Atomic Fireball: Does the tea add more than color?

The recipe in Radical Brewing says use 1-2 boxes of Red Zinger tea for color. With its strong peppermint smell and some of the other ingredients, I have a hard time believing that color is its only contribution.

Also- does the AHA recipe have tea in it? Can someone post that recipe?

If this "Red Zinger" is Celestial Seasonings brand, it's hibiscus flowers, rosehips, peppermint, lemon grass, orange peel, "natural flavours" (whatever those are) lemon myrtle, licorice, and wild cherry bark. I've never fermented it, but I'd think you'd get some amount of flavour from just the rose hips, lemon grass & orange peel. Maybe any change in flavour will be subtle enough so it's masked by some other ingredient. It'll definately turn your mead red though, and maybe add a bit of mild astringency that would be interpreted as a mild tannin; might be the "bee's knees," might not. Let us know how it turns out. Regards, GF.