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.
Saskatoon Berry Tisane from Parenteau’s Gourmet Foods
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Parenteau’s Gourmet Foods
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Red and black currents, raisins, hibiscus, Saskatoon berries, blueberries, seneka root, natural flavours.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
So this tisane is locally made and sold, and it features the Saskatoon Berry which isn’t as well known as it ought to be. I happen to live in Saskatoon Saskatchewan – and the berry is so popular around here that the city is named after the berry, and not the other way around. As such, any tea that features Saskatoons (of which there aren’t enough) very easily get my attention.
I decided to do a cold brew for my first try; sadly there’s a lot of hibiscus in the blend so a cold brew seemed like the best way to hold back some of the expected tartness I’ll likely be experiencing. Thankfully, there’s also a lot of berries in the blend as well but even still, not thirty seconds after I’d poured the water over the leaves the water was already the colour of McDonald’s mascot Grimace. The hibiscus in the blend was working quickly.
By the time the brew was done, it was a deep, dark almost maroon colour – but just slightly more purple. It reminded me of the colour of red wine. The smell is mostly hibiscus. That’s not very promising, but I’m still holding out that this’ll deliver the Saskatoon berry flavour I know and love anyway.
And the moment of truth; taste test!
The initial flavour here is a tart hibiscus flavour as anticipated; however, thankfully this isn’t all hibiscus. Similar to other berry/hibiscus teas I’ve had before like Rum Cream, from another local company (McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants), this starts tart and softens into a more mellow berry drink; it’s quite juice-like. I can definitely taste Saskatoon berries myself, but I also really taste the blueberries and black currants in the blend. Thankfully, I don’t get much flavour from the raisins – I’m not a raisin person, so it’s no loss for me.
For people unfamiliar with Saskatoon Berries picture something sort of like a blueberry and cranberry cross. They’re great straight, in pies, in jam or jelly, and as syrup. Really, they’re just great in general. It’s that simple.
I am enjoying this cold brew a lot though I’m craving a richer, more full Saskatoon berry flavour. If they used more Saskatoons and cut down a little on the amount of other berries in the tea, I think this could be amazing without having a more monotone and flat flavour. As is, I’m concerned people not familiar with Saskatoons are mainly going to focus in on the other berries in the blend and the hibiscus and miss out on the great flavour.
And what a loss that’d be.
Green Passion Fruit from Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea & All It’s Splendor
Tea Description:
If there could be one fruit that best represents a bright summer day it would be passionfruit! So naturally this green tea and passionfruit blend was the perfect fit for this edition.
The light grassy green tea is perfect for carrying the sweet and sour passionfruit floral flavours in a cup. If you’re the type that needs a sweetened cuppa, we recommend a drizzle of agave in this one. The agave flavour is gentle and pairs well with this tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
Green Passion Fruit from Tea & All It’s Splendor is the third and final tea that I received as part of edition 11 from Postal Teas. And it’s a good one!
The tea leaves appeared to me to be a Chinese Sencha – long, dark green spears that looked almost like blades of grass – and there were some yellow flower petals in the blend. Probably marigold petals. I didn’t see any dried passion fruit pieces but I could definitely smell the passion fruit!
I brewed this in my Breville One-Touch. I measured 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket of the tea maker and added 500ml of freshly filtered water to the jug. Then I set the parameters: 180°F for 2 minutes.
The tea is sweet and fruity. The Passion Fruit flavor is well-defined without hitting me over the head. I like the way the flavor is represented here. It’s a strong, distinct flavor of passion fruit but the green tea flavor is the star of the show. I am enjoying a nice balance between sweet, slightly vegetative green tea and juicy passion fruit flavors. Delicious!
I also like that this is a very tropical tasting tea without tasting like every other tropical tea out there. It’s got that tropical flair without tasting like a muddled recipe of mixed fruit.
The tea tasted great served hot but I liked it even better as it cooled – this would be a great refresher for the summer months ahead! If you’re a fan of passion fruit, try this tea!
Lemon Meringue Mao Zhen Hair Needle from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Wow, that’s a mouthful. And this tea is a mouthful of deliciousness. This organic Chinese green tea is sweet with just a hint of almost salmon-like butteriness. I’ve paired it with lemon verbena, marshmallow roots and lemon-, marshmallow- and pastry- organic flavors. Be prepared to have your socks knocked off with this one..
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Lemon Meringue in a cup. . sign me up! I adore this tea. It really tastes like a slice of lemon meringue pie. I loved it so much I actually just picked up 3 more packs. When I first saw this one the site, I knew I would like it and automatically added it into my cart, just didn’t realize how much I would love it.
The dry leaf smells exactly like a homemade slice of lemon meringue pie times ten. The smell is almost overwhelming but amazing. I had people stopping by my desk and asking me if I had a lemon candle on my desk while the tea was brewing. The green tea is there and provides a fantastic richness. I think I’m going to have to order some Mao Zhen Hair Needle on its own and see what that tastes like. I think its the first time I’ve had this particular green tea and am wondering what all it is adding to the flavor.
I’m loving this one and will be sad when my stash is gone. Reminds me of my mom’s amazing lemon meringue pie. So Good! And crazy helpful for when I’m craving something pastry like while I’m on this diet of mine.
Golden Honeydew from Lupicia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Lupicia USA
Tea Description:
Caffeine-free green rooibos tea is scented with Californian honeydew melon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yes, this is a rooibos. Now, I have never been a big fan of rooibos. Quite the opposite. I am such a grump about anything with even a little rooibos in it that I avoid it like the plague. While it is a green rooibos, and therefore lighter and grassier in character, I was still skeptical. But a tea friend of mine just had to have me try it. So try it I did. The dry leaf alone sent my nose and I spinning down memory lane. Funny things, noses.
This tea reminds me so much of my favorite flavor of boba, it’s unsettling. For anyone not in the know, boba, or bubble tea, is an incredible liquid substance that comes in a plastic cup. Originating from Taiwan in the early 80s, it’s not so much a tea as it is a delicious, typically creamy beverage that can be made of tea, fruits, or a powdered mix better known as milk tea. Milk tea comes in a crazy variety of flavors, one of the most popular in the world being Honeydew. It’s sickly sweet, and creamy to the core. What makes this into boba is the large, round, gummy-like tapioca pearls. Oh, and the fat straw you sip the pearls through. It’s something that I almost always sneak into a movie. I highly recommend it!
I don’t know, just something about sipping down a creamy honeydew flavored slushie followed by chewing on those yummy gummy tapioca pearls makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Cures any sadness and cools down a sweaty brow.
Everyone close to me at least knows what rooibos is, thanks to my audible distain of the stuff. Now even my man huffs at the mere mention of it. Until this one. I liked it so much, that I almost didn’t tell him what is was when he asked for a little sip. Everything about this tea is delicious, juicy honeydew. The smell of the light green rods of the green rooibos, is exactly like the ripest honeydew you could ever imagine. As I brew this cup, I can just imagine biting into a fresh slice of pale green honeydew melon. I think the realism of the flavoring is what makes this blend. I don’t get that harsh artificial flavor I could have been assaulted with. Even while sipping on a pot of this tea is bringing to mind the velvety smooth fruit and the sweet juice. It’s so uncanny how spot on this tea is! It’s rich, broad, and smooth, I can imagine how great this would be iced.
I’d wager it’s better than the boba version.
