Review: MaraBela Sparkling Tea Wild Verbena

Packaged in a 750ml wine bottle with a Champagne style cork, you could be forgiven for assuming MaraBela was a new sparkling wine, albeit perhaps with a new age bent. It’s not, though, it’s tea: sparkling tea, specifically, designed as a non-alcoholic alternative to a traditional bottle of bubbly.

Per the brand:

MaraBela wasn’t created in response to trend data. As an athlete who regularly goes through periods without alcohol, Co-Founder Jesús Martínez Bujanda wanted something he genuinely enjoyed at the table when he wasn’t drinking. But this new research does reinforce the family’s decision to create a dry, 0.0% sparkling tea built around complexity, ritual and food.

At 12 calories per serving, it’s perhaps the most harmless beverage you can enjoy short of a glass of water. Let’s give it a try.

MaraBela Sparkling Tea Wild Verbena Review

On the nose, the beverage is quite innocuous, barely there as it lingers in glass. Time helps the tea’s herbaceous qualities come to the fore, the product offering a clear mix of black tea leaf and fresh herbs, though it never approaches anything overwhelming, remaining quite mild long after it’s been poured.

The palate offers a clearer, slightly stronger character that shows off a mix of red berries — strawberry and raspberry notes predominant. In time, more floral notes begin to dominate on the tongue, along with a lemon peel quality that finally evokes the verbena in the recipe. The finish is quite bright and very refreshing: You could easily polish off a bottle of this at dinner without thinking twice. (Though my recommendation is to serve it over ice, to help keep it cold.)

A curious and fun N/A alternative to wine, it’s not quite the same as drinking a dealcoholized sparkling wine (of which there are many good options), but it’s definitely a more elegant and nuanced option than, say, a bottle of Martinelli’s.

A- / $20

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