Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with another Let’s Talk Tea post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Totem Tea’s – Very Berry Bear blend. This is a black tea based blend with elderberry, strawberry, redcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, and rose petals. As much as I love black tea, with this blend being berry heavy I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it as I never normally enjoy fruit black teas, especially when they’re hot. After loving the first blend I tried from Totem Tea so much I was more than willing to stick with it and give it a fair chance. My thoughts were if it was going to be anywhere near as amazing as their Cinnamon Squirrel blend I was going to love it and I was in for a treat.Here’s what Totem Tea have to say about this blend on their website: ”This high quality black tea is a blend of sweet pieces of blackberry, strawberry and redcurrant for a mouth watering and smooth delicious taste. Just like a black forest gateau in a cup.”

Ingredients: Assam black tea*, South India black tea*, natural flavouring, elderberry*, strawberry*, redcurrant*, blackberry*, raspberry*, rose petals*.
*Certified organic

Tea Tasting Notes

So far I have tried this blend both hot and iced and unsurprisingly I enjoyed it much more when I had it iced. Thats not to say that it wasn’t nice hot because it was but I just can’t seem to stomach hot fruity/berry notes. When iced though, the berry notes were soft and sweet and much more pleasant to drink. The black tea was a little too astringent for me when I had this hot but icing it and adding just the slightest bit of honey seemed to completely get rid of that. The black tea was still just as strong but it was much smoother and didn’t have any bitter bite or dryness to it at all making for such a pleasant cup of tea. I’ve also tried this as a iced latte and I’ll be honest that’s probably my favourite way to have it. When you add milk this blend turns into strawberries and cream in a glass and it’s to die for, especially with a dash of honey and some whipped cream if you want to treat yourself. I’m now completely out of this blend because I made so many iced lattes with what I had but it’s safe to say that this will probably be the blend I break my tea buying ban for this summer. I never normally enjoy this kind of blend as most brands out there can never get those fruity notes right but Totem Tea have absolutely nailed it with this blend.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Totem Tea and buy some of their Very Berry Bear blend for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley