I got this tea on sale at my local health food store, not realizing until I got home that the ‘rose’ part actually referred to rose of sharon – the dreaded hibiscus. Still, in the interests of trying something new I decided to give this tea a chance.
It’s packaged in rather large teabags, unlike most mates I’ve comes across, so the convenience is nice. The bags smell citrusy and herbal with a bit of a tea-like odor and hints of something spicy. That seemed promising so I followed the steeping direction, brewing the bag in a 10 oz coffee mug for 5 min at 90ºC (boiling water apparently can ruin yerba mate).
Unfortunately my worst fears were realized and the tea turned out to be mouth-puckeringly tart, the citrus and hibiscus forming an unholy alliance in my mouth. The mate is only faintly detectable as a herbal undertone, but it’s not really there all that much. I’ll try lowering the steeping time, but right now I can’t say I’m impressed.
