This is a tea that is hard for me to review… Why? Well, I had it hot and thought it was absolutely awful. So bad that I forgot about it (or tried to forget about it) for a really long time. This weekend, I arbitrarily remembered it and decided that it was time to try it iced and if I still couldn’t stand it, out it was going! So, turns out, that iced it isn’t nearly as bad!
I brewed a large pitcher of it (8 cups) with 12 teaspoons of the tea. The dry tea was high on the raspberries and lacking in the mate. It is very pleasant to look at the big luscious looking dry berries, but when you want tea, the berries become more annoying than pleasant. The smell is very artificial, it reminded me of Kool-Aid (which I haven’t had since I was 8…). There was a powdery sensation to the scent, which was very disturbing. I can’t really place what it was, but it somehow brought the word “dusty” to mind every time I sniffed it.
I let it brew for hours, basically until the liquid was cool enough to put into the fridge. It was a neat bright pink color. It looked really cool in the sun as well as under the light of my fridge! : )
I sweetened it very slightly and it turned out to be quite enjoyable! It is just tart enough to remind me of fresh raspberries and smooth enough that it doesn’t become painful to drink (no excessive puckering…). The aftertaste is artificial lemon. It reminded me of candy lemon drops. Not terrible, but also not great. The downside to this is that I tasted no mate. If I think about it I get a tiny bit of something that is woody that maybe may be a hint of mate, but I have to put too much effort in to finding it, so I am just going to say that the flavor is absent.
As a fruity iced drink, I would recommend it. As a hot tea, most definitely not, no way. I am enjoying what I have of it iced and maybe, one day, I may get more.
