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Posts Tagged ‘zhi tea’

I was recently contacted by Zhi Tea about sampling one of their teas as an iced tea, part of a campaign they are running this summer. Being that I never turn down any kind of tea anytime, I was of course, more than happy to participate! I had the choice of 4 teas that they chose as capable of making great iced tea, the Ginger & Lime Green Rooibos, Berry Hibiscus, Turkish Spice Mint and Tropical Green. I chose the Berry Hibiscus, as I enjoy fruit iced tea a bit more in the summer heat, more refreshing.

I tried this tea 3 ways, the first was the suggested method in the letter that arrived with the sample, brew 5 minutes, double strength (2tsp/cup) and pour over ice. Then I did the same method, except with a tsp of sugar added. Finally, I did it “Arnold Palmer” style, mixing half and half brewed tea with lemonade. The following are my personal thoughts on the results.

Method 1 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, pour over ice, drink right away. My first impression is that I prefer my iced tea really cold, and this method does not get it really cold. It cools it down, but not cold enough for me. The taste of the tea is what I expect with any hibiscus blend, that is somewhat sour. I can taste a bit of cranberry in the background, but the rose hips and hibiscus just overwhelm any other fruitiness. I did find it somewhat refreshing, and interesting that the sourness was not a powerful pucker, not completely undrinkable, just basically what I expected. Usually sugar can pull out fruit flavours, so that is what I tried next.

Method 2 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, pour over ice, add 1tsp sugar, stir and drink. Now, I am not really a fan of adding pure sugar, but I did not have any honey or other sweeteners at hand, so white refined sugar it is. As I mentioned, you can usually coax out fruit flavours with sugar, but in this case, I still found that the hibiscus and rose hip overwhelmed the other fruit flavours, nothing jumped out at me. I definitely did not like the addition of sugar. I preferred the first method without sugar, as it did nothing to pull out flavours or mute any sourness. (I need a better word for sourness, it sounds so negative, and it was not an unpleasant sour – maybe add suggestions for this in the comments section for this post!) On to the third method – the way to make ANY iced tea amazing!

Method 3 – boiling water, 2tsp/cup of tisane, blend with lemonade, chill and drink. Now in my experience, this method will make even the most borderline teas an amazing drink. The lemonade adds a natural sweetness, and highlights fruit flavours, as well as mixing well with any green or black tea I have ever tried it with. In this case, it was a definite improvement, tho fireworks did not go off in the sky. It did bring our more of the fruit flavours, unfortunately that included the cranberries, so a more sour-ish kind of pucker. It was still refreshing throughout, and very drinkable.

As a first experience with Zhi Tea, it left me wanting a little bit, but honestly it was not unexpected. Any fruit blend with hibiscus and rose hips together is bound to be a little sour or bitter. In retrospect, I should have chosen a different blend to try, and that is 100% my fault on that. Zhi just provided what I asked for.

I did not dislike this tea as an iced tea, it was refreshing (definitely better cold than lukewarm), so if you are going to prepare it, then leave it to cool in a fridge overnight. The sourness was not as bad as I have had before, I do like a little pucker, but I would have liked more fruit flavours to come to the fore in this tea. All in all, not too bad. If I was asked to rate it out of 10, I would give it a solid 6.5, tho it is not as bad as that seems, just not good enough to reach a 7.

My thanks to Zhi Tea for allowing me to participate in this iced tea sampling, and hopefully in the future you will see more Zhi Tea reviews on It’s All About The Leaf!

You can purchase the Berry Hibiscus directly from the Zhi Tea website.