I was having a pretty good day up until five minutes ago. I decided to whip out the new large filters I bought at the sale and try this out, as I purchased 16g. Long story short, as I was trying to fill the filter, I dropped most of the contents on the floor.
Hot, the liquor is a gushingly deep red, as expected. I would say that this is mostly tart hibiscus. I can taste the guayusa base in there too, but it’s rather faint. There’s nothing else going on with this blend.
The pun makes me think of the Red Queen, and I imagine the luxurious pastries baked exclusively for her would have more character than this. I like tart, but not a one-dimensional hibiscus, you know!
Now the spilled leaf is sitting inside of an ancient Hoover vacuum machine. The flavour hasn’t changed much over the past fifteen minutes despite it cooling down considerably. The hookah-smoking caterpillar disapproves.
EDIT: Cold steeped the last of it at room temperature in my Timolino for a few hours. It’s definitely better this way. The hibiscus isn’t a puckering nightmare and the guayusa is more prevalent. It’s sparklier and fruitier. Looks like the natural fruit flavours added to this blend are given a fairer chance now. Upping the rating!
(I can just see the old Lewis Carroll illustrations with Alice all out of proportion and the pot that says DRINK ME.)