Blackcurrant and Hibiscus

A very flavoursome tea. I'm so tired of the commonly-available 'fruit' infusions which smell great (flavours all created in a gas-liquid chromatograph and sprayed on), whereby after 3 minutes what's in the cup tastes of wet hay.

This, however, is the real deal. It reminds me of the fruit infusions my East European grandparents made: so tasty that two 250ml infusions can be made from a teaspoon of tea.

This is probably the most amazing smelling herbal blend I've ever had the good fortune to put my nose to. In fact, it's so amazing smelling that I've had a hard time extracting my nose from the depths of my sample bag!

Jing Tea's Blackcurrant Hibiscus is, in a word, heavenly smelling. Rich and heavy with the smell of the dried currants, with the hibiscus holding its own, the smell of this tea is almost unbelievable, and is not at all artificial in its scenting. Next in this blends attractions comes its appearance. It's gorgeous to behold. Deep dark colors of dried currants, elderberries, and lots of rosehips, with petals strewn here and there as well. The blend is entirely fruit and flower. All the time that you are admiring the beauty of the blend, you're enshrouded (no, seriously, you are) in this heavy fruity floral scent. In fact, this tea has an unexpected bonus in that as you steep it, or even if you put some into your tea pot, you will simultaneously scent the entire room. I should qualify this by mentioning that artificial flavors and scents of all kinds really disturb me (as in allergic reaction) and many natural flavors are pretty weird, in my opinion too, but this scent is wholesome and delicious, it's really something else. It truly has to be smelled to be believed.

I boiled my water, trying hard not to watch the pot in case I inadvertently delayed boiling time by doing so, and waited the longest five minutes of my tea brewing life for the tea to steep. Jing's website recommends a three minute steep, which I think would be entirely adequate, but I like to give herbals a long steep. The color of the tea is nothing short of phenomenal, a deep merlot so dark you can't see into the bottom of your cup. Please steep this tea in a light colored cup, and if you have glass cups and teapot, by all means, they were meant to brew a tea like this. The color is stunning, amazing and just gorgeous.

Now for the taste...it's lightly sweet. The flavor is so full and totally fruity in its taste that it is nearly dessert wine like. You could easily serve this tea in place of a dessert wine, with no sense of loss. The taste has a dryness to it that I also associate with a wine. There is not the merest hint of artificiality to the taste of this tea, not even a hint of ever so slightly funky natural flavoring gone awry. It's all berry with an amazing floral finish that I think is in part responsible for the slight dryness at the end of the flavor. What kind of adjectives can I come up with here? It seems appropriate for this
tea to unleash a full blown binge of adverbs and adjectives, so here goes...Really, fully, totally fruity tasting with a big, round, heady, luscious fully ripe, nearly autumnal flavor of berries. Smooth, sweet and fabulous. A total feast for the senses. My only caution is to take care and not burn your tongue. In fact, if you can let it cool a bit, the flavor is even more amazing.