Raspberry Zinger and Black Cherry Berry have the same ingredients list, but for the flavoring (obviously), and an absence of hawthorn in this offering. Yet it doesn't taste much like a simple swap of modular components. I could pull raspberry more out of the aroma and aftertaste than the direct flavor itself. Cherry flavor is *much* stronger in Black Cherry Berry than raspberry is in this tea. I don't understand why. My advice to Celestial Seasonings: dial up that raspberry a couple of notches! It's not bad at all, but could use more potency. I liked this tea mostly, but for that weakness and for a very faint, oddly woody or varnish-like backdrop to the flavor that didn't repulse me, and might even have been forgotten but for...

Now here's where one of my idiosyncrasies becomes pertinent: this compulsion with tea bags where, right after brewing and squeezing, I sniff the moist bag. For soothing herbal offerings such as most mint or chocolate teas, or very aromatic blends that I like a lot, such as Candy Cane Lane or Tension Tamer, this is a good thing. One basically breathes what one also drinks, essentially double-dosing through two intake orifices. It's a form of cheap-n-easy "vaping", if you will. I can do this off and on for 15 minutes or more until the bag dries, while also slowly drinking the tea. Double the pleasure, brothers and sisters!

That concept fails when the moist bag stinks. This tea's wet bag smells like wood wax. I mean the canned chemical concoction one buys at the local home-improvement outlet to restore furniture. It's a good thing that element of the taste itself is barely noticeable. This tea will be enjoyed better by keeping the used bag away from your nostrils.

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