Globe Amaranth Berry White Tea

My second sample from Nature’s Tea Leaf. I requested this because I absolutely adore floral teas, but have never had one with globe amaranth. I’ve had it in the garden, but never in tea! Also, I kind of thought it was berry flavored as well—though of course, amaranth is called that because it looks like a berry. Duuh, kind of a silly mistake on my part!

In any case, I’m pretty glad there’s no berry like I originally thought. This is an almost impossibly light, effervescent blend. The amaranth isn’t really floral surprisingly, but refreshing and almost a bit sour, though not in a negative way. It also makes the glass a nice shade of light pink, almost rose-colored. I think the white base is what really shines here, it’s crisp and has some luscious cucumber and green apple notes. One of the most refreshing teas I’ve had for sure! I think this would be best iced in the summer, definitely a tea that you could chug down on a hot day.

TTB-A sample, another with only one cup left.

I was briefly confused when I looked up the listing for this tea and seeing “berry” in the title, thinking it meant it was berry flavored, but no. I guess it is supposed to be a reference to the look of a whole globe amaranth flower, but at this point they are all broken into many tiny flower buds. I’ve had globe amaranth in flowering teas before but never by itself.

I think this tea may have been the unfortunate victim of sitting next to too many smelly flavored teas for too long. It kind of has that aroma that a box of flavored teas in ziplocs has when you open it, kind of a mishmash of all flavors at once. Many flavored teas are strong enough on their own to stand up to that, but this tea did not really. I mean, it’s still a pretty tasty white tea because its lightly sweet, but other than that I couldn’t pick out a flavor. I mean, there is maybe some chocolate in there? Haha. Oh well, I put it out of its misery. :)

I was hoping this would be just a tad bit more floral, given the presence of all the buds/berries and petals. It kind of just sweetens up the white peony in a different way than it is naturally. Almost like really faint notes you’d find maybe in a Riesling wine? I am going to use the rest that was in the tea box to cold brew a cup!