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Flavour: Superfruit Infusion

Ingredients: Hibiscus, apple pieces, elderberries, raspberry pieces, strawberry pieces, blackberries, pomegranate flowers, blackberry leaves, natural flavours

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-Free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: Oh no…elderberries. Any time we see that on a list of ingredients, we already know it’s a no. In fact, generally speaking, we’ve reached a point where we’re wary of anything with a name like ‘superfruit infusion’ because we know exactly what will be in it without looking at the label. The market is inundated with each company’s take on this same blend.

We really did try to keep an open mind about this one, but it absolutely lived up to expectations. It is disgusting. It has that cheesy, footy, ‘off’ smell that elderberry infusions always have, wafting up unpleasantly the moment you pour the water. It looks like blood, the way all elderberry infusions do (not just in colour, but in thickness too). It doesn’t matter how healthy it is for you – everything about it screams, ‘I’m vile and not fit for human consumption!’

On top of that, for nearly £10 for just 15 bags (!) it tastes just like every other boring fruit tea on the market, which are all heavy on the hibiscus and apple – and flavouring. If this is your thing, you’re better off buying a cheaper version – preferably one without feet, er…elderberries. This one ‘just shouldn’t exist’, we decided – not with that price tag. As expected, this is an AVOID.

Best time of year to drink this: Never

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Brand:

Flavour: English Garden Tea

Ingredients: Chamomile, lemon verbena, rose petals, nettle, blue cornflowers, lavender

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-Free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: On paper, this shouldn’t be something we like…but we love it!

It smells just like an English garden – fresh, flowery and bound to make you smile. However, that lovely aroma made us worried about the taste, because normally floral blends are like drinking perfume – it’s just too much. But this isn’t like that. The balance of ingredients is just right: instead of perfume, it’s soothing and relaxing, particularly perfect for winding down in the evening and preparing for bed.

We like it so much that it’s gone straight onto our Must-Have Teas list – but it’s expensive, so we thought we’d compare it to two other similarly floral blends we’ve reviewed before:

T2 Gone Surfing – this has several ingredients in common with Liberty’s blend (lavender, chamomile, rose petals, and lemonbalm as a substitute for lemon verbena). The main difference is that T2’s blend includes spearmint, which makes it refreshing and wakeful, whereas Liberty gives us a cup of pure wind-down tea.

Pukka Love – Again, this includes chamomile, lavender and rose petals, as well as elderflower, marigold and limeflower. We loved this one when we tried it, but both T2 and Liberty take this blend and crank it up a few notches to make something even more special.

In conclusion, Liberty and T2 both give us a moment of magic in a cup, with Liberty carrying a much higher price tag. Even so, it’s definitely worth the money, as a once-in-a-while treat.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime

Best time of day to drink this: Anytime, especially evenings when you want to relax

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Brand:

Flavour: Mint Tea

Ingredients: Peppermint, spearmint

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-Free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: This has such a lovely smells – refreshing and soothing, just as you’d expect from spearmint.

Sadly, the flavour is weaker than the aroma promises. The balance between the two mints isn’t very well-considered. Despite the aroma, there’s hardly any spearmint, making it mostly your standard peppermint tea…but somehow smoky. It definitely isn’t the worst tea we’ve ever tried, but Sainsbury’s Double Mint is miles better (much more spearmint) and only costs £2.50 for the same number of bags. That’s a 75% discount for something at least 75% tastier – it’s a no-brainer.

So we haven’t marked this one a ‘tea to avoid’, because the flavour is okay enough – but we would definitely avoid it based on cost. There’s just no point to buying this unless you’re desperate to show off to your friends that you shopped in Liberty.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime (but try a cheaper brand)

Best time of day to drink this: Anytime, especially after meals (but try a cheaper brand)

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Brand:

Flavour: Lemongrass and Ginger

Ingredients: Ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, linden blossom

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-Free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: This is an interesting one. We assume by ‘lime leaves’ they mean leaves from a lime tree, also known as a linden tree, which also produces the flowers included in this blend. Lime / linden trees don’t give us lime fruit, and yet strangely this brew does smell mildly of lime. Perhaps it’s the combination of those ingredients with lemongrass.

Tasting it, the linden blossoms take over, mixed with the heat of the ginger. There is a mild lemon flavour hidden in there, but mostly it is very floral – and floral isn’t really something we would normally mix with ginger. We couldn’t decide whether we liked it or not. It was just such an odd combination – but it was definitely interesting to see a new twist on a classic blend.

There will be people out there who enjoy the uniqueness of this blend. The deciding factor for us is the price. This one tea bag was £1, and that’s just too much for something that left us so uncertain.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime

Best time of day to drink this: Ideally, earlier in the day, when you need to wake up – or after meals, when you’re digesting

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Brand:

Flavour: Earl Grey

Ingredients: Ceylon orange pekoe black tea, mallow flowers, pink cornflowers, natural bergamot flavours

Caffeine Factor: Caffeinated

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: You’d think that Earl Grey is Earl Grey – but it seems it’s not. Traditional Earl Grey is black tea flavoured with oil from bergamot rind. But some companies think they need to jazz that up with the addition of further ingredients – in this case, mallow flowers and pink cornflowers, neither of which can actually be tasted when you brew it.

The smell is of flavoured black tea – cheap and not especially appetising. The taste is very mild black tea with a hint of perfume. It’s not the worst blend we’ve tried, but it’s not exciting in any way. We’d rather just have the black tea on its own. Ceylon orange pekoe black tea has a lovely rounded, smooth flavour that is lost in Liberty’s blend.

The biggest issue for us is the price. Maybe you’re paying for the tin? It is a very pretty tin, which can be used for other tea (like those loose leaf blends that come in cardboard boxes that allow the flavour to stale). Even then, you can pick up a nice tin for £2 at many discount homeware shops on the high street. For £10, we expect that tea to be special – and this just isn’t.

So, it’s not an avoid – but if you’re looking for a flavoursome Earl Grey that doesn’t cost a small fortune for what it is, we think you’re better off with Twinings.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime

Best time of day to drink this: Morning

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