Keep reading to find out how to win your own package of Sant Superfruit!

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Fruit Tisane

Where to Buy:  Sant

Tea Description:

The fruit, Garcinia indica, is super.  Its been used in Ayuervedic medicine for 1000’s of years to balance the mind & body. It has Garcinol, HCA, xanthones; vitamins B1, B3, B9, B12, C; maganese, magnesium, and potassium and 5x more antioxidants than Kale.

Learn more about Sant here.

Taster’s Review:

I learned about Sant Superfruit Beverage from Kickstarter, because they were running their campaign about the same time that I ran my first campaign.  I was curious about the beverage and I do like to support people on Kickstarter since I’ve been pretty active on Kickstarter over the last three months or so.

But as I read about the beverage that results from infusing Sant the Superfruit, I realized that this is probably going to taste a lot like hibiscus.  As some of you are probably well aware, I’m not particularly fond of hibiscus.  However, my curiosity and desire to support a fellow Kickstarter seemed to over-ride my dislike for hibiscus, so I decided, let’s try it!  Why not go ahead and give it a try.

It was another of those, “hey, what have I got to lose” moments.  Of course, I did have a certain risk element that is attached to Kickstarter.  So there is that.  But, as long as the people at Sant weren’t going to abscond with my cash, I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose.  And, I didn’t think they were going to send me poisonous fruit.  I mean, the lady in the picture looks nothing like the evil queen that poisoned Snow White.  So, I asked myself, other than the cash risk element and the risk that Sant could possibly be owned by the evil queen impersonating a real person that can do a headstand (impressive!), what else did I have to lose?  Nothing, really.  I mean, what was the worst that could happen?  I guess I could find out that I’m allergic to Sant.  There is that.  OK, but what else did I have to lose?

At this point, I was starting to think that I didn’t think this out as clearly as I thought I did.  But, I still decided to try it and toss caution to the wind.  So, instead of a what have I got to lose moment, this became a “what the heck, if I don’t end up dead, then I’ll write a review about it” moment.

I decided to try this a couple of different ways.  The first sampling, I hot steeped it.  Bringing the kettle to 195°F, I got out my infuser mug.  This is a 12 ounce mug with a ceramic infuser insert.  I don’t use this mug often because the ceramic infuser has really big holes in it (it’s made of ceramic) and so tea can just sort of cruise in and out of those holes and leave floaters in my tea.  I’m not fond of floaters.

But these pieces of dried pieces of Kokum fruit are fairly large.  There are different sizes, with some being about the size of a slivered almond and others being closer to the size of a dried apricot.  On average, the pieces are about the size of a shelled, halved walnut.

So I dropped four pieces of fruit into the infuser of my infuser mug and poured the hot water over the fruit.  I let it steep for a minute.  The liquid was a very pale pink.  It looked nothing like the rich ruby color that I saw in the picture (above).  So I let it steep for another five minutes.  At this point, even though the desired color had not been achieved, my fear of tarty hibiscus taste dictated to me that I must cease the steeping process.

The fruit is now soft to the touch.  It’s been somewhat re-hydrated, but not completely.  The liquid is more of a blush color.

The flavor is TART!  Adding some honey makes this a much nicer tasting beverage, so I highly recommend doing so.  It has a hibiscus-y like quality to it, but there’s more of a fruity element to it.  While hibiscus has more of a berry-tartness to it. this is more like a plum tartness.

For my second experiment/tasting with Sant, I decided to try cold-brewing some of it.  I used my glass iced tea pitcher and added 1/2 gallon of freshly filtered water to the pitcher.  After I saw how pale my hot brewed infusion became, I decided that I’d try a little more fruit to this infusion, and I added about 2 palmfuls of the tea (This would amount to approximately 20 pieces of fruit of varying sizes).

Then I put the lid on the pitcher and stuck it in the fridge for a few hours.  By a few hours, I mean 6 hours.  After six hours, I fished out the re-hydrated fruit from the now bright maroon-colored liquid.

I took a few sips of the infusion and TART!

Keep in mind that the longer you keep the fruit in there, more potent (and tart) the beverage becomes.  So you can keep it in there for a little less time for a lighter flavor and less tartness or you can keep it in there for longer than I did for a deeper color and more likely a stronger tart flavor.

I made a simple syrup of raw sugar and water and I added it to the cold liquid.  With the sugar (not too much, I would say about 1/8 a cup of sugar for 1/2 gallon of the drink), the Sant Superfruit Beverage is an enjoyable, refreshing drink.  It has a really tasty, fruity flavor to it that reminds me of plums and berries – but interestingly enough, not in a hibiscus-y way.  I’d take a glass of Sant over a glass of chilled hibiscus tea ANY day!

I doubt it will ever take the place of iced tea in my fridge, but I am enjoying this and I’m finding myself curious about some of their recipes.

Now, you’re probably wondering about that giveaway, right?

When I got my reward for backing Sant’s Kickstarter, I actually got TWO packages of Sant instead of one.  I guess two labels addressed to me printed out so by a lucky chance, I got a surprise in the mail from Sant.  Actually, I got two surprises in the mail from them because I was STUNNED at how quickly we got the reward from this project!  I certainly wasn’t expecting to go out to the mailbox and pull out one package from Sant, but I got TWO!

So, I talked to Kim at Sant and she gave her blessing to let my lucky surprise be a lucky surprise for one of our readers!  If you’d like to try Sant, I’ve got a full 50 gram package to send to one of you!

To enter, just comment on this review below!  Tell us why you’d like to try Sant and while you’re at it, don’t forget to include a way to get in touch with you should you be the lucky winner of the random draw on Friday, April 24.

Want a way to earn extra entries?  Of course you do!  Here are a few ways to earn extra entries, you get one bonus entry for each one you complete!

1.  Go to facebook and “Like” Sant’s page.

2.  While you’re there, go ahead and like the SororiTea Sisters too!

3.  And since you’re still on Facebook, go to your page and write about this giveaway on your timeline!  Be sure to add a link to this review so that your friends can come by and read about Sant too!

Wa-La!  Three bonus entries!

Now it’s time for some fine print type of stuff, but instead of making it smaller, I’ll just make it italicized:  This contest is open to US & Canadian residents only.  You can enter to win now through April 24.  On April 25, a winner will be drawn via Random.org and contacted, and once contact is established, the winner’s name will be announced.  If we are unable to reach the winner within 3 days, that winner will forfeit and a new winning name will be drawn until contact is established.  To ensure that we get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner, please be sure to include the best way to contact you in your entry.