Product Review: Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh by Cheribundi

CheribundiTartCherryProduct Information:

Product:  Ready-to-Drink Black Tea Beverage

Where to Buy:  Cheribundi

Product Description:

We made our name with juices that pack 45 tart cherries into each bottle. Though we love these products, one gets the urge to spread their all-natural-juice-loving wings once in a while. This time, our juice makers looked east. To the far east, to be exact.

To the source of fine black tea. The range of benefits in black tea have been touted for centuries. It’s the perfect partner for the nutrients in our cherries.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I love summertime. I love the longer days, the hot weather, the chance to dip my toes in the ocean, and the visits to the Farmer’s Market. Going to my local Farmer’s Market might be my favorite thing, especially when the cherries arrive. For a few short, wonderful weeks there is a plethora of lovely bright red cherries at many of the stalls, and I buy several bags of them for my family to enjoy. In my opinion they are one of the perfect summer fruits. Unfortunately, cherry season is very short here, so I’m often left looking for something with a real cherry taste that I can continue to enjoy throughout the summer. Thanks to Cheribundi I’ve found not only a great cherry drink, but a great cherry tea. Win!

Cheribundi’s Tart Cherry Black Tea Refresh is made from fresh pressed cherries and fresh brewed black tea. The flavor is simply amazing. The cherry juice and tea are well balanced. The tea is brisk while having some depth. There’s a bit of a malt flavor that pairs well with the cherry. The cherry juice gives the tea some sweetness, but since tart cherries are used it’s not an overly sweet flavor. I enjoyed the balance that Cheribundi managed to achieve with this drink. I like that I was drinking a high quality black tea with a super fruity cherry kick. This is so much better than many of the cherry teas I’ve tried that either ended up tasting like cough syrup (yuck.) or highly artificial and candy-like. Having real cherry juice in my iced tea is an absolute yes for me. Now that I’ve tried it I can’t believe I haven’t been drinking this for years!

If you are a fan of cherries then I highly recommend trying this drink. The quality of the tea is top notch, and the added cherry juice adds a refreshing twist on an already tasty beverage. Well done, Cheribundi!

Lemon Elation Yerba Mate from Guayaki

LemonElationTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Yerba Mate

Where to Buy:  Guayaki

Tea Description:

Lemon Elation has a brisk lemony mate flavor.  It’s easy drinking and clean tasting, and not too sweet.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Well, this is the third and final canned Guayaki Yerba Mate drink I picked up.

I was excited about this one; one of my favourite mate blends is a citrus based one so out of the three flavours I thought that this was the one that would be my favourite. Obviously I should have read the ingredients though; had I I’m sure I would have had much different preconceptions. Instead I got to taste the ingredients first – and it was definitely a shock.

Apparently this uses roasted mate and, of all things, ginger. Now, ginger and lemon is a pretty common pairing so I know I’m in the minority for disliking it – ultimately that boils down to my own personal distaste for anything with a strong ginger flavour. And man was it strong; arguably stronger than the lemon for which the drink was named after! As well, I don’t like the pairing of roasted mate with lemon; for me a green pairing with a brighter grassier earth tone is more preferable. The lemon also tasted kind of like furniture cleaner to me – I was very turned off.

That said, I shared the portion of the can which I could not finish with a friend who, while never having tried yerba mate before, absolutely loves lemon and ginger and she really enjoyed the whole thing; which again goes to point out that it’s not that this is a bad tea it’s just that it’s composed of ingredients that I personally do not really like at all.

As a whole (out of the three flavors I purchased), I think that Revel Berry was my favourite and the one that would most widely appeal to people. I’m happy I took the time to explore these tisanes though, and I hope that if these become more widely available that will lead to a more mainstream knowledge of yerba mate. Because let’s face it, as a ‘hardcore’ tea nerd there’s never enough people to talk tea with.

Enlighten Mint Yerba Mate from Guayaki

EnlightenmintTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Yerba Mate

Where to Buy:  Guayaki

Tea Description:

Enlighten Mint has a minty flavor with a touch of honey flavor, and an earthy note from the yerba mate.   It’s easy drinking and clean tasting, and not too sweet.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Continuing with the exploration of  Guayaki drinks, this is the one I was most skeptical about of the three I picked up. I’ve tried a few yerba mate and spearmint blends, and actually have one stocked right now so I know that it’s not a terrible pairing; in fact it’s a pretty popular pairing. It’s actually the honey aspect of this that scares me; when it comes to more commercial tea beverages, ‘honey’ usually means very sweet.

However, because Revel Berry maintained a respectable level of sweetness I was open to this one; hopefully it would do the same. I was poorly mistaken in my assumptions, however. This was assaulting; the spearmint was ridiculously strong and sweet in and of itself; like those Spearmint leaf five cent gummy candies that come in giant bulk bags. I’ve never been a fan of those. They taste so fake. On top of that the sweetness of the honey was equally as intense. The yerba mate, while pretty drowned up, did come through a little bit but it felt kind of grimy, and yet at the same time all three notes together conjured up the image of neon green slime.

To me, it tasted like one of those five cent candies dipped into a bottle of raw honey and then sprinkled with a little dirt. Why would you willingly put that in your mouth? I struggled through a third of the can and then finally called it quits and tossed it. It makes me more skeptical to try the third, and last, one I bought now knowing just how big the range between ‘hit’ and ‘miss’ from this company can be. Personally, I’ll be avoiding (and internally wincing) this flavor every time I pass it in the aisles at work – but if you’re feeling bold enough, and you like super sweet mint flavored things, I guess giving it a try couldn’t hurt.

Carolina Honey® Bottled Black Tea from Argo Tea

CarolinaHoneyTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black (Ready to Drink)

Where to Buy: Argo Tea

Tea Description:

Argo Tea’s Carolina Honey® is an energizing Nilgiri black tea from the highlands of Southern India, which is blended with sweet grade A wildflower honey and a splash of tart lemons. Each ready-to-drink Carolina Honey® comes in a 13.5 oz signature Argo Tea glass bottle. One case contains 12 bottles.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Earlier this year I decided to quit drinking diet soda. I can’t say I’ve been perfect at it, but I am drinking much less than I used to. One way I’ve said “no” to the carbonated stuff is to say “yes” to bottled teas when I’m out running errands and want something cool to drink. On a recent trip to the drug store I picked up this tea. I have tried loose leaf teas from Argo, but I’ve never had the opportunity to try one of their bottled offerings. I was excited to see a good quality tea product in the case next to all the sodas and juices.

The first thing that impressed me was the container. It’s made of a fairly heavy glass with a thick plastic twist-off lid, and I knew it would be perfect to keep and reuse for other drinks. The lid fits securely on the bottle, so I don’t have to worry about the tea splashing out or leaking. As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for good packaging, and this one is a winner for being both pretty and functional.

As for the tea inside the bottle, it was good. The base tea was a Nilgiri black tea which was smooth and well suited to iced tea. Any subtle notes that might have been present in the tea were lost to the honey and lemon flavors, but the clean, fresh taste of the tea did act as a good foundation for the other flavors. The honey had a wildflower taste to it, and while I enjoyed it I found myself wishing I had continued to shake or stir my tea as I drank it because the last few sips were overly sweet due to the honey settling to the bottom of the bottle. The lemon was my least favorite flavor in this tea. It had a slightly artificial taste to it, and at times I felt that it clashed with the flavor of the honey. I’d definitely prefer this tea without the lemon.

Overall I found this tea to be nice. It definitely peaked my curiosity about Argo’s other bottled tea flavors, and I’m looking forward to giving them a try. The next time I’m out and about it’ll be easy to pass on the diet soda and reach for a bottle of tea instead.

If you’re interested in trying Argo’s bottled teas you can buy it by the case on their website (there’s a link to their site at the top of this post) or you can check out your local Walgreens to purchase individual bottles.

Revel Berry Yerba Mate from Guayaki

GuayakiTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Yerba Mate

Where to Buy: Guayaki

Tea Description:

Revel Berry has a delicious raspberry and blackberry flavor.  It’s easy drinking and clean tasting, and not too sweet.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

For those who don’t know, I work in a grocery store. It’s not uncommon for us to start carrying different, less common drinks but it is uncommon for them to be tea-related so when we picked up some of this brand’s flavors of iced/canned Yerba Mate I got really excited! I knew I’d seen at least one of this brand’s products reviewed on Steepster so I took the plunge and a bought a can of each flavor to try out.

I don’t know what I expected when I tried this one, maybe a little more yerba mate flavour? But this threw me off a little bit; it definitely tastes distinctly of raspberry and even has a tinge of sharper tartness however I can’t taste anything specifically blackberry flavoured. If anything, I almost want to say there’s more of a blueberry flavor present. Regardless, this does seem pretty watered down and I’m missing any distinctly earthy notes from the yerba mate – which is kind of the best part of mate other than the caffeine. I absolutely appreciate that this is not overly sweet though!

I don’t know if I’d personally buy this one again because I know I enjoy a stronger Yerba Mate flavour but I do look forward to trying the other two flavours I picked up and I’m all for the idea of this if it gets a more “mainstream” consumer experiencing Yerba Mate – which I know it’s been doing at work since some my coworkers have taken to drinking this during break instead of other popular and more “conventional” energy drinks. Plus, the convenience of it being canned it always a plus.