Schizandra Tea (or juice) by Songwon, Korea - taste review

This continues and earlier post on Balloon Flower and Pear drinks by Songwon where I document the taste of these commercial versions of medicinal or herbal drinks. This is Schizandra Tea (also spelt Schisandra Tea).

Schizandra is a type of red berry (Shisandra chinensis) and is both eaten as fruit and used to make medicine in traditional Chinese and Oriental medicine. Like the Balloon Flower drinks, this also has health and wellness claims or medicinal effects. Websites claim that it helps improve concentration and reduce stress and anxiety. 

I was struck by how this drink came in powder form, despite being called a tea. Furthermore, you can see the powder is quite crystalline. It reminded me of cotton candy or pink lemonade powder, even in fragrance, so I was a bit sceptical.

After mixing it in hot water, this was what it looked like.

It smelled exactly like pink guava juice. Even someone I passed it too instantly thought of pink guava, without me saying anything. Even the colour looks very similar.

The taste also was almost exactly like pink guava juice, but slightly less fragrant and floral. It was certainly fruity and tart, but over all the taste balance between fruitiness, sweetness and sourness was good for the amount of water I added. It was not too sweet, which was good. 

I ended up topping it up with a bit more cold water (20% more than in the picture) because I decided that it was weird drinking a warm juice.

Overall, it seemed to be more like a juice than a tea. It also had a very unique taste, and was a less sweet and less sour alternative to pink guava juice, which I like. So unlike the Balloon Flower drinks, this might be something I consume for the taste itself rather than the medicinal value. I highly recommend drinking it cold though, because I think juices are better as refreshing drinks. 

Given the crystalline nature of the powder, it's possible that it might even dissolve in cold or room temperature water, which I shall try again and give an update later.

Discover other interesting teas and juice drinks

• (mentioned) Two Types of Balloon Flower and Pear drinks (Tea and Extract) by Songwon, Korea
• Buah Long Long Juice
• Nashi Pear Soymilk by Fukuren
• Mongolian Milk Tea at Positivity Cafe
• Eggnog Chai Tea Latte
• Rose Syrup Milk Tea
• Ceylon Yuan Yang with Milk vs First Crush Tea Latte by Luckin Coffee