Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Licious Teas
Tea Description:
Black tea, huckleberry and blackberry leaves.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I may be wrong here, but I do believe that this is the first Huckleberry flavored tea that I’ve tried. I guess that’s because the humble huckleberry isn’t as popular as its cousin the blueberry … but it sure is tasty!
The black tea is pretty mild here, I suspect it is a Ceylon base. But, that’s OK, because the mellow flavor of the black tea allows for a strong berry flavor to shine through. The huckleberry flavor is a little tart and a little sweet … just slightly sweeter than a blueberry, but with that distinct berry tart note that delicately tickles the tongue in the finish.
Overall, this is a very tasty black tea. It tastes good hot, but I prefer it iced. A pinch of sugar enhances the berry flavors. This is the kind of tea that you’ll want to brew big pitchers of for your next picnic or BBQ with friends and family – everyone will love it.
Cran-Blackberry Rooibos from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Real freeze-dried cranberries and blackberries in a blend with caffeine-free African rooibos. I may be partial to honeybush, but I’m pretty confident that rooibos was MADE for a blend like this. I’m sitting here with a big icy tumbler full of this and it is delicious. It’s renewing my faith in rooibos.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
My first reaction to this after my initial sip: Tart! I needed to add just a little turbinado sugar to this to help curb the tartness. However, with just half a teaspoonful of sugar, I find that it softens that tart edge just enough for my taste buds.
Actually, I find that with that little bit of added sugar, this becomes quite a tasty tisane. Not too sweet, pleasantly tart, and full of delicious fruit flavor. The flavor of the rooibos is barely noticeable here, just a mere hint of nutty tones in the background, and a slight woody undertone.
I really like the fruit combination of cranberry and blackberry. They go together very well, and this combination just seems to work with the rooibos. Rooibos isn’t my favorite thing as many of you probably know … but I find this combination not just drinkable, but rather enjoyable.
I tried this tisane both hot and iced, and found it to be tasty served either way, although my preference is chilled. The tartness wanes even more as it cools. This afternoon, we experienced some unseasonably warm weather (or perhaps, it was just evidence that the warmer weather is on it’s way) … I enjoyed this over ice during the warmest part of the day – it was up to a whopping 55° which may not seem very warm, but when you take into consideration that earlier this week we had SNOW … I’d call 55° warm! – and it was very refreshing.
Tropical Island Black Tea from Kally Tea
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Kally Tea
Product Description:
“Arrrgh, Hoist the main sails matey.” We are off on a sailing ship in the Caribbean. Pirates abound, treasure hunting, we land on a secluded shore, and notice the varied fruits and flowers on the islands. A thought hits us… let’s combine these tropical fruits with some tea in the hold! As the rum is ignored for the much more exciting and healthy tea blend of freeze dried pear, blackberry, lime leaves, sour sap fruit flavorings, the pirates are calmed and life is good. Let’s sneak off with the new found “treasure”… Arrrgh!
Ingredients: Black Tea, Freeze Dried Pear, Blackberry & Lime Leaves, Natural Flavors.
Tasters Review:
Some people think that it’s strange that I have a Word or Taste Association with some teas. Well, this is one of those teas. Here’s why…
When I was little I was in Girl Scouts and each summer we would go to Girl Scout Camp. During Girl Scout Camp one of the many highlights of the day for me was Arts and Crafts Time. We did many “Make & Takes” but the class was outside near a tree line and wooded area. This flavored black takes me back…and it’s all to do with the aroma. I remember – to this day – how that nook of the woods smelled! The aroma was very unique and memorable – much like this tea. I remember smelling sweet wood and blackberries. On the other side of the Craft area where the tables were set-up was the kitchen. I remember them making HUGE tubs of “bug juice”. When I was in Girl Scout Camp – “Bug Juice” was basically Kool-Aid or some form of juice. No…it didn’t actually have Bugs in it! LOL Anyhow… our Bug Juice was usually a flavored Kool-Aid, Lemon or Lime Aid, or GatorAid. The most memorable one, for me, was the LimeAid. Pair the Lime with the Blackberries, sweet-wood, and other fresh fruits from the kitchen – this flavor and aroma combo was what took me back with this tea!
I have fond memories of Girl Scout Camp because it was near my hometown…shortly after that last summer we moved…and I missed camp for years to come. This aroma reminds me not only of those good times, the wonderful outdoors and nature, but the aroma of the woods and surrounding smells of camp from my childhood. So there is just a little back story for ya. Maybe I am partial…because I have these fond memories or this Word/Tea Association from my past – but I DO like this tea! It’s greatly flavored! I can primarily taste the blackberries and lime but the floral and sweet wood flavors play in the background along with the pear.
This is great hot or cold.
Kally Tea is really wonderful! I have to point out how much I am LOVING their website! It’s user-friendly and the colors and layout are very pleasing to the eye. That could be the web design (of past) in me, too! Not only is this a memorable tea but their website is just as memorable because of the eye-catching colors and feel. Their customer service is wonderful, too!
If you haven’t checked out this company yet – please do so! They are top-notch!
Blackberry Green Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
Our Blackberry Green Tea has a sencha green tea base, which adds sweetness to the wonderful fruity blackberry flavor.
Made with all natural flavorings.
Taster’s Review:
Here in the Pacific Northwest, Blackberries grow EVERYWHERE! Seriously, we even have wild Blackberry vines growing along the highways (although I wouldn’t recommend picking berries from those vines). They are also my youngest daughter’s favorite fruit, so it is a good thing that they are so prolific!
But even though blackberries are easy to find in fruit form up here, it isn’t as easy to find blackberry flavored tea. There are lots of strawberry teas, and some raspberry teas and blueberry teas… but when it comes to blackberry teas, they just don’t seem to be nearly as popular. So I was very pleased to find that Culinary Teas has a blackberry flavored green tea.
And it is delicious! The green tea base is a Sencha tea – which brings a fresh flavor and buttery tone to the cup. It isn’t overly grassy, but there is a faint hint of vegetation which gradually builds on the palate. By the time I was finished with the cup, I could notice the vegetal taste a little more than when I first started, but it never became very noticeably strong.
The blackberry flavor is on the sweet side. There are notes of true berry flavor in there, mixed in with a blackberry flavored candy-like (or bubblegum-like) taste. It isn’t too confectionery, though, it seems to fall somewhere in between the two … not quite true fruit, not quite candy-esque.
It has a very refreshing flavor, and the true test … my daughter gave it a big thumbs up! I steeped my first cup to enjoy as a hot tea, and enjoyed it so much that I brewed up a half gallon of it for the fridge immediately afterward.
This has a sweetness to it (as I’ve already mentioned), so it doesn’t really require sweetening, but it is quite nice with a little lemon (this helps to bring out some of the tart tones of the berry) or a bit of mint. The mint addition makes for an especially refreshing tea!
Black & Blue from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
Whoooo-doggy! We got us an iced tea heah!
If you enjoyed our Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish, or the Blackberry Green or Blackberry Green Yerba Mate, you know that we don’t mess around when it comes to these two fruits. They are some of the best teas we’ve made in my humble opinion, so I figured, why not put them together?
Here’s our premium Indian black teas blended with real freeze-dried blueberries and blackberries, a little sweet and a little tart. Do NOT miss out on this blend, it is going to go fast, and I’m slowing down my production a bit because it’s summertime. (And some of our customers are acting like they ain’t never heard of iced tea!) =)
Taster’s Review:
Yum! This is so good.
The berry flavor is INTENSE! The blueberry hits the palate first and seems to be the strongest flavor during the sip, but the aftertaste is all about the blackberry. These flavors are very true to the berry: it tastes like plump, juicy blackberries and blueberries.
The black tea base is almost a little hidden amongst the powerful berry flavor, but it is there. I find that the black tea flavor comes through more as the tea cools, though. The first couple of sips – when the tea was piping hot – all I could taste was berry. But now that the temperature of the tea has dropped to a drinkable temperature, I’m tasting more of the tea.
But this tea really tastes best when its iced! Using my iced tea method that I’ve adopted for 52Teas Iced Tea Series, this tea really shines. It is still a very berry tasting tea, and yet the black tea does come through with its brisk tone. It isn’t bitter when it isn’t over-brewed, and it is only lightly astringent. Pure, delicious refreshment – a real summertime treat!