30 Tasting Notes
Yay, my Black Friday order is here! Hearts.
Since falling in love with a peach tea blend I got once from a little middle-of-nowhere cafe, I’ve been looking all over for a peachy tea capable of kicking me in the face with flavor. This is not that tea, but that doesn’t mean it’s not lovely. It’s really balanced and nice, with the flavor swooping into delicious fruitiness just when I think the black tea is getting strong. It leaves a hint of mango on the back of my tongue after the sip—yummy!
(From momo.) It’s very minty! There’s probably more mint in this than anything else. On my first cup, I couldn’t really taste anything past the mint. Not that this is bad; unlike a pure peppermint cuppa it felt substantial enough to finish (I’m weird about plain peppermint tea this way).
I think it really shines on the second steep, though. The mint is toned way down, and I get some of that richer smokiness on the back of the sip. It’s much more balanced with less of the mint. The wet leaf smells woody and nice. A bit astringent, but I really like this second cup.
So I haven’t yet had a good experience with either a fruit-based or an herbal tea, which made me really nervous about trying this one. Turns out, there was no need to fear!
This is an absolutely delicious blend. It’s sweet and appley, very smooth with a burst of flavor on the finish. I’m definitely going to eat all of the apple chunks out of the strainer when I’m done.
Sipping this now. I could taste more of the mango when it was hot, but now it’s settled into a very pleasant, soft rose flavor. It’s a bit astringent but I don’t mind that. I had a whole rosebud in this scoop, which might explain the heaviness of the rose, but I hope the next go has a little more mango. :) Ultimately, yummy!
Preparation
I’m pretty sure Genmaicha and I are going to elope one of these days. It’s such a comforting, toasty warm taste. I love the little popcorn pieces! I could curl up with a bottomless mug of this and die happy. (The way it actually happened was: I brewed a mug in the morning too late to drink it all before leaving for class, which is luckily right across the street. However, not being in possession of a thermos, my solution was just to take the mug down to class and finish it there. Why no, I didn’t look weird at all walking down the street like that.)