Peppermint Bark

Cup of the evening. I really like this. Its creamy, rich, and just the right blend of vanilla and peppermint. Its really lovely, and I’m enjoying it on the cold nights.
Tonight is extra good, as I have a lovely dinner, a fire going, and a fun movie on the TV, with my significant other beside me. A good end of the weekend.
Now, alas, to start the week again.

This was my sample for the month, and since I’m reaching for rooibos this morning I decided to try it. Dry it smells exactly like peppermint bark, but brewed it mostly smells like mint. I didn’t realize it had stevia in it until I looked at this page, but it’s very obvious from the taste. It’s not bad, exactly, but the stevia taste is strong and overpowers the chocolate. The mint is still present, but I wish this one would have been left unsweetened.

It smelled like the real deal dry, all white chocolate creaminess; steeped, the stevia took over. Had to dump it. If you like heavily pre-sweetened dessert teas, this might be OK; if you want the freedom to sweeten lightly on your own, not so much.

For some reason, this season I’m really enjoying the creamy peppermint teas. This one sounded so delicious, so I picked this for my evening cup. Well, this one is definitely not for me. The first sip made me cringe! I thought to myself, “WHAT is that flavor? Licorice?” — then it finally came to me… stevia. Normally I don’t mind stevia and actually like it in certain drinks, but its presence in this tea made it beyond sweet. It contributes an awful, tongue-coating flavor and paired with the peppermint, it becomes liquid medicine. Ew.

I picked up this and one other Republic of Tea holiday tea at a small local market that carries a lot of RoT teas. Since I’d been browsing these online, I was very happy to find them without having to pay shipping! This is a green rooibos blend with peppermint, cocoa extract, and vanilla. Dry, it mostly smells like mint with a little teensy bit of a sweet edge. I used two bags in about 10 ounces of boiling water.

I was surprised by how dark the liquid is! It’s a medium brown and almost looks like a lighter black tea. The smell is quite lovely, still heavily peppermint but it’s softened by sweet vanilla now, and perhaps a hint of cocoa. Unfortunately, I had already put a little bit of raw sugar in my cup before I noticed that this one is pre-sweetened with stevia, so it’s quite a bit too sweet for me now. However, I will say, this does remind me of white chocolate peppermint bark, which is a win in my book. Hopefully it’s not too sweet with just the stevia…