Fruit tea:- smell vs taste
By Wizzywig
@Wizzywig (7847)
April 28, 2010 1:53pm CST
Do you find that, if you have a cup of fruit tea, it smells wonderful but, when you come to actually taste it, it can be a bit of a let down? Which varieties do you think have a taste that most closely resembles the expectation? I suppose basic lemon tea does, maybe blackcurrant & some of the combination flavours? Which would you recommend?
2 people like this
8 responses
@coffeegurl (1467)
• United States
29 Apr 10
My favorite tea of all time is loose leaf blackberry tea.
@Matthammer (385)
•
28 Apr 10
Sometimes the taste can be a let down after the smell, but i'm a big fan of the Twinings fruit and herb teas. I tend to avoid the orange ones though as i do with other foodstuffs as they are such a boring flavour.
@GardenGerty (160883)
• United States
28 Apr 10
I do find them to be a big let down. So was the chocolate hazelnut black tea I bought. I like things with raspberry or with pomegranate. Of course it depends on the brand. I do not like Lipton Cold Brew anything, lemon, raspberry or plain.
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
28 Apr 10
Chocolate hazelnut?? wow - what did that actually taste like? No, I wasnt keen on Liptons lemon. A few years ago, I went on a course which was spread over about 12days with tea/coffee and biscuits provided. I opted for the fruit tea everytime because it still tasted good cold. It was Twinings but, unfortunately, I dont remember the flavour... I think it was blackcurrant and something.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160883)
• United States
29 Apr 10
Not much flavor at all. I may try making it with bottled water and see if that makes any difference. It is Stash brand and is decaffeinated. That may be my problem. Just tastes insipid. I think most of Twinings teas are good, and I usually love Stash teas. I drink both tea and coffee pretty strong, so am disappointed when it isn't. Loved Stash Lemon something or other. Lemon grass and other lemony things that were not harsh. It was decaf, but good.
@Loverbear (4918)
• United States
10 May 10
I don't care for the fruit teas either. They don't seem to combine well with the tea itself and it seems a bit bitter to me.
I love Bigelow Vanilla Caramel tea. I also love Vanilla Almond teas too, the nut flavor seems to compliment the tea. Otherwise it is either Lipton black tea, Earl Gray, and English Breakfast.
@liquorice (3887)
•
10 May 10
Yes, I agree. Coincidentally I was on a course yesterday (it was a herbal medicine course and it was fab! We even got to try some herbal teas - but not fruit ones thank goodness. Anyway...) and this subject came up. We were saying how lovely they smell but then the taste is just non-descript - a bit dull.
The teacher told us that it's because the smell is from the artificial ingredients in the tea, whereas the flavour is from the natural ingredients. It's a bit disappointing to know that there are artificial ingredients in there at all, but I'm not a fruit tea fan because of the flavour. I will very occasionally make an exception with blackcurrent or lemon, as you're right, they do taste the most authentic. Perhaps their natural smells are strong enough that they don't need to add any artificial flavourings?
I would recommend not drinking fruit teas, and sticking to flowery varieties like chamomile, elderflower or geranium, or some of the great green teas you can get.
@liquorice (3887)
•
12 May 10
Yes, green tea is a bit of a bugbear of mine! Often tea is packaged as "pure green tea", but then when you look carefully at the small print (and this usually happens after I've bought it!), it says "with a hint of blackcurrent", or "flavoured with raspberry".
Firstly, I hate green tea mixed with fruit, I only like it on its own, and secondly, the fruit flavouring tastes far from natural! This was probably responsible for the horrible aftertaste you experienced. 
@laglen (19759)
• United States
29 Apr 10
I have a soft peach tea and a pear white tea. They are delicious and smell wonderful. I also had a fruit almond tea that tasted just how it smelled. Now I have had some apple teas that are terrible and cranberry I do not like. My favorite is honey vanilla chamomile I know it isnt fruit but it is so mild and yummy!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
28 Apr 10
I'm not at all fond of fruit teas. I don't mind fruit flavored black or green tea as long as the fruit flavor doesn't overwhelm the tea flavor.
