Bird & Blend – Strawberry & Pomegranate
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This is one of those fruity, flowery hot water concoctions that I generally feel pretty indifferent about. I mean, it’s fine. I suppose. There’s freeze-dried strawberries, apple pieces, rosehips, hibiscus and orange peel, all rubbing along fairly nicely with one another. There’s no pomegranate in Strawberry and Pomegranate so presumably that’s being taken care of by the natural flavourings.
There’s something about this tisane that sets it apart from its fruity flowery brethren, though. Beneath the other flavours, there is a hint of something spicy and almost bitter, which is quite interesting. It tastes a bit like ginger, but also, not at all like ginger at the same time.
I presume this slight edginess to the tea’s flavour is provided by the sumac berries in the ingredients list. I know very little about sumac. When I put together a Middle Eastern themed meal a while back, many of the recipes called for sumac, and I was unable to get hold of it. When I did eventually spot sumac in a shop, long after I actually needed it. I pounced on it, and now have an unopened packet sitting in my cupboard. I’d forgotten it was there, actually. I’m now feeling inspired to do something with it.
Its contribution to Bird & Blend’s Strawberry and Pomegranate reminded me of Angostura Bitters. (Although I haven’t had that particular gentian root-based spirit in quite a while so my memory might be unreliable.)
While the sumac berries provided a nice distraction, they didn’t resolve the issue I generally have with herbal teas, which is that everything in it tastes like something you should have as an extra with something else. Apples and hibiscus and orange peel are all very well as a flavouring in black or green tea, or in a nice cup of Rooibos, However, without something substantial at its base, fruity tisanes are , to me, like a collection of condiments and no actual meal.
Today’s featured book is Orchid Summer: In Search of the Wildest Flowers of the British Isles by Jon Dunn.
