Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Wissotzky Litchi Celebration Summer Tea

A few days ago I reviewed Illy's Cold Coffee so today its ice-tea's turn.

ויסוצקי חגיגת ליצ'י
Every summer Wissotzky introduces a new herbal tea that is intended to be enjoyed either as a hot cup of tea or cold as an ice-tea, this year's addition is called Litchi Celebration.

The others in the summer "Magic Garden" tea collection are; wild berry, passion fruit-mango, lemon-nana and cranberry.

Since the Vitaminchick Ice-Tea Syrup, I recently reviewed, didn’t impress me much and it had a tremendous amount of sugar added, I was interested in trying this Wissotzky Litchi Celebration tea. Partly because I have complete control over how much, if any, sweetener I added to my ice-tea and because I don’t think I have ever tried a litchi flavored tea, so it intrigued me.

At first I followed Wissotzky's instructions; I poured some boiling water into a cup added the tea bag for 3-4 minutes then poured cold water and ice into the tea (they suggest 5 tea bags for 1 liter of water).

In my opinion this litchi ice-tea was simply awful. I dont know why but it somehow tasted like cardboard. I thought maybe it was because of the "paper" tea bag. Many teas I've tasted recently like the Wissotzky's "Exotic Love Leaves" Tea  come in a satin-like/mesh tea-bag so I thought maybe I'm picking up on the "taste" of the regular tea bag and not on the tea itself.

So I opened a few tea bags and poured the content into a tea pot with a filter and tried again. I have to admit it was just as bad in my opinion. Something about this mixture of ingredients just did not work for me as an ice-tea.

I did give the tea a try as a hot tea as well, it wasn't awful but it was not all that good either. I didn’t hate it or particularly enjoy it but I didn't think it tasted like cardboard when it was hot.

I'm not really sure why Wissotzky chose to call this tea Litchi Celebration, the ingredients lists natural litchi flavor as the second to last ingredient after apples, rosehip, hawthorn berries and elderberries but before citric acid. I guess litchi sounds unique and inviting so they picked that name even if it's not near the main flavor of the tea.   

All the herbal teas in Wisotzky's Magic Garden collection including this Litchi Celebration tea are solely based on fruits, plants, flowers and natural spices. They do not have caffeine, preservatives or calories and are suitable for young and old alike.

Bottom Line: Hot or cold this tea did not impress me at all and as an ice-tea I thought it was simply terrible.  

Box of 25 tea bags - 15.99 NIS

Kosher Parve Mehadrin


Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.




5 comments:

  1. Oh, well . . . But, your teapot is very cool looking at least. Where did you get it?

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  2. Hi Laura
    :) thanks. I got it this winter at Mega-Bool supermarket.
    Isn't it fun when you find cute/cool things that are inexpensive! I don't remember exactly how much I payed for it but I know I didn't spend a lot on it at all:)

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  3. I just returned from Israel and had the Litchi Celebration tea at a restaurant. I loved it because it was not a super strong flavor. Just nice and mild. I just did a search to find out where I can purchase this in the States to no avail. Is wissotzsky still making this tea.
    Thanks,
    Judith

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  4. Hi Judith
    Glad you enjoyed the Litchi Celebration tea, it is always wonderful to hear other peoples opinions on products.

    As far as I know it was a limited edition summertime tea last summer but next time I go shopping I will look in the store and see if it is still on the shelf. If it is I will add a comment here to let you know.

    Maybe email or facebook Wissotzky and ask them if there is a way you can purchase it in the USA.

    Hope you enjoyed your visit to Israel:)

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  5. Hi Judith
    I checked and Litchi Celebration is still on the store shelve in my local supermarket so I guess is wasn't a limited edition after all.
    Hope you are able to find a way to buy it via Wissotzky.

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