Seven Sisters Tea – One More Steep

Southern Belle by Seven Sisters Tea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$3.50 for 50g

First Impressions

I’m on a Canadian tea company kick this week for my third in a row! Southern Belle is from Seven Sisters Tea and it’s a fruit tisane. This tea came in a sealed, resealable silver foil pouch. This is obviously a sample packet since the tea comes in 50g increments. The blend itself has a very strong fruity aroma to it, and I can mostly smell the citrus and hibiscus in this blend.

Southern Belle consists of: apple, hibiscus, rosehip, orange, and natural flavouring. All of the ingredients, aside from the flavouring, are visible.

Preparation

Seven Sisters Tea recommends steeping for 5 to 6 minutes, with no mention of temperature. I opted to go with 100°C (212°F) water, which is a common temperature for herbal blends, for 6 minutes. If steeping for iced tea, Seven Sisters Tea recommends refrigeration overnight (I would recommend cold steeping).

If you’re ever in doubt about how long to steep a tea for or what temperature of water to use, you can refer to my steeping guide.

First Taste

Southern Belle steeps to a deep, dark red – thanks to the hibiscus. The aroma of the tea is a nice fruity blend, I can detect some citrus notes. The flavour is tart and sweet, I found it to have the nice subtle sweetness of apple flavour while the citrus is still very present throughout. The hibiscus definitely makes its presence known thanks to the colour and tartness.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Southern Belle and found the colour and the flavour to be really weak compared to the initial steep. I think Southern Belle is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Seven Sisters Tea’s Southern Belle. I thought that the flavour was really nice, and the colour was just amazing thanks to the hibiscus. If you’re a fan of iced tea, this is definitely a good option for having iced/cold. I think the fruity flavours are pleasant and it really makes you pucker up thanks to the tartness. If you’re not a huge fan of hibiscus, you may want to add some sweetener to it or take a pass on this one since you can’t really avoid it.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Kettle Corn by Seven Sisters Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
50g for $3.50

First Impressions

I originally received Kettle Corn as part of an online tea and book swap that I participated in via Instagram! It was a fun way to get to try some new-to-me teas, and it was a great activity in curating a box of goodies for someone. Kettle Corn came in a sealed (and resealable!) foil pouch with all the necessary information on a printed label. The aroma of the dry tea reminds me a lot of caramel popcorn! There’s a very obvious popcorn aroma to it, and I can easily see the puffed rice mixed throughout this black tea blend.

Kettle Corn consists of: black tea from Sri Lanka, popped rice, apple, white chamomile, safflower, and natural flavouring. The ingredients, aside from the flavouring, are all quite visible throughout. I can’t really smell the apple or chamomile though, but it does smell like popcorn which is a huge plus considering the name.

Preparation

Seven Sisters Tea recommends steeping Kettle Corn for 3 to 4 minutes. Because it is a black tea, I opted to use 100°C (212°F) water and I did an initial steep for 4 minutes. If you’re ever stuck on what water temperature to use or length of time for a steep, you can always refer to my guide of Steeping Times for Different Teas as a starting point.

First Taste

Kettle Corn steeps to a beautiful golden orange. The aroma of the steeped tea reminds me a lot of popcorn, which I think is what Seven Sisters Tea was going for. I don’t get a lot of sweetness from this tea, which I was expecting because of the mention of caramel. I found the black tea base to be good, and I do taste a bit of a chamomile in the steeped tea – there’s a subtle floral aroma in the tea as well.

I did add a little bit of locally harvested honey to the tea, and I found that it helped to bring out those caramel notes by just adding a touch of sweetness. I do wish that the apple came out a little bit more, I think if there was a bit more apple, it would have added some more sweetness to this blend and possibly rendered the use of honey unnecessary.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Kettle Corn and found that it didn’t have a rich popcorn aroma or flavour anymore. I would say that Kettle Corn is good for one steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Seven Sisters Tea’s Kettle Corn. I really enjoyed the aroma of the dry leaf and the steeped tea, it was very much on point with the flavour of popcorn in this black tea blend. I did find it lacking in sweetness to pull off the caramel flavours, which is why I did add honey. If you’re not a raging sweet tooth like I am, you might find this tea plenty sweet for you since there is the apple in it to lend some sweetness (I do tend to go a bit overboard at times when it comes to sweets). It’s a very pleasant blend, and I love that it matches really well with my expectations with a name like Kettle Corn. I think it’d be a great ‘fair’ tea – think carnival rides, candied apples, cotton candy, and bags upon bags of kettle corn – or a tea to make you wish you were back at a fair!

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.