My turn to try this oddity!
The dry leaves smell sweet. Not syrupy or anything, just sweet. Can’t really link that to artichoke… While brewing, it has a different smell… some of the tang is coming through. It makes my mouth water just a bit. Almost like very diluted bread and butter pickle juice.
It tastes… neat. Different. Softer than I expected. The first taste is hard to place. Vinegar? But not like straight vinegar and not as strong as the smell. It just has a similar note to it… a clean sort of tang. The ending taste is the most fresh artichoke-like taste I think. As I inhale after the sip there is a very fresh green almost floral taste. I would say this gives me a very pickled artichoke feel but pickled artichoke has always been very mouth puckering to me and this isn’t sour/tangy enough to do that. Just tangy enough to add interest.
Anyway, so far I’m intrigued. It’s a weird flavor to have in tea but I think it is done well. Not sure how in love with this tea I will be once the freak-factor is eliminated from it but I won’t have any problem going through the sampler tin.
