Brand:

Flavour: Infuso Menta e Eucalipto

Ingredients: Orange peel, hibiscus, rosehips, eucalyptus leaves (12%), peppermint (3%), elderberries, natural flavours / essential oils

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: Є4.50 for 100g

Review: …elderberries…. As you can guess, this wasn’t for us. You can smell the feet through the bag, before you even open it. When you brew it, the foot odour combines with the menthol to create something that immediately reminded us both of toilet cleaner. It isn’t inviting.

The taste is extremely bitter from the orange peel, the peppermint is very strong (essential oil), and the elderberries bring their usual footy flavour. On drinking it, we had the ‘what have you done to me?’ face. It’s just elderberries – yes, they have health benefits, but we can’t imagine why anyone has them for pleasure. Elderflower, sure. Berries, no – just like this infusion.

Best time of year to drink this: Never

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Brand:

Flavour: Sleepytime Echinacea Complete Care

Ingredients: Echinacea, European elderberry extract, European elderflower extract, eucalyptus, stevia leaf, chamomile, spearmint, peppermint, lemongrass, tilia flowers

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: Now, we know what you’re thinking – elderberries, no! But stick with us, because this is one of the best teas out there. It’s also significantly different from their standard Sleepytime blend.

The scent is minty, with a planty undertone. It’s earthy, restful and soothing. The flavour is more flowery, like a fruity, floral spearmint. Stevia leaf gives a hint of sweetness but in just the right dose, without overpowering the blend. In fact, even if you dislike half the ingredients that go into this one (we’re not great lovers of lemongrass or elderberries, or straight chamomile), the balance here is spot on. Every sip is a special moment in itself. It’s smooth and gorgeous and refreshing and best of all, it knocks you right out within a half hour of drinking it. You will absolutely look like that bear on the box (cap and nightgown are optional).

They seem to have rebranded this one a number of times, with a new ‘Immune Boost’ variety that we haven’t yet tried. In our experience, adding vitamins to a tea just comes out tasting like…vitamins. The ‘Complete Care’ variety, however, is a definite must-have for any tea lover, especially if you struggle with insomnia.

Best time of year to drink this: Any time

Best time of day to drink this: Bedtime

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Brand:

Flavour: Raspberry Inferno

Ingredients: Apple pieces (malus silvestris), hibiscus, sweet blackberry leaf, natural flavouring, elderberries, chilli, raspberry (1%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £2.20

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: How can you name your blend ‘raspberry inferno’ and only have 1% raspberry in the ingredients list??

This is an extremely confusing one. It smells like grassy hibiscus (not pleasant) and tastes like curry, with apple crumble on top. There is no other way to describe it. It’s physically sickening after the first few sips. And it’s unsurprising, because look at what this is: your typical generic fruit tea (apple, hibiscus, sweet blackberry leaf and elderberries – yuck!), jazzed up with raspberry (okay) and chilli (what!?). This isn’t a combination anyone in the world has ever before thought would work – and with good reason.

It’s savoury and sweet at the same time, in a gross way, with that thick, blood-like texture elderberry blends always have. It gets worse the more you drink it, and we’re baffled that it’s still on the market. For us, this is an obvious AVOID.

Best time of year to drink this: Never

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Brand:

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: Superfruity

Ingredients: Hibiscus (49%), rosehips (20%), beetroot (19%), blackcurrant, raspberry and blueberry flavourings (7%), apple, blueberry (1%), orange peel, elderberry, safflower

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £3.49

Bags Per Box: 12

Review: It’s always fun when we’re slightly divided in opinion

Although boasting that it will be ‘superfruity’, this one is heavy on the beetroot. Ginger loves Beetroot, while Tulsi isn’t a fan. Thankfully for all those like Tulsi, Twinings balanced out the beetroot with berries, making for a more complex blend.

On first brew, it’s a deep, vibrant purple, due to both the beetroot and the blackcurrant. The smell is predominantly blackcurrant – like hot Ribena, but with a hint of tart hibiscus.

That tartness is much stronger than expected, when you drink it – and it’s sweeter than anticipated. The blueberry really stands out, here. Finally, you get that beetroot aftertaste. It is a blend that moves through stages as it moves through your throat.

If you’re looking for a fruit tea, this is probably the best one out there at the moment. It’s far more substantial than any others we’ve tried (and we’ve tried a lot); and if you’re not so keen on that beetroot taste, it gets sweeter and tarter as it cools.

If you want more of the beetroot and a milder hit of the berry, we suggest their Beetroot Burst blend, which Ginger prefers (although she did enjoy this one too).

Best time of year to drink this: Summer

Best time of day to drink this: After lunch – it’s so strong that you wouldn’t want to have anything else after it

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Flavour: Botanica

Ingredients: Hibiscus, Apple, Rosehip, Sultana, Elderberry, Sunflowers, Blue Mallow, Blueberry, Flavour

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: Sultanas and elderberries in a tisane.  Sigh.

The aroma is highly unpleasant – thick and savoury, like curry.  We can’t figure out where this scent comes from.  Perhaps the sunflowers?  Or the sultanas?  Or those awful footy elderberries?

And then, drinking it….

Three Tulsi thought it tasted like Heinz tomato soup, with added hibiscus.  Yes, we couldn’t have imagined such a thing before, either.  The box says this blend is ‘sensational iced’.  We say, more like soup-sational.

Sultanas aside, the ingredients are the same old things you find in so many other tisanes.  You may as well buy another, cheaper brand.  In the words of Ginger Tea, ‘I’m not offended.  I just don’t see the point.’

Best time of year to drink this: Summer

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoon…?

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Flavour: Fruit Blush

Ingredients: Papaya Pieces, Elderberries, Hibiscus Petals, Cinnamon Pieces, Flavour

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: When you see elderberries and ‘flavour’ in the ingredients list, you know it’s time to worry.

This is a strange drink that smells strongly of cinnamon and tastes very bitter.  This is mixed with a curious sourness that sticks at the back of your mouth.

Overall, it’s a bizarre combination of flavours that don’t go well together.  The more you drink it, the more you find yourself saying, ‘Yuck!’  The word ‘weird’ easily falls off the tongue, and you wonder if this blend was perhaps a mistake.

And to top it all off, you can’t escape that footy taste from the elderberries.  That’s why we’re marking this a tea to AVOID.

Best time of year to drink this: Never

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Flavour: Fruit Royale

Ingredients: Hibiscus Petals, Elderberries, Currants, Blackcurrants and Flavour

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: The smell of this tea can only be described as faintly disgusting.  It’s a bit like Ribena, but smokier, with just a hint of feet (elderberries).

The look of it in your cup is Ribena-esque, too.  And a bit thick – like blood.  Appetising, yes?

And the taste is…like EXTREMELY tart Ribena.  You taste nothing at the front of your mouth; it all hits your rear taste buds with a sharp burst of watery sourness.  Otherwise, there is no discernible flavour.

At £7.50 a box, you’re better off mixing some actual Ribena with boiling water.  Not only will you save money, but you’ll have some flavour, as well.  We expect it can’t be any more artificial than the ‘flavour’ tacked onto the end of the ingredients list for this blend, either.

Best time of year to drink this: Never

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Flavour: Refresh

Ingredients: Lemongrass, lemon verbena, hibiscus flower, ginseng, juniper berries, rosehip peels, papaya pieces (papaya, sugar), marigold flowers, ginger, elderberries, cinnamon pieces, safflower petals

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: Just looking at the ingredients list, it’s clear that this may be a tea intended for women.  The scent is lemony and floral, like taking a stroll through the winding roads of Provence.  It’s gently pleasant.

However, the drinking experience is a bit odd.  It’s instantly mouth-freshening – so much so that it makes your mouth water…and then it just won’t stop.  You’re practically drooling after half a cup.  Then you have to deal with the lemongrass aftertaste – never nice.  Although a natural plant, lemongrass always tastes strangely artificial, like lemon sweets made with aspartame.  Plus, so many flowers in one blend cancels out the individual flavours and creates a strong taste of soap, instead.

It’s also worth noting that we can’t taste any of the other flavours.  Papaya?  Not there – and we don’t want that sugar added to the mix!  We don’t consider this one worth the price.  There is definitely such a thing as too many flavours in one cup, and this is a prime example.

Best time of year to drink this: Spring, if you must

Best time of day to drink this: After a heavy meal, presumably – let’s say after lunch – and in the morning, because of the inclusion of ginseng (a natural energy-booster)

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Flavour: Vanilla Slice

Ingredients: Apple Pieces, Rosehips, Elderberries, Citrus Pieces, Hibiscus Flowers, Vanilla Bean, Flavouring

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: This is another of those teas that feels thick in the mouth, like blood, and is just as dark red in colour.  It makes it a bit off-putting to try – unless you’re a vampire trying to abstain from eating humans.

It smells Christmasy, like black cherry pie, and tastes very tart.  The vanilla flavour at the end of each sip at least makes for a pleasant after-taste.  However, each drink immediately dehydrates you, which makes this quite a stressful tea to drink.  We wouldn’t recommend this one for the price tag it carries.

Best time of year to drink this: Winter.

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoons (but we don’t recommend it).

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