I am one of those people that loves the flavor of elderberries. I was excited to sample this tea, which consists mostly of elderberries and grapes (raisins) and manages to have a fresh, fall berry taste. I usually prefer to drink berry flavored herbal teas cold, but I sampled this one hot and it was lovely.
If you're looking for a berry herbal tea but are tired of the usual strawberry or cranberry heavy teas, this is definitely one to try. In my opinion,it's also more of a fall berry flavor, rather than the usual spring and summer berries.
Rating:
4/5 stars
Buy this tea here:
Berry Mania
Price: $8.00/1.76 oz
I have a love/hate relationship with Teavana. They're very expensive, much like their parent company, Starbucks. However, they really do have tasty teas and quality products. I've actually been a Teavana fan since before the Starbucks acquisition, when a friend took me to one of their stores in Nashville. Even though they are expensive, I've managed to spend a few hundred dollars there in the last couple of years.
One of my most recent buys from Teavana is the Raspberry Balsamico herbal blend. They had a blend of this tea and their Limeade Twist herbal tea in their sample station. Though I'm not a huge fan of lime, I found the blend very good.
I ended up purchasing a few teas and accessories and my purchase entitled me to a free store-made beverage. I decided to try the Raspberry Balsamico by itself, iced. WOW. All I can say is amazing. SUCH a delicious beverage. After the first sip, I immediately added a 4 oz bag of the blend to my purchase.
I had heard in the past that some Teavana customers had a hard time replicating the flavor that the store's baristas make when brewing at home, so I read some tips online and gave it a whirl.
I brewed it in 208 degree water and used 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea and 1 teaspoon of rock sugar per cup. I sipped it hot and freshly brewed, but this tisane's star power comes out when it's iced. The raspberry name is kind of a misnomer. Sure there are raspberries in the tea, and the flavor definitely comes out, but it's a perfect berry blend. Blueberries, grapes, strawberries, currants, elderberries and even juniper berries feature in this blend, and they all marry wonderfully. I especially love the inclusion of currants...just enough to give that bright currant flavor, but not so much to make it sour.
As the name implies, there is also a touch of balsamic vinegar in the blend, which is outstanding. I am one of those people that shops at oil and vinegar stores to get the latest and greatest balsamic and olive oil infusions for my recipes. I love balsamic vinegar, and the slight addition of it's earthy twang just caps off this near-perfect blend.
If you hadn't realized, this is pretty much my Holy Grail of herbal teas. So delicious.
Rating:
5/5 stars
Buy this tea here:
Raspberry Balsamico
Price: $9.98/2 oz
