Decaf Raspberry and White

Backlogging from last night… I didn’t get any raspberry from this (that I recall), and overall I didn’t love it. In general, I don’t seem to be a big fan of white teas. Maybe the subtlety is lost on me or I just haven’t developed the right palate for it. I’ve only tried a few but none of them have been blends I wanted to drink repeatedly. I’ll try again before I rate this but I’m not much of a fan at this point.

I’m very proud of myself. I set a timer for my tea today, so I wouldn’t run the risk of forgetting about it and oversteeping. So. Stash advises 1-3 minutes, I go 2:45 on the dot.

Now, the inhale: it’s a light raspberry nose. I like that, I don’t want to be hit in the face with berry-ness this afternoon. You can actually smell the tea, too. The first sip takes me a second to adjust: Cardboard? Second sip: okay, there’s some white tea here. The raspberry is faint, but as my tea rapidly cools, I can [faintly] taste the raspberry longer and longer after I swallow. It’s light, it’s soothing, it’s not bad for a Friday afternoon.

I didn’t have especially high expectations for this tea as I’m not a big fan of white tea or anything with the word “decaf” in the title. But after a taste, I changed my mind.

The raspberry flavor is mellow and sweet, very natural. It’s not tart in any way, and there is no astringency whatsoever. (Though I did go with honey and a little sugar again, so results may vary.) It blends well with the honey and the faint straw-like flavor of the cheap white tea they used. Just calling it like I see it. Anyway, I would definitely drink this again, but I won’t be going out of my way to purchase it.

I have to admit; I really love this tea. Usually, I’m not a big fan of teabags, but I had some of this left from a present last year and decided to give it a go. It has a strong raspberry smell when the package is torn open; a promising sign. I used two teabags for my teapot, and it seemed to be able to infuse into 24 ounces of water pretty well. The smell when it brews is a bit straw-y and I could smell the raspberry over the white tea. I added a tiny bit of sugar, since white teas are light, and so they shouldn’t need very much. It enhanced the raspberry flavor in a nice way. I could still taste the white tea, but it took a back seat to the raspberry. I liked it, and it’s not bad if that’s what you’re looking for.

I agree that this is nothing special, but there is a place in my cabinet for something not expensive, not fancy, but gently flavored and easy to drink. The raspberry is faint; do not oversteep in an effort to get more of it, or you’ll get the astringent “cardboard” flavor one of the other tasters noticed. Definitely steep under 3 min. I did notice that when I put some packets in a “tea basket” with a variety of other choices for a gathering at my house, this is the one people went for most; I think white tea and raspberry are just two things with wide appeal.

Water was too hot, made it a bit bitter.

While this smells exquisitely like raspberry, I felt like it was lacking in tasting like raspberry. It was a pretty nice, soothing, but generically normal white tea. It would be fine to me by on a day for just needing tea, but it’s nothing special and I wouldn’t feel the need to buy it.

Very light slightly fruity aroma. Hint of raspberry.

The taste is quite smooth, with very little fruit taste. Nothing tart or strong. Very pleasant while still warm…but if it cools too much it becomes bitter.

I steeped this tea for just under 3 minutes. It had a rich color but a disappointingly low amount of raspberry taste. A “hint” is right. I found it quite soothing.

Really faint with just the slightest sweet tone. I can get a bit of raspberry on the nose, but I tea doesn’t taste anything of raspberries. It works for me, but it’s nothing special and it’s not what I was expecting/hoping for. Maybe I could have steeped it a little longer…and I gotta get away from all the tea bags I have.