next with this tea.

Despite my box from Teavivre arriving over a week ago, it has taken me this long to try them! My apologies to Angel Chen and the lovely people at the company who provided these amazing samples to me, but in my defence the delay was to be able to give them my best attention. I normally use unfiltered tap water for my tea but felt that since these were quality teas from a quality company and a gift, they deserved better. So I finally got some spring water to put in my kettle and some time to sit and appreciate. Sadly, that time today was after midnight so I am starting with the only herbal in the bunch!

Since hibiscus and tart flavours aren’t my favourite, I disregarded the recommended brewing instructions and instead did what I normally do for my herbals, a heaping teaspoon in boiling water for five minutes.

First impressions are that the tea is lovely brewed, a pinkish red that makes me think of summer and sangria and happy times. The scent is hard for me to define, but definitely fruity in nature . . . maybe a blended strawberry scent? The first sips are lovely, with a tart undertone to a nice fruit punch flavour.

Part way through the cup I added some sweetener, curious how this would change the flavours. I found that it added to the fruit punch aspects, highlighting the slight tartness but also the richness that was in the flavour.

I definitely am enjoying the cup and am curious now how it will taste iced. I don’t think I’d like it cold brewed since the roselle would dominate, but brewed hot over ice would be very interesting.

Finished out the New Year festivities with this one. My fruit tea and tisane consumption tends to be sparse. It’s not that I don’t like the fruit teas. I just prefer straight teas. The problem with teas like this is that I have a hard time not eating the dried fruit :) This one is not bad reminds me of strawberry lemonade or Tazo passion tea. Sorry but when you put hibiscus in a tea it’s going to have the Tazo quality for me. It’s pretty good a little the pineapple is very predominant it this tea. The only qualms I have with this tisane is the 3-4 teaspoons per cup and steeping it for ten minutes to really get the flavor. I guess that’s one of the properties when you are steeping all fruits. I think this would be great iced.

just opened my samples from Teavivre. I was in the mood for something fruity so I grabbed this. I steeped it for 5 mins, and it came out a little tart. Which I was surprised by since it does not have hibiscus in it. The pineapple is great. I might like this better iced.

Got my last round of samples from Teavivre today. Finally I was home/they were actually brought to my door. Of course I answered in my pajamas because today has been my “dead to the world day” where I have just drank tea, read, and watched movies.

I don’t really like the tartness of hibiscus, but roselle seems a bit tamer. Still tart, but far more tolerable. At first I tried to drink it straight, hot, but switched to making it iced and adding sweetener. Now I like it a lot better, and I thought I added a lot of sweetener but it’s just right.

This is great, I don’t really drink a lot of fruit teas that aren’t blood orange related, but I really like this.

_{Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review}

Now here is a strange “tea” for me to review, a fruit tea! Obviously the word tea is meant here as something brewed in hot water and not relating to camellia sinensis (real tea leaf). This one lists using 3-4 tsp per 230ml of water, and with that in mind Teavivre graciously gave me about 50g of Waterlilies Fruit Tea to try.

I prepared some of this last night, with 500ml and about 5 tsp of fruit tea. The brew was a bit too tart for me, so today I’m adjusting the steep variables.

Tonight I tried 250ml of water and 2 tsp of fruit. It was still a bit too sour for my tastes so I added bit of honey. The result was much more palatable and the honey gives the liquor a nice texture.

Next time I’ll try this with a simple sugar syrup (sugar and water boiled in a small sauce pan) to see if that enhances it more. But I will still use 2 tsp of fruit per 250ml, because the flavour is much the same. If you want a more intense tart fruit flavour, use the full 3-4 tsp.

I’m not a big fan of hot fruit flavour, but this isn’t bad for it’s “type”. If you want to avoid caffeine and enjoy a tart fruit drink, this wouldn’t be a bad one to try. I think the addition of honey or sugar is needed to bring down the sourness. Normally I dislike adding sweetener to tea, but this isn’t tea it’s fruit, and as you know fruit drinks do tend to have a sweetener to make them more palatable.

250ml of water, 2 tsp, 1 steep (8mins exactly)

Very pleasant pineapple scent on the dry bits!

Brewed, the smell is more like a muskier pineapple. Not getting as much tart out of it as I expected from the other notes – mine’s fairly fruity, though I am noticing more of the apple and roselle (I think) as it cools. It feels a bit like drinking a pineapple-apple cobbler in tea form!

I was excited to try this after blowing through 100g of Blueberry Fruit Tea. Dry mix smells like almost nothing, to my nose. I brewed 2 heaping tsps in a big mug for 10 mins, and sweetened it after it cooled. The result was a dark peach coloured brew that tasted like a stripped down pina colada. Even though I wish the pineapple were more prevalent, this was still good iced. I could taste a bit of citrus, and I could identify the roselle right away. With sugar or other sweetner it kind of complements the other general fruitiness of this tisane.

I received this as a sample from Teavivre. Like most of the other tasting notes, I find this tea quite heavy on the hibiscus. I generally don’t mind some hibiscus, but this is just a bit too much for me.

This tea brewed up a beautiful maroon colour.

The tea does have a fruity flavour, it is tart, but not bitter. Not terribly sweet. I could have added some sweetener but was honestly too lazy to get up and get the sweetener.

This is the last of my teavivre samples, and unfortunately my least favourite. I am a tisane fan most of the time, and I love me some good fruit blends, but there was something in this tea that I did not like at all. I’m guessing it was the roselle. I found this tea to be almost unbearably bitter. I brewed it as per the package instructions for about 10 mins, and am thinking that was probably too long. I found the bitterness really overwhelmed the other fruit flavours, so I can’t comment on the rest of the blend. I will have to try again and brew for less time, but my first impression is not great, as I couldn’t finish it (a first for me…). I will try again before giving it a numbered rating, and I hope that it was just a brewing error. If not, then I guess I shall stick to what teavivre does so well, its greens, whites and oolongs!

This sample is yet again thanks to the Teavivre gang:)

This tea is not one I am inclined to have again after I am done with the sample. It’s drinkable, but only just. Frankly I got plenty of fruit teas that I enjoy alot more then this, and can get them locally. I’m thinking I should of stuck to black, greens, oolongs, and whites in my taste test, as I’ve been wanting to expand my horizons beyond the herbal, fruit and rooibos teas that have pretty much taken over my cupboard. That being said however, I am looking forward to trying the last tea of the bunch, the Apple Awakening.

I’ve been meaning to get to this tea for some time, but this is the first time I have remembered I have it, and it is the right time to have it, since it is later in the evening and I don’t want any caffeine before bed.

I wasn’t sure how much to use as it wasn’t printed on the package like the other teas, so I just used 2 (heaping) teaspoons and let it steep about 5-6 minutes. Coming here, I see the instructions say to use more, but I think I used the right amount for my tastes.

There is definitely a smell of pineapple with the dry mixture. Once brewed, I can’t really taste anything beyond the tartness. I’ve never been a hibiscus fan, and while roselle is milder, it is still tart. Much more tolerable tart, but more for iced than hot tart.

The colour is beautiful, and the taste is a little lighter than the Blueberry tea, though I think the Blueberry tea is a bit more complex in flavours. I do prefer the Blueberry over this one…though this one will probably be made iced, and possibly blended with sparkling water or juice as a summer treat.

My thanks to Angel at Teavivre for sending this generous sample my way!

Thank you for this generous sample, Teavivre!!

I was in the mood for something new but caffeine free, and after the wild success of their Milk Oolong, I eagerly dove into my box of Teavivre samples.

This was nice! It was juicy and tropical. It as delicious hot and even more delicious cold. I think the rest of this sample will go towards iced tea. Beautiful.

The roselle did get a bit tart for me, but not as bad as hibiscus can be. I did sweeten this one (I sweeten all of my teas) and while it will be no great hardship to finish my very generous sample, this is not a tea I see myself replacing.

This sample was sent to me by Angel and the wonderful Teavivre team. And many thanks to them!
This herbal tea has an amazing aroma and a beautiful color when brewed. It has a sweet pineapple/citrus flavor. I love the tart taste so I didn’t sweeten it.. But it almost reminds me of an unsweetened fruit punch. It is absolutely delicious! And I could only imagine it would be even more so iced! Definitely going to be ordering more.