Mangosteen Superfruit Tea

I am one lucky Steepsterite!

Yesterday I got the cutest ever card from Auggy with a kitty in a christmas tree (she knows me so well!) and today I got another car from Jillian with a gift of tea and sweets! Thank you both, you are teh awesome. ♥

I’m starting with this one that Jillian sent me. She has managed to make a collection here of four things, none of which I have ever in my life tried before. There’s a strawberry green among them and while I’ve had both strawberries and greens before, obviously, I’ve never had them in combination.

But that one’s for later. So yeah, starting with this one. Mangosteen. What the heck is that? I had to look it up and as I suspected might be the case, it doesn’t actually have anything at all to do with mangos. I’m feeling a little ambivalent about that, actually, because I’d love to see a mango flavoured white that works some time.

Anyway, mangosteen appears to be something entirely different. I’ve spent some time now studying the photographs of it on wikipedia with some fascination. To me it looks sort of like alien fruit. I can’t tell from the pictures how big the fruit is, but it looks sort of like a cross between an enormous plum and an itty-bitty round aubergine and the actual white fruit inside it looks like a garlic. I’ve never even heard of it before.

The bag has a funny tropical smell. It’s very very aromatic. I’ve taken it out of the wrapping and put it in the cup while I’m waiting for the water to boil and even when I’m not actually smelling the bag I can still easily detect the aroma of it. It’s like a mix of juicy oranges, a little bit of pineapple and some passion fruit. Maybe some lemon or possibly lime also. I’m developing some pretty high expectations of this.

For obvious reasons I can’t evaluate this one on how well it’s been flavoured, whether or not it tastes synthetic or genuine or how it balances with the tea, because I haven’t the foggiest notion of what the fruit is actually supposed to taste like. I can only base my post here on whether or not the tea currently in my cup makes a pleasant initial impression.

After steeping the aroma is totally different. It’s got a funny spicy sort of aroma now with a tiny little sharp note to it that rather mysteriously reminds me of fennel. Fennel and indian food. It’s still quite fruity underneath that, but a more general tropical sort of aroma rather than the collection of different fruits from before.

Onwards to the flavour. Minus points for having hibiscus in it. It’s very very little compared to other places I’ve been hibiscus-ambushed in the past and on close inspection of the colour it doesn’t even have that tell-tale bright red colour that usually turn on the warning bells for me. It is, however, unmistakably hibiscus. At the very bottom of the flavour and the aftertaste especially a faint flavour of something red and metallic.

Most of the flavour is just fruity though. I’m not really picking up any particular white tea notes here, but I’m getting a large mouthful of mango. I thought we’d just established that mangosteen =/= mango? I haven’t actually checked the contents of this stuff yet, I’ll do that afterwards, but it’s definitely mango.

In between the mango flavour and the hibleurghscus there’s something else fruity. It’s kind of sweet and reminds me a little of persimmons. A bit on the ripe side persimmons, maybe. I like persimmons too.

I don’t actually feel like I’m any wiser on the subject of how mangosteens taste, but I do quite like this bag. It’s not something that I would find myself addicted to, but it’s quite pleasant. If offered it as a choice among other options somewhere I might indeed pick it. If only there hadn’t been that hibiscus aspect. Had it been hibiscus-free, I would have added some 5-10 points more. As it is, I can’t go any higher than this, and considering the fact that it contains an ingredient that my tastebuds identify primarily as blood-like it’s kind of amazing that I feel I can give it even this many points.

Finally, checking the ingredients, my findings are confirmed. Hibiscus and mango. Check. (Also other things that I couldn’t identify.)

A few weeks ago, I had a friend over for a tea party. Now, when I host a tea party like this, it usually means serving some of the Chinese teas I have gong fu style, since most of my friends have no experience with them. For this one fateful party, my friend brought along a lovely array of teas from her own personal stash for me to taste!

I was very excited to try them, as many of the teas were picked up in Mexico where she spends a month or two each year.

While this one was clearly not from Mexico, I was interested to try this tea in particular and, at long last… here I am!

I’m not a big fan of mango, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like this tea. The dry leaf and following the liquor were quite sweet in aroma. I was concerned that the tea itself would be too sweet for my sensibilities. However, my worries were unfounded and I discovered this to be a very mildly flavored tea.

It is sweet and tropical, but not in an overpowering way, which suits me very nicely. It almost has a coconut-y after-taste once the tea is more in the “warm” zone than hot. It’s definitely interesting. I’m not sure it’s really my style, but I’m enjoying it this morning!

I’ve never tried any of Good Earth’s teas before but my local grocery store suddenly started carrying them and this flavour sounded unique and intrigued me. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – I’ve never eaten the mangosteen fruit before so I have no idea what it smells or tastes like.

OMG the tea smelled almost exactly like fruit punch as it was steeping, I couldn’t believe it. I almost expected it to taste like fruit punch too – and it actually sort of did. It was fruity and moderatly sweet, but there was a bit of a tart bite at the end. This tea does have some hibiscus in it so I’d say that was the cause. I don’t think it’s really detrimental to the flavour though.

This is a tea that would be really good iced (in fact there are recommendations on the box to that effect. I can certainly imagine this tasting fantastic perhaps with a touch of agave nectar to sweeten it.

Delicious fruit-candy tea! It’s like eating candy without the sugar.

I generally don’t like to use boiling or near boiling water on white tea, so I treat it similarly to green. It re-steeps well for me too; I can get two mugs out of a tea bag.

I picked this up on a whim last week. I don’t mind the occasional ‘fruity’ tea, while I prefer spicy, and I like mangos. That said I found the artificial mango flavor and scent completely overwhelming. I could barely finish the cup. I actually feel guilty, but I’m going to throw the rest of the box in the trash.

This is a good tasting tea and it gives you a slight boost. This tastes great iced or hot. One of the many teas I’d like to have on hand permanently.

I bought this purely because it sounded different. I must say I was nervous about this, BUT, I am enjoying it as I type. WHen you open the tea bag envelop it smells like a fruity wine, almost. When and after steeping it smells more like a more gentle juice of sorts. It’s the darkest white tea color I have seen yet. The taste of fruit is a nice touch and thankfully not overbearing. I was pleasantly surprised with this one.