CURTIS Blue Berries Blues Black Tea Pyramid Bags, Blackcurrant Gooseberry Plum, 20 Count, 1.20 oz

A black tea that tastes like late summer. CURTIS Blue Berries Blues starts with a full-bodied Ceylon base and layers dark fruit over it — blackcurrant, gooseberry and plum — for a cup that comes out deep and round rather than sharp.

Open the box and you can see what is in it. Alongside the tea leaves sit real pieces of blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry and blueberry, with cornflower petals scattered through. That is why the brew takes on a dark ruby colour and why the fruit reads as fruit rather than as perfume.

The pyramid matters with a blend like this. Berry pieces and whole leaves need room to swell; pressed flat into a paper bag they never fully give up their flavour. The mesh pyramid lets the water move through everything.

Brewing: place one pyramid in 6.8 fl oz (200 ml) of water at a full boil, 212 degrees F (100 degrees C), and steep for 5 minutes. Unlike green and white tea, this one wants boiling water and the extra minute — that is where the body comes from.

It holds up to milk if you take your black tea that way, and it is sweet enough on its own that most people skip the sugar. Chilled and poured over ice it makes a dark, berry-heavy iced tea.

Zero calories, zero sugar and zero sodium per serving. 20 pyramids, 1.20 oz (34 g) net weight.

Store in a closed package away from strong-smelling foods.