I usually don’t drink green tea in the morning, but this isn’t your regular green tea… this is jasmine pearls blended with maté. I recently had a groupon-style deal for Sanctuary T that was expiring, so I went shopping to figure out what teas to buy. They offer samples for a few of their teas, but none that I was really interested in, so I had to go for a couple of 2oz teas. They had a number that sounded interesting until I took a closer look and realized that I had tried a bunch of them under different names from other companies. This was one that I had never seen anywhere else before and it appealed to me.
The dry leaf smells minty and green, with a hint of jasmine underneath. I think that maté can smell a bit minty, and it definitely reminds me of my recent travels to Argentina. The tea came without a temp for steeping, but I used a green tea temp because of the jasmine pearls. Also, I don’t know how hot the water is that Argentinians usually use for their maté, but I’m pretty sure it’s not actually boiling (at least, it wasn’t for one girl I stayed with). I steeped it for 1.5 min (based on their 1-2min recommendation), but I’m pretty sure I’d be happy with 2 minutes.
The tea smells more jasminey after steeping, though not overwhelming. Still green minty and that herbaceous maté aroma. It’s pretty faithful to that in the taste as well, though the jasmine is just a hint. Looking in my infuser it looks like the jasmine pearls didn’t get much chance to expand, so I guess I’ll be resteeping this one! The flavors remind me of an Argentinian herbal tea I brough back with me (not a maté blend), actually. It’s not a combination that I would expect to like, but it’s pleasant and I do really like it.
Second steep was a tiny bit hotter (180°F) and for 3 minutes. The jasmine pearls are really unfurling now. It’s decent but I liked the first steep better; there seems like there’s less flavor in this one. I think using these parameters for the first steep might yield my perfect cup of this tea.
