Shirley Temple

I used to drink Shirley Temples when I was a kid like little else – it was my “treat” whenever I visited my mom at work. So, even though it’s been a while since I’ve had one (I occasionally still order one), this isn’t at all what I love about a Shirley Temple. Nope, nope, nope. There’s waaaaayy too much hibiscus, not enough cherry realness, and just… nope. Fizzy tis might work better for me (as a tea pop), but… nope. Did it iced, and, nope.

This one’s pretty good. It reminds me of Redberry Tonic, but a little more tart. Half a glass in, I told my mom what this blend is called and she agreed that this is similar to an actual Shirley Temple. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t tried one before. It’s refreshing, very red-tasting, kind of like a more exciting red Kool Aid, and doesn’t have any weird aftertaste. I wouldn’t stock up but I wouldn’t mind having it again either.

n an effort to use up my herbals, I have bought a number of stronger tasting fruit teas to mix in with weaker herbals to create iced tea with. I normally really dislike hibiscus because of how tart it is, but when mixed with the other teas it can be pleasant as an iced tea.

For this 2L pitcher of iced tea, I mixed in 4 “perfect spoonfuls” (about 10 tsp) of this tea with 2 perfect spoonfuls (about 5 tsp) of a plainer herbal (Nettle Greek Mountain from Steeped tea). I used near boiling water and steeped it for 7 min before pulling the filter out and sticking the tea in the fridge to cool overnight.

For a hibiscus tea, this is quite good! I’m getting a bit of a tart, citrus flavour at first followed by a cherry (grenadine?) after taste. It’s quite enjoyable and does remind me of a fruity cocktail. Overall I’m pleasantly surprised by this one. I still prefer non-hibiscus fruit teas (does that make sense?) but this is another great tea to mix with my weaker herbals.

I picked up a couple new teas on Canada Day and haven’t logged them on here yet, although I have had them both a few times haha. So I will log this one today, although I found it to be very hibiscus-y for me today unfortunately, I steeped it a bit too long I think. Sticking with about a 2-3 min steep worked best for me, and I do recall the first cup as tasting much more Shirley Temple like (well, grenadine like anyway, not sure if I’ve had a Shirley Temple lol). Today’s cup could have also failed due to the fact I only got 25g of this, so maybe a poor mixture of ingredients as it is a heavier blend with the large orange chunks. Ah well, maybe I’ll get some more once I run out and try it again, I do like cherry teas and herbals, so it is a win in theory, just have to perfect brewing it. Happy to have tried it! No rating for now as I feel like today’s cup would not do it justice lol.

I’m not generally a fan of hibiscus blends but the smell of this tea drew me in – like cherry liqueur – so I purchased enough to make up a pitcher of iced tea. I can distinctly taste the tangy hibiscus but somehow it isn’t as obnoxious when it’s cool and sweetened with a bit of simple syrup and agave nectar. The flavour is more berry-and-pomegranate than cherry to me, lightly tart and tangy. I’ll be honest and say that I’ve never actually had a Shirley Temple so I don’t know if this tastes at all like the real thing.

yep. still enjoying this one. Made a few cups of this as a cold brew yesterday – it’s really freakin’ hot here in toronto… and drank them all while playing some games last night. I am a fan, though it’s not exactly a shirley temple…but it does make up for not having any of my snow cone left.

Final Count: 110

Managed to forget that I had a cold brew going of this, so this was given a generous 40 or so hours to steep. The orange was a lot more prominent in this than the first time I had it, which did make it taste a lot more like an actual Shirley Temple than red licorice (though there’s still a hint of red licorice in there). It’s pretty sweet with a hint of tartness coming out. In there future I might steep it a little less, but this cup was more complex than my first.

I recently went on a cruise of the Greek islands with some friends and aboard the ship, we had the ship we had the option to buy unlimited drink packages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). I sprung for the alcoholic package and basically spent morning to night drinking and getting my money’s worth. One of my friend went for the non-alcoholic package so she essentially lived on Shirley Temples.

Now, I have had Shirley Temples made differently by different people but this tastes like none of them. If I stretch my imagination, I can sort of see it especially if this is one made with orange juice but mostly I am getting the taste of cherry (which I guess is the grenadine) and a nice brightness from the citrus. I am actually enjoying it quite a bit. It reminds me slightly of the Cherry Snowcone mix from last year though, personally, this is preferable as it is a little brighter and not quite as tart.

All in all, I don’t think I would call this a Shirley Temple but I would call it juicy and refreshing and that’s all that counts in an iced tea for the summer time.

Drank iced. Maybe I drank too much of Tetley’s Cosmo tea way back when, but this is totally “blah” to me. The orange and berries doesn’t excite at all. Which is better than being terrible but I doubt I’ll get it again, even if it’s a tea of the day.

I’m actually surprised at how much how I liked this – I made it hot (not usually my first go-to when trying fruit-heavy teas), and I’m definitely wary of cherries. But I think the cherry flavour is more subtle than I was thinking, and I do love teas with orange. And, again, I appreciate this one being organic. I wish more of the fruit teas had this designation. Looking forward to trying this iced, as well.