Citrus Rose Yerba Mate

Jillian kindly sent me some bags of this blend…ever since I read her note about “the citrus and hibiscus forming an unholy alliance” in her mouth, I’ve been intriqued. I adore tart things…my lemonade, for example, should lock your jaw it’s so tart, and I brew hibiscus-based blends at 10 minutes or longer.

So, on to this. It’s definitely pink, and definitely smells like hibiscus. I can kinda smell the yerba mate underneath that, but in scent, it’s definitely not the star player.

It’s really not as tart as I was expecting. Actually, I really don’t find it tart at all. The hibiscus is in the fore, and there’s lemon-like notes, but the yerba mate taste still comes through for me as herbal/woodsy. Sweet without having anything added; I think adding anything would be a bad idea. Probably the best yerba mate blend that I’ve had, to be honest (I’ve tasted all of three, and the other two were blended with chocolate flavors, so please take that statement with a grain of salt). I think this’d be fantastic iced in the summer as well.

Jillian, thanks for sending this one to me!! I’m definitely enjoying it!

I got this tea on sale at my local health food store, not realizing until I got home that the ‘rose’ part actually referred to rose of sharon – the dreaded hibiscus. Still, in the interests of trying something new I decided to give this tea a chance.

It’s packaged in rather large teabags, unlike most mates I’ve comes across, so the convenience is nice. The bags smell citrusy and herbal with a bit of a tea-like odor and hints of something spicy. That seemed promising so I followed the steeping direction, brewing the bag in a 10 oz coffee mug for 5 min at 90ºC (boiling water apparently can ruin yerba mate).

Unfortunately my worst fears were realized and the tea turned out to be mouth-puckeringly tart, the citrus and hibiscus forming an unholy alliance in my mouth. The mate is only faintly detectable as a herbal undertone, but it’s not really there all that much. I’ll try lowering the steeping time, but right now I can’t say I’m impressed.