I very rarely acquire teas I don’t know I will at least enjoy to some degree – I know what I like, buy nothing un-sniffed, and my nose rarely deceives me. So when I hit the post-Christmas Teavana sale and found a couple of super cheap, much-needed thermoses, I seriously tried to haggle my way out of the four (2 oz./56 g.) gift canisters included in the gift set. ‘You can just knock off another $5!’ Obviously, Teavana being what it is, I had no luck. (Incredibly, however, the included teas were NOT overmeasured! A miracle!)
Accordingly, it is with some trepidation I now set about trying these. The first one is the Raspberry Mint Herbal Blend, the ‘night’ tea of the bunch. (There’s also the Soothing Strawberry Oolong for dusk, the Golden Needle Black Tea for noon, and the Samurai Chai Maté for dawn.)
I love the scent of the dry tea. I rarely go for straight-up raspberry teas, as they often tend to be unbalanced and a little too tart for my tastes. I’m also not overly enthusiastic about mint teas. Combined, however, this has some promise – at least nose wise.
The first taste of the blend is actually really good. It doesn’t quite live up to the lush ripeness suggested by the scent, but it’s nicely rounded off. As it cools, however, the familiar raspberry tartness becomes far more dominant and overpowers the mint/berry harmony entirely, which is a shame.
Cooling it de-tarts it almost entirely, but leaves it tasting more or less like artificially sweetened, watered out lemonade. No.
[Purchased/gifted at Teavana in Honolulu, January 2013.]
