122/365
Trying the last of my Christine Dattner teas today. While I like them, I wouldn’t say I’m quite as impressed as I perhaps expected to be. I mean, they’re tasty enough but not especially out of the ordinary.
According to the description, this one’s supposed to be a Chinese black tea base with four red fruits – strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and redcurrant. There are a few dried berries scattered amongst the leaf, but not as many as I’d thought there might be.
To taste, it’s “red fruit” but hardly more defined than that – I can’t pick out one fruit flavour over another, which is a shame. It’s sweet and tart in the way of most berry blends, and the black base is lightly malty and a touch astringent. That works quite well with the slight sourness of the berries, although I’d prefer a less drying base on the whole. One thing in its favour is that the berry flavour is natural-tasting, with none of the syrupy artificiality I’ve come across in a few other similar blends recently. That’s a refreshing change, if nothing else.
This one is pleasant enough, but nothing especially outstanding. I might try cold brewing it in the summer.
