Hey There Teacups! I hope you’re all well for today’s let talk tea post I’m going to be reviewing Berry Mix – A tisane from a company by the name of Piacha Tea. You’ll recognise the name from a Let’s Talk Tea post I did last month featuring their milky oolong. I loved their milky oolong so I had high expectations when it came to trying this fruity blend – Another of my tea goals this year is try tisanes both hot and cold. Normally I would just go straight into cold brewing them because my taste buds aren’t a fan of hot tisanes but I’m trying to push myself out of tea/tisane comfort zones this year.
Berry Mix is a delightfully refreshing fruity infusion that will leave you smiling ear to ear. Normally I wait until it’s a little warmer here to start having cold brewed teas but this has kick-started me into this years run of iced teas (not that I’m complaining). I was so apprehensive when it came to first trying this tisane (especially hot) because of the hibiscus (I’m sure you all know by now that I’m not a huge fan.) – But honestly I shouldn’t have let that hold me back because this tisane blew me out of the water.
INGREDIENTS: Hibiscus, rosehip, apple pieces, orange peel, elderberries, raspberry pieces, strawberry pieces, blackberries, blackberry leaves, flavour.
Dry ‘Leaves’
Aroma: Sweet, Jam, Floral, Orange, Raspberry, Hibiscus – Strong
Colour: Dark Red, Red, Black, Orange, Yellow | Bright & Colourful – Eye-catching
Shape: Full pieces of dry fruit, Large hibiscus petals, Small broken blackberry leaves – Whole berries – To me even while in it’s dry form this infusion looked really high quality.
Wet ‘Leaves’
Aroma: Floral, Orange, Raspberry, Hibiscus – Strong | Not much changed aroma wise aside from the fact that the sweeter jam like notes completely disappeared this was a little disappointing as I really wanted them to carry through. – It can be fixed though if you add a little agave.
Colour: Dark Red, Red, Black, Orange, Yellow, White| Bright & Colourful – Eye-catching
Shape: Full pieces of dry fruit, Large hibiscus petals, Small broken blackberry leaves – Whole berries – Remember how I said that this looked really high quality even in it’s dry for well it got even better while steeping I was so surprised by how big the hibiscus petals and dry fruit pieces were.
Tisane
Before I get into talking about this infusion I just wanted to let you all know that I think this might have been the blend that’s changed my mind. Yep that’s right I finally drank a hot tisane again and actually enjoyed it … 2018 is off to a great start. I also drank this cold brewed and loved it just as much. I will say that I found it to be a little tart when it was hot and the hibiscus kind of overshadowed a few of the notes but once I added a little agave everything really balanced out. I definitely managed to pick out a lot more of it’s ingredients taste wise when I cold brewed it – Instead of the hibiscus taking the forefront it was the raspberry and orange and it was amazingly fruity. Out of both the hot and cold versions I have to say that the cold one is what I would go for but I wouldn’t completely write off the hot. I was surprised by how refreshing this was as well especially the cold brewed version. I think this would make for amazing tisane ice pops in the summer (in fact I might not even wait until then to give that a go.)
Overall Teacup Rating: 4/5
Find out more about Piacha Tea & Purchase this tisane for yourself here – As always Teacups if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on twitter (@teaisawishblog) and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.
Speak to you all on Monday. Happy Steeping – Kimberley
