Warning: this flavored tea is noticeably sweetened with Stevia.

Served in Velvet Sky Bakery in Jenkintown. This tea was completely unlike what I was expecting it to be like! In some ways I liked it better than I expected but in other ways I disliked it.

It brews up a deep purple color with a slight grayish tinge. I tend not to like the aroma of blueberries in any form but fresh, but I like the berry-like aroma of this tea.

The flavor is simultaneously bitter and sweet...the bitterness is both up-front and in the finish, but it has a soft, muted character; I would not describe this tea as crisp. In spite of the hibiscus, this blend is only slightly sour, which I like because I dislike sourness in fruity teas. The sensation on the palate is rich: full-bodied, and leaving a pleasant astringency on the palate.

I also tried this tea iced. It tastes sweeter iced, and more fruity, and leaves a sweetness on my tongue that I found unpleasant.

This blend contains stevia, which is listed on the ingredient list, but not prominently on the front of the tin. I feel strongly that if a blend is sweetened, especially with stevia (which some people have a strong dislike for), I want it to read "Sweetened with Stevia" in big print on the front. Thankfully, there's only a hint of Stevia; it tastes to me about equivalent to the sweetness of a half teaspoon of sugar.

I think I would like this one much more if it did not contain Stevia. It isn't quite as cloying as Tazo's Vanilla Rooibos was before they took out the sweetener, but I still don't like the idea that they added the sweetener rather than letting me choose whether or not I want to add it myself.

I feel like the sweetness really gets in the way of me enjoying this tea. It particularly masks the quality of the base tea...I can't really taste the base tea at all.

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Comments:

spaflam wrote: on August 28th, 2013

Good review. Sorry this one wasn't better. And why add stevia to it anyway? Seems really dumb.

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