A fruity tea. (Twinings Blackcurrant, Ginseng and Vanilla)

Member Name: Holidaying

Product:	Twinings Blackcurrant, Ginseng and Vanilla
Date:	30/04/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes nice, flavours well balanced.

Disadvantages: Very dark colour.

I bought this tea recently because I was keen to try an alternative tea for the evenings. I was attracted to the packaging because it was brightly coloured and stood out on the shelf, but also wasn't too 'in your face'! As you can see from the front of the box, the Twinings name is predominant. I like other Twinings teas and I trust the brand, and I like their adverts on television so I thought I'd give this a go!

Inside the box the tea bags are individually wrapped in paper packets. I presume this is to keep them fresh and I always recycle the packets (although I don't know if you're supposed to, I don't see why not!) so them being individually wrapped is not a problem for me.

When I open the packet, and even before then when I open the box, I can smell the tea. The first and most predominant smell is the blackcurrant. It smells very fruity and slightly sweet. When I hold the bag to my nose I can smell vanilla but I can't smell the ginseng.

When I make this tea I pour boiling water on it and leave it to stand for two minutes, and then I take the tea bag out. I sometimes add a little honey if I want some more sweetness. The tea turns the water to quite a dark colour with a hint of red. It is not a very attractive colour to be honest but that didn't realy put me off because the smell is so nice.

I thought that three flavours might be too much for one tea, so I was a little apprehensive about the first time I tried it. However, I thought it was delicious and since then I have had many more cups and almost finished the box! Like with the smell, the first taste I can taste with the tea is blackcurrant. The blackcurrant tastes very fruity but the sweet smell I notice when I open the box is not really apparent in taste. The vanilla can be tasted but not strongly. I think the vanilla is more apparent in the smell. The ginseng seems to be even less predominant than the vanilla, and is only really a hint. I think this works well because the tea feels very balanced and there are not three different flavours competing for the attention of my taste buds!

The taste of all the flavours is very subtle and the overriding impression you get is something like that of drinking flavoured water. The water retains its consistency, unlike that of tea or coffee once milk is added, so the consistency is very thin. This is another reason why I sometimes add honey. It makes the tea a little bit thicker as well as a bit sweeter. However I would recommend trying the tea first without honey because the honey can affect the other flavours and I think the taste of the tea itself is better without honey.

I recommend this tea if you are looking for a fruity drink and like blackcurrant.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: Recommended for those who like blackcurrant.