Mamma Mia

Amanda Special Thanks for this!

Hibiscus! Oye!

Trying to get past that…the almonds, pineapple, papaya, and cinnamon is what I can taste thereafter.

The way to go with this one is ICED – it’s too sweet for me HOT – but it’s totally doable cold. As it cools I can also taste the elderberries…and citrus flavors. There is a lot going on here but a brave attempt from DavidsTea. Not one I would buy for myself but darn happy I got to try it!

Mamma mia, what a lot of hibiscus, my my how can I get rid of you.

There is TOO much going on in this tea. It’s tart, it’s fruity, it’s cinnamony, it’s nutty, it’s sweet, it’s causing my face to contort.

And the more I drink it, the more it tastes like I’ve licked a bath bomb from Lush. BLEH.

I feel like I may have steeped this one too long, and am dreading the hibiscus…

Anyhow, the tea smells pretty floral, cinnamony, and strong. Reminds me quite a lot of potpourri, really. And for whatever reason, that smell is not appetizing me right now. Really not a floral tea fan, and mixed with hibiscus?! Yikes. Alphakitty, I hope I sent some of this to you (too lazy to check).

Oh man. Uhhh… yuck. The hibiscus isn’t bad (actually it’s not really an issue at all), but SO MUCH rose and the cinnamon flavour are just screaming BATH PRODUCT to me, not tea. Which gives me a soap association (not a soapy flavour though). I’m going to go water it down some though, because I think I was a little heavy on the tea compared to the water, and I’ve had that issue with floral teas before (by floral I mean rose. I really like the orchid floralness of oolongs, entirely different beast altogether. A gentle, happy beast, not like this one.)

Ok. Watered down it isn’t making me gag nearly so much. But again, it’s too much like a bath product for me. This one’s going down the drain; I would MUCH rather get started on the Harney & Sons flavoured blacks from Alphakitty awaiting me on the counter……

Lynne-tea, Mercuryhime, CHAroma, any of you guys interested in about a cups’ worth of this one? Zero chance I’ll be drinking it again. (Or anyone else for that matter…)

ETA: I just want to mention that I don’t think oversteeping is my problem with this one, it’s just not a combination of flavours that I find appealing.

Finally gave this one a try!
You know, it was different than I expected. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the smell (mostly cinnamon) and I knew it would be quite tart with the first ingredient being hibiscus.

I quite enjoyed it! But it’s not a keeper (I’m not the hugest papaya fun), I’m glad I only got enough for a few cups. I had it iced, as is my wont, and couldn’t help but compare it to Kanpe. Even with the strong cinnamon association – the two teas are quite different to me.

The taste of this one is most certainly papaya! It took me a while to place it, but once I got it, it tasted just like the fresh papaya we ate at the sparse but satisfying buffet breakfast in cuba. Whoo do I win the longest sentence award?

haha well I’ll stick to Kanpe as my favourite tart iced tea – but I enjoyed this one and was pleased to find it unique and it really does stand on it’s own! I would definitely recommend it to papaya lovers.

Wooow, this tea is not faring well in the tasting notes on here, is it? Too tart, sour, tastes like soap, weird clashing flavours, etc…

I accidentally over-steeped this one like whoa. I have no idea how long it steeped for before I got back to it, but from the deep dark reddish color and the fact that I could smell hibiscus across the kitchen(!) I knew it would be tart beyond saving with sugar.

And it is. But…I don’t mind it! Normally I wouldn’t be able to stand hibiscus overpowering a tea, but this time the hibby is so strong that I actually can’t taste anything else, and…as one note by itself, I weirdly don’t mind it. I said something derisive about teas that taste like sour gummies recently, but I actually like sour gummies sometimes. This is like that. It kinda makes me think I might like plain hibiscus tea sometimes, too.

I won’t rate it though, because I literally can’t taste anything else here except maybe a faint hint of cinnamon; and I’m sure that’s not what DT would consider this tea to be at its best, so I don’t think that’s fair.

Thought I’d give this a go in store today on the merit of it’s awesome dry smell. The sales clerk assured me that the coconut was not there in taste, so I bought a cup. I did not finish the cup. Got 1/3 of the way in…Couldn’t take it, even with sugar. It was just a cinnamon and hibiscus assault on my mouth. I rarely dislike a tea that strongly, but this was just a horrible mistake. One thing I do not appreciate about buying a cup in store is that you’re sort of left on your own with steep time. Mine steeped while I paid for it, etc…I like the handy little timer that you get at other stores, such as (my local!) Sawadee. Anyway, if you’re fond of cinnamon and hibiscus you might like this tea. I was overpowered.

Backlogging from last week. I had it iced in store and forgot to write a note on here.
I thought this was ok. I mostly get the hibiscus. The second note is kinda a tropical fruit punch. It was ok, but a little too tart for me. I could put sugar but I don’t really like to have to add anything to my iced teas.
I don’t think that I will buy any to have at home.

Dry Leaf Nose: Fruit ambrosia, sweet but light.

Liquor: Clear pink/red liquor that is fragrant from the fruit, but still delicate

Flavour: Fruit mélange is the main note with a sweet-tart taste and cinnamon finish. Refreshing and satisfying.

Yikes! This one is just all around too much. Too much cinnamon, too much hibiscus, too many flavours going on. I’m not really sure what they were going for with this blend, but it really doesn’t work. None of the flavours really meld well together, making it a fairly confusing & unpleasant blend to sip on.

Today is my second Mother’s Day and definitely better than the last: breakfast in bed, lunch at Earl’s with my Mom + brothers (although being gluten-intolerant means I can’t eat anything other than salad, but hey, it’s the quality time that counts right?), and free tea from DAVIDsTEA!

I went with iced Mamma Mia, since a) I’ve never tried it before and b) it was too warm out to merit getting a hot tea. I thought about adding sweetener, but I guess the stores brewed it extra strong because even over ice it was sweet and delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I mistakenly gave my 16-month-old a sip and she proceeded to slurp as much as possible before I took it away… thus I poured half of my Mother’s Day treat into her sippy cup.

Flavour wise it reminds me strongly of Kanpe, but with a few more flavours going on, probably due to the abundance of ingredients. Makes a deliciously juicy iced tea, sweet enough that it’s almost like juice! Still, I slightly prefer Kanpe, but that also might be the fact that whenever I drink Kanpe I feel good about all the proceeds going to Haiti…

Hot, I loved it. It was very juicy and I thought it would make a refreshing iced tea. But as it cooled off, I fell out of love with it. The hibiscus came on too strong and the cinnamon took it to a weird place for me. I plan to give it another go, but I’m going to keep an eye on the steep time and see if that makes a difference.

I bought this as a 2/$5 dealie without reading all the reviews first. :| Maybe that was a bad idea?

I opened it up and it smelled pretty good. The cinnamon smelled good but it was the main thing I could smell.

I accidentally steeped it for the max recommended time: 7 minutes. When I came back to it I could tell that the hibiscus had overpowered it! I know hibiscus has a bad rep here, and to be honest I don’t really mind it (in some teas), but it’s completely overpowered this blend. Bleh. I’m getting an extremely tart mixture of cinnamon and flowers – not exactly the relaxing OMG-the baby-is-finally-sleeping-it’s-almost-time-for-bed beverage I was hoping for. I forced myself through a few sips, but now it’s going down the drain.

I’ll hold off on rating it until I try to brew it again at 4 minutes! If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll ice it?

Tried this one, hoping that the hibiscus wouldn’t kill the cinnamon baked good smell that it has dry. So far I’m not impressed, but I have some cold steeping to see if that saves it. We shall see!

Hibiscus being the first ingredient makes me shudder. But like Splash!, it deserves at least a try. The scent is really not doing it for me dry or steeping – though it was ever so slightly better dry. And by that I just mean not quite as powerful. The cinnamon is coming out the longer it steeps away.

Oh dude. Is that ever a dark colour red/pink. There are an awful lot of ingredients going on here. At the very least it’s caffeine-free (after my 5 cups of black today that’s probably good).

Oh dear. That’s a bizarre flavour. I’m not sure where to start describing it. I knew that many ingredients couldn’t be a good thing!

I did take a second sip, and blech I taste something medicinal. Swing and a miss.

So I went to David’s Tea this morning hoping to try Sleigh Ride cause I hear its good if you like Forever Nuts by David’s Tea also. However they didn’t have it in store yet cause it is part of their winter collection that doesn’t come out till later this week. So the lady that served me brought over a few similar ones that she thought I might like to try, and she highly recommended “Mamma Mia”. It was absolutely disgusting. It has a tart lemony flavour to start and an after taste of like tart berry lemon tree bark. What was even more gross was when the tea cooled down and I decided to give it another chance and ended up gagging.
Do Not Try This

As others have noted there is a lot going on with this tea. I am in the middle of searching for another non-caffeinated tea that can match my love for forever nuts, but so far no such luck. I will have to have some sleigh ride again next week, and see if it can switch up my routine.

It’s tart and fruity, but also cinnamony. On first sip I liked it, but now I feel like it’s just a crazier Kanpe tea, and I like Kanpe better because it has more direction. Ah well, I still like it and will be finishing off the 25 grams I bought. But I probably won’t get anymore. I bet it would be good iced, tonight I had it hot.

Smells lovely…very cinnamon with fruity whispers and a touch of nuttiness.

I heaped more in and steeped longer I need full flavor with the fruity ones:)
Once steeped smells the same..all the notes much stronger now.
It’s a lovely rich crimson color which I adore.

Well it’s a tarty tart tart.
The cinnamon is awesome.
I like this tea..but I doubt I would buy more I got it in an 85 gram special edition tin..and I’m not totally convinced I’ll get a yen to finish it..but maybe it’ll grow on me .
It’s yummy,tarty and a punch of cinnamon but I’m still unsure..I believe it to be quite nice…maybe in the winter it will be the right drink on a cold night..I wanted this to be like “mulled wine” that DT did for a short time for a lark and never brought back..I’d prefer that mulled wine…PLEASE bring it back!

I’M WILLING TO SWAP THE REST IN IT’S LOVELY TIN..if anyone’s interested give me a shout!

I can’t drink this one hot (it was sickly sweet to me), but I really quite enjoy it iced

Not my cup of tea…In the store, it smelled really fruity and tropical but I really didnt like the smell when I got home. When I got home, I was hit by an overwhelming scent of hibiscus and cinnamon. When steeped, it smells alot like alpine punch (which I hated!). This one is more bearable than alpine punch though, I still find myself dreading every sip. I would agree with the other comments about it being better iced. I’m letting it cool down and already, less hibicus and more berries. I’m glad I only picked up about 10g…I’m glad I trieed it but definetely will not be getting any more of this one.

Bought this tea as a 2/$5 in stores without really looking at it. When I went to try it today, I was worried when I saw hibiscus as the first ingredient, but I made a large mug anyways. I actually really like this tea. The hibiscus was not an issue for me at all, and I’m a big fan of cinnamon which was definitely strong in this tea. There is a lot going on, but overall I will probably repurchase when I run out of my 25g :)

ETA: I have had this tea a few more times after my original tasting note and love it even more. 25g is not close to enough! Try it more than once.