Review of Citrus Sunrise Cold Brew

AromaFlavorValueTotal
9 of 105 of 54 of 585 of 100
SuperbExcellentGood Value

Citrus Sunrise easily can be called Orange Tangerine Zinger, if it weren't for a similarly named blend they already have. That's because it starts out with the same common-denominator ingredients as the CS Zinger line (rose hips, orange peel, hibiscus, hawthorn, blackberry leaves), and just boosts the orange part with some tangerine tossed in, through flavoring. Even though it's basically a "Zinger" with added vitamin C, they call it a "herbal supplement" on the label, but this is not part of their "wellness tea" line.

With the vitamin C and all the citrus stuff, one may imagine this to be sour, but I didn't find it more than mildly tart. [The aftertaste was more sour, but not unpleasantly so.] It's more like an orange-heavy fruit punch with a little herbal flavor, especially when sweetened the way I usually do to teas, with a 2:1 saccharin/stevia blend. It's natively sweet, enough so that folks who normally *don't* add sweetener shouldn't feel compelled to do so here. I wouldn't recommend sweetening this with more than a trivial amount of honey or sugar unless you want something that tastes overwhelmingly sweet, like soda syrup. The dry-bag aroma was a lot stronger than many fruit-herbals I've had, and that translated to the in-cup and even wet-bag scents: also punchy, orange-tangerine in character.

I found this a very smooth, likable, fairly strongly flavored beverage, more so than most other Zinger-type teas from them that I've tried, and definitely will enjoy the rest of this box. The vitamin C is just a bonus. Some unsolicited advice for habitual double-steepers: don't bother. You probably won't get a worthwhile second cup out of this, because there ain't much in the bag. So stir and squeeze out that bag well in the first cup, toss the bag on the ol' compost heap, and savor the first and only cup. The store where I bought it consistently rotates CS teas through $2-$3/box sale prices, so since I don't steep teas twice anyway, this was a great bargain.

Add your own review

Login or Sign Up to comment on this review.


FacebookTwitterInstagramTumblrPatreon