Mimosa

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Picked this one up randomly when I was ordering something else. I had never seen this tea before, so of course I had to get some for science.

It’s a bit bland though, to be honest. I don’t get a ton of citrus flavor from it, if anything it’s vaguely fruity. I would guess apricot? Anyway, it’s not bad but quite underwhelming.

Cameron offered to send a sample of Tochiotome recently, and when the envelope arrived it had a sample of this tea AND a large amount of my dear, dear Carol! Thank you so much, and you should have seen Ashman’s eyes get big as saucers when I told him he was restocked on his favorite strawberry tea! I am saving the Tochiotome for the weekend so Ashman can try it with me since I am always looking for strawberry tea he will love.

I couldn’t wait to try Mimosa, and I have had it twice now because my impression of it is very different from the notes already listed and I wanted to be sure before committing it to official record. One tasting note indicated they found a bitter, unpleasant floral smell. I detect little floral aroma and nothing bitter at all. I love neroli and consider that to be a bitter aroma, but there is nothing like that here to me.

Another note was from someone who mistakenly thought that Mimosa here was referring to the alcoholic beverage, but it is referring to the flower. A third note just found it meh.

My impression – the main aroma I get it light citrus, not super tart and not bitter. Light orange. Good tea base.

The sip – tastes best after just a couple of minutes cooling so not too hot and not too cold. Again, tea base is nice with good body, light citrus and very light floral if you look for it. It actually reminded me of Capri by Harney and Sons except if you gave me those two teas side by side and asked which had fig I would have said this one did, because Capri has nothing resembling fig to me. Not that this is super sweet like figs, but something about it makes me think of Capri which is supposed to fig flavored but tastes mostly like lemon and vanilla. I will stop rambling now.

Today I had this with breakfast and continued sipping on it while teaching piano lessons. I found it immensely drinkable, meaning it was easy going down but it was not a mindless cup that made me forget what I was having. With each sip I NOTICED the tea and its flavor, though I won’t claim it was a show stopping competition grade blend best reserved for mindful sipping. It was super refreshing and a nice luxury during my “work time.”

Thank you, CameronB! It was a hoot to try and I enjoyed it. Can’t wait for Tochiotome!

AROMA: I actually found the smell of Mimosa to be quite unpleasant and off putting. I want to try and describe the smell, but it’s quite unique. Think bitter floral; not smooth or flowery like usual floral scents, but an acrid sort of floral scent. When the cup has cooled, and I mean really cooled, like cold cooled, it’s smells much pleasanter, taking on an orange, citric smell.

FLAVOUR: Not being one to let something like a little aroma put me off, I delved into tasting Mimosa. This tea takes on a light citrus flavor with a floral backdrop, almost like a dandylion flavour. It’s quite a unique taste. I wouldn’t say it was nice, nor is it terrible, I’ve definitely had worse.

FINAL THOUGHTS: You’ll be able to tell, this wasn’t a great tea for me. I found the lack of stimulating or exciting flavours to be a total disappointment, despite the teas uniqueness. However, if you do want to Mimosa for yourself it’s available as both teabags and loose leaf from Lupicia. If you tried Mimosa let me know your thoughts, I’d love to know how to got on!

FOR MORE ON TEA: www.TastetheTea.co.uk

I bought this tea mostly for the fact that it was on sale and Lupicia has these really dumb $60 minimums to get free shipping.. and I was THIS close. Also, I was really intrigued. Can a tea really taste like a mimosa? The only caveat was that it’s set to expire soon – two months from today.

Little side story – I’m not a big alcohol drinker for various reasons. So one time at a brunch as the lady is pouring me a mimosa, I ask, “Can you go easy on the champagne and heavy on the orange juice?”. She looks me dead in the eye and says “In my 10 years of bartending I’ve NEVER had anyone ask me that before.” And thus, my friends would often joke about the “Rachel Mimosa” which was almost all orange juice with a splash of champagne.

So how about this tea? I can definitely smell the citrus fruits in this. While I could brew it hot, I decided to take two tea bags (in my handy Lupicia glass cooler), pour on some hot water, and let it cold brew for a while. After 8 hours it wasn’t bad, but I felt like it could have gone a little longer – so I left in for a full 24 hours. The result is actually not that bad. There’s some black tea and citrus notes, but nothing is overpowering and the tea is honestly really refreshing.

Does it taste like a mimosa? Heck no. It kinda tastes like a mild black tea with some modest orange flavoring. But I definitely wouldn’t drink this and think it’s anything like a mimosa. It’s still very pleasant though. And since I can’t even have orange juice as much anymore because it gives me heartburn this is honestly much better anyway.

Will I buy more? Eh probably not. Honestly if it’s on sale it’s probably being discontinued anyway. The tea isn’t bad. I’ve had better from Lupicia but it works well as a cold brew.

I am both relieved and disappointed that I didn’t care for this tea. Relieved because it won’t go on my summer Lupicia order, but disappointed that it was….meh. It’s not terrible…just not terribly inspiring.