200 Tasting Notes
So I brewed up this tea and I was SO excited to get to try it …..
And then I got a call from my credit card company that a bunch of fraudulent charges were made on my credit card. So I had to cancel it and deal with all of that. So… this tea never was consumed. I put it in the fridge and am hoping to try it tomorrow and give it a proper review. I’m kinda bummed since I only had a small sample. But, here’s hoping it all works out.
Another sample from my “this was on sale so it’s okay” order from Caraway.
I almost bought a full 4 oz of this during the sale, but I told myself to just buy a sample .. and I’m glad I did.
First of all, the tea smells ….. weird. Artificial, maybe? I’m not sure what I was expecting since the title could be many things, but certainly not this. I think I was expecting something more creamy. Also, I noticed the mate looked a little more different than normal. More twiggy. At least I think it was the mate I was looking at.
As for the taste? It’s weird too. I don’t know how to describe it. It does have a little bit of a creamy taste, but it’s not quite what I was hoping for. The tea is better colder than hot. The tea isn’t bad – it’s certainly drinkable. I’m just not as crazy about it as I have been with other flavored mates I’ve had.
Maybe I’ll brew a little more, but I think I’m going to save the rest of this for a tea swap since someone might enjoy it more.
Preparation
I’m wondering what else it could be then? The other ingredients don’t seem to fit the “twig” description.
Thanks to Azzrian for this sample.
When I first brewed this tea hot, I didn’t think it was anything special. Maybe because I brewed it a little too long and it got bitter? Anyway, it wasn’t doing anything for me hot.
However, I put it in the fridge to let it cool down and man-oh-man, this tea is DELICIOUS cold. I can taste the strawberries and cream so easily and they are so delicious. Black teas can be hit or miss for me, but this is so delicious. If I had more of a sample, I would have tried my hand at a cold brew, but alas my sample was small. I definitely plan to order this when I get a chance (and go through the rest of my tea stash).
I still have a cup’s worth of this left from Azzrian… really need to try it again, because I didn’t think it was anything too special the first time!
This is from my big “I didn’t really need tea but there was a sale, so it’s okay” order from Carraway Tea.
This tea smells DELICIOUS. Very much like an orange creamsicle. However, when I went to brew it, I wasn’t getting much flavors of anything. Barely any orange flavor and certainly not enough cream flavor. I wonder if I should use more rooibos next time for a more potent flavor. After such a wonderful smell, I’m a little disappointed :(
Thanks to Dylan for the sample.
This… wasn’t bad, but I was a bit let down. The ginger wasn’t too strong for me. I was also surprised that this white tea, when it barely seemed to expand in the brewer.
It’s not bad, but I think I was hoping for ginger-ale tasting tea. Maybe I set my expectations too high?
Also, apparently there is bergamont in here, and I didn’t even notice. I’m pretty sensitive to it, so I’m surprised it slipped past my radar.
I’m also cold brewing some of this as we speak, because I wanted to see how it fared cold-brewed.
Thanks to Dylan for a sample.
Man this is delicious. I can’t believe just a few months ago I was hatin’ on mate, just because it has high caffeine content. I’ve been trying different flavored mate blends and found that they really work well. At some point I’ll have to try mate just by itself again to really get the flavor, but for now, I approve. I had a super stressful day yesterday, and I made two cups of this. I didn’t get to really enjoy it as my mind was focused elsewhere, but from the little bit that I do remember, it was a good time.
Does anyone know the final word on caffeine content in mate? A lady at the tea shop told me one cup was equal to 4 cups of coffee. That sounds a little .. high.
I had a teabag of this tea, which was older than I liked to admit, but it was actually pretty tasty. Definitely overwhelming amount of vanilla, and not too much grapefruit. My boyfriend tried this and he LOVED it. Of course he likes the expensive tea. I looked online, and they only sell it loose by the pound?! Geez.. that’s pricey.
Thanks to Alphakitty for a sample of this.
This is a really interesting tea! I’m not too familiar with Tamarind (I’ve only had it in soda form a couple times), so I don’t know how closely the taste compares. There definitely is a little bit of astringency and “mouth feel”.
I thought it was good unsweetened, but decided to add some sugar (gasp!) per the suggestion of other reviewers. It definitely brings out the flavor and makes it taste more like a tamarind soda.
I’m going to leave a rating off because this tea is so unique and I’m not quite sure how to properly rate it.
Oh no – I hope it wasn’t from any tea purchases! Checking my account now due to paranoia.
LOL. It wasn’t. They actually made a duplicate of my card. My credit card was in my wallet the whole time. It’s pretty crafty!
That happened to my mom once while she was in the hospital getting an operation—one of the nurses stole her card and made a copy. :/ Hope you can get yours taken care of quickly!
We recently had someone using out card as well – luckily they were very quick to cancel all the bad stuff and send us a new card :) Hope it’s smooth sailing with yours as well!
Gah – scary, guys!!! I think it happened to my ex a while back, but hasn’t happened to me… yet…
Bleh, apparently this happened to a lot of people. This poor tea was so neglected for a couple days while I sorted it out. Does it make me obsessed if I’m concerned about my tea? LOL.