Organic Candy Cane

I’m hesitant to try this tea, only because I’ve had little luck with anything so far from Naked Teas Galore. Yet in my super-obsession, I’ve decided making room is more important – and thus when this fell down, it was my choice for the evening. Oh yeah, and a green/rooibos blend, which should be interesting for sleep this evening.

In the bag this did smell like a creamy candy cane, with a hint of floral notes. Steeped, it tastes mildly minty for the first cup or so. Slowly it evolved into something a bit creamier and decadent, but it really wasn’t great until I added some Truvia. Then, it really did become a minty, creamy candy cane, and likely better if I was willing to add some cream/milk/soy to it.

Steeping parameters were interesting: 3-4 min on the bag (2-3 min on their website) and 176F (my kettle went to 175F), and 1 tsp/6oz, so I overleafed slightly at 1.5 tsp per 8 oz.

I doubt I’ll restock this, however I’m sure I’ll manage to drink it down.

The dry leaves of this smell really lovely- I could instantly detect the notes of peppermint, rooibos, and rose. As stated before, I’m not the biggest drinker of rooibos tea, but I will always try something once.

Steeped, the taste remains very similar to the dry nose scent. The peppermint was much milder than I had expected, so I kind of feel like the title of this tea is misleading. I definitely did not feel like I was drinking a candy cane. Nevertheless, I was impressed with how well the rooibos and peppermint and floral notes blended together. Overall, I wouldn’t buy this for myself personally, but it is a nice tea. Just not a personal “must have.” Thanks to MissB for sending a sample my way.

Queued post, written August 19th 2014

MissB shared this one with me, although I’m afraid it’s not going to be something for me, really. It has spearmint in it, which I tend to find rather too toothpaste-y and also jasmine which I plainly just don’t like. So… But I shall try to keep an open mind!

I have to say, I don’t find it a very nice smell. It reminds me mostly of soap, which I believe must be because of the floral element. I’m not keen on flowers on my tea, and to be honest, I’m generally not keen on flower-smells in general. Not even actual flowers. Sometimes people around me can go ‘ooooh doens’t that smell lovely?!’ and I’ll sit quietly to myself thinking it stinks to high heaven. Geraniums fall into that category for me. We have some outside and they are forbidden entry to the house on account of reeking. Blech and blech again, says I!

So flower perfume? Frequently not going to score many points with me.

After a bit the flower perfume and soapy associations go away though and it smells more minty. Primarily spearmint, unfortunately, but I can also pick up the green tea and the rooibos underneath.

To my relief, I can’t actually taste the jasmine much. There is a bit of it around the edges that I don’t much like, but it’s not bad. There is a great deal of mint, particularly spearmint, but that was to be expected with a name like that.

Apart from that I can pick up the green and rooibos again, and also a bit of cinnamon, particularly on the aftertaste. Rose and rosehip seems pretty much absent, but that doesn’t bother me.

I’m getting a slightly messy feeling from this. Mint, floral and cinnamon. Not things I would have thought to put together. The combination strikes me as a bit odd. I could have taken mint and floral on their own (logically, I probably wouldn’t have liked it) or mint and cinnamon on their own. I could even imagine floral and cinnamon on their own. But all three together? It seems a little bit of a jumble to me.

It’s far more drinkable than I had anticipated, but I won’t cry over the fact that I can’t have it again.