Last Updated on September 13, 2016 by worldofteainfusers

I was excited when Sterling Tea contacted me to review one of their teas. Of course the first thing I did was check out their website to see what kind of teas they have.

Right away I was intrigued by their interesting names… Pink Champagne, Mango Peach, Strawberry Hibiscus, and Goji Acai just to name a few.

I wondered which one of their delicious flavors I would receive. Imagine my surprise when I received not one, but three, yummy teas to review!

Below I’ll share my thoughts on ReVive!, Strawberry Hibiscus, and Apricot Oolong.

What is Sterling Tea?

A tea company based out of Rockwall, Texas that has a large collection of loose leaf tea and herbal tea blends. They are also a women owned company. They custom blend their teas by hand in order to achieve the highest quality. They have many different types of teas such as green, black, and white teas, as well as herbal and rooibos teas. In total they have over 70 different types of teas!

ReVive! Green Tea Review

ReVive! is a green tea blend that has pieces of lemongrass and mint to help awaken and tingle the senses. One of Sterling Tea’s best sellers.

Ingredients

• Organic green tea
• Organic lemon grass
• Organic mint
• Natural flavor

The Aroma

Before I could even finish opening the bag, I could smell the delicious aroma of mint and lemongrass. If you’re not aware, I am a huge fan of anything mint related (that goes for the tea and the color mint). I also love green tea, so naturally, combining green tea with mint is one of my favorite types of teas.

However I have yet to try a green tea mint infusion with lemongrass in the mix. I can tell by the smell alone that lemongrass blends in very nicely with green tea and mint, and can only image what it will taste like.

Leaf Details

ReVive! has long, thin pieces of green tea, lemongrass, and mint.

Preparation

Below are the recommended guidelines when brewing a cup of ReVive! Green Tea.

• Scoop one teaspoon of tea leaves for every 6 to 8 oz of water
• Boil fresh, filtered, cold water to 175°F – 190°F
• Steep for 2 to 3 minutes
• For iced tea use one tablespoon of tea leaves per quart

Tea Tasting

ReVive! had such a delicious smell I was really curious as to how it would taste. I was hoping the taste would live up to its good aroma. There have been times where I had teas that smelled really good and then tasted entirely different.

It’s safe to say ReVive! was not one of those teas!

Once the tea was brewed it had a bright yellow liquor to it. I could still smell the mint but it wasn’t as strong as when it was dry.

For brewing I decided to trust my scoop n slide infuser to handle the job.

I found the taste to be refreshing and smooth. I could taste more green tea and lemongrass then I could the mint. I was expecting a bit of a kick in the face, since that’s how I felt with the smell, but the taste was quite mellow and smooth in comparison. I was able to taste the mint more as an aftertaste.

Overall I found ReVive! To be a very refreshing tea, and this green tea/lemongrass/mint combo did not disappoint.

Strawberry Hibiscus Herbal Tea Review

Strawberry Hibiscus is a herbal blend that has a fruity punch to it. One of Sterling Tea’s best sellers.

Ingredients

• Hibiscus
• Organic rosehips
• Organic orange peel
• Organic lemongrass
• Natural flavor
• Caffeine free

Hmm… it’s called Strawberry Hibiscus but there’s no mention of strawberries in the ingredients. I’m more curious now to find out how this will taste.

The Aroma

It smells delicious! It smells very sweet and sort of reminds me of fruit punch. This too has a very pleasant smell coming from the bag even before I could fully open it! I can smell dried fruit, which must be the organic orange peel my nose is detecting, mixed in with hibiscus and rosehip.

Leaf Details

Strawberry Hibiscus is very pretty. I can see pieces of lemongrass, dried orange, dried rosehip, and small hibiscus pieces.

Preparation

Below are the recommended guidelines when brewing a cup of Strawberry Hibiscus.

• Scoop one teaspoon of tea leaves for every 6 to 8 oz of water
• Boil fresh, filtered, cold water to 185°F – 205°F
• Steep for 5 to 7 minutes
• For iced tea use one tablespoon of tea leaves per quart

Tea Tasting

I’m super curious to see how Strawberry Hibiscus tastes, considering there isn’t actually strawberry pieces in it, but I get that the hibiscus and rosehip pieces are suppose to mimic the strawberry taste.

I can tell that the liquor is going to be red based off the fact that there are hibiscus and rosehips, however I didn’t realize how gorgeous the liquor would turn out to be.

It was a beautiful, very deep red color. The color reminded me of raspberry liqueur or red wine.

I found the taste to be bitter, but I had expected that as it is a very common taste among hibiscus and rosehip based teas. I could not really taste much of the orange. The hibiscus and rosehip were the dominant flavors that I could detect.

It’s a very light tea. I didn’t add in any sugar at first because I wanted to be able to taste all of the raw flavors. However afterwards I added in just a little bit of sugar and noticed it took much of the bitterness away.

Overall I found Strawberry Hibiscus a fairly enjoyable tea, but found myself needing to add in a little sugar to help with the bitterness. I find the bitterness so common with rosehip and hibiscus based teas that I almost always add in some form of sugar or honey to help lighten up the taste. This is however probably the darkest type of rosehip/hibiscus based tea I have tried, and I love how dark the liquor is. I am a firm believer that the darker the liquor is, the better it is for you. Not limited to just teas, but to juices and other liquids as well.

I find the Strawberry in Strawberry Hibiscus to be a little misleading since there are no strawberries in it. Maybe ‘Berry Hibiscus would have been a better name but that’s just my two cents. Name aside, it was still an enjoyable and pleasant tea.

Apricot Oolong Tea Review

Apricot Oolong has a familiar green tea taste but with a peachy twist. One of Sterling Tea’s best sellers.

Ingredients

• Green tea
• Dried peaches (contains sulfites)
• Dried apricots (contains sulfur dioxide)
• Organic marigold
• Natural flavor

The Aroma

Apricot Oolong had a very sweet and delicious smell. It reminded me of candy, like the fuzzy peaches candy. Yum!

Leaf Details

I can see small balls of oolong tea and pieces of marigold. The oolong seems slightly oxidized as they are still green. However I noticed that there were no pieces of dried peaches or apricots?

Preparation

Below are the recommended guidelines when brewing a cup of Apricot Oolong.

• Scoop one teaspoon of tea leaves per 6 to 8 oz of water
• Boil fresh, filtered, cold water to 175°F – 190°F
• Steep for 2 to 3 minutes
• For iced tea use one tablespoon of tea leaves per quart

Tea Tasting

Apricot Oolong had a nice golden yellow liquor. It still smelled delicious once brewed and still had that yummy peachy smell.

I had hoped Apricot Oolong would also have a sweet peachy taste to it, but it tasted more like a straight up oolong. It had a smooth taste and I could feel it was a little bit buttery on the lips. I could also detect a vegetal, yet slightly sweet, taste as well.

Final Thoughts

I found all of the teas I sampled from Sterling Tea to be very delicious and easy on the taste buds. I did not have a hard time knocking these back at all. They had flavor, tasted good, and also smelled amazing. In fact by the time I got to the third tea Apricot Oolong, I was beginning to feel a little tea drunk.

I wish I knew where the teas were sourced from but couldn’t find any information on the packaging or the website. It would have been nice to know the origin of the teas and to know where they come from. Definitely not a big deal at all, just the tea nerd inside of me is always curious and wants to know the source of tea.

I give Sterling Tea two thumbs up and would definitely recommend them. You can check out Sterling Tea for more details and other great flavors by visiting their website.