Mango Maté Pu-erh Punch Maté Tea

cries

WHY?!

…

First of, this tea smells like garbage. By that, I don’t mean that it smells bad. I mean that it smells like rotting garbage, bags of it.

As for the taste, well… One of my co-workers tried this, and it made him physically ill immediately thereafter, no exaggeration. I struggled with myself to prepare this one (I had to dump out Forever Nuts Caramel Almond Amaretti to make this!) and I can scarcely nerve myself to drink it. I did have a few sips in-store, see, so I’ve gotten a sneak preview…

…Okay, I let this practically go cold trying to work up to drinking it, and again, it’s not as bad as it was in the store. (How does that keep happening?) In-store it tasted like tea that someone had accidentally dropped curry powder in, and I shuddered over it for a while and then fed it to the sink. (Actually, someone was reading the ingredients, and I think they mentioned that there is curry powder in it, but I could be remembering that wrong.) I would have rated that tea with the lowest rating Steepster would allow.

This tea…okay, I’m not sure what’s different. I did steep it longer (the directions say five minutes, which I missed in the store – I think I steeped it for three in the store). Did I drink it unsweetened in the store? Now I can’t remember…

Well, there’s some sugar in my cup now. Maybe that’s what sorta-kinda saves it. It’s got a bit of fruity sweetness to it, and a bit of a spicy bite at the back. I can basically see the “mango curry” taste they were going for here.

I’m just not convinced they really pulled it off. I can be convinced to swallow it, and normally I would rate it above a 50 if I don’t have to outright toss it, but…I have absolutely no desire to drink any more. None.

With the price as cheap as it was I decided to pull the trigger on this one and get a pound. Ah the aroma on this one is intoxicating especially since I love curry! The mate and pu-erh combo I like as well. It kinda reminds me of a curried Tang. This one is especially good with a little straight Pu-erh mixed in as well. I fear I may be one to get the last of it with the sell off of Teavana teas as of late. If you added some cinnamon this would be Christmas tea.

I bought this during the heavenly sale as I’m always looking for new mate teas since I find them so helpful with my migraines and I tend to always only find chocolate-based mates (not that I’m complaining but sometimes you want to mix it up).

Opening the package for a smell…hmmm…not too sure about this one. But something intrigued me enough to try it this morning. It didn’t smell too offensive (it seriously doesn’t really smell good) so I figured why not.

I like my tea strong and I find that I generally need to add more than Teavana suggest. With this tea I felt like I was getting all fruit so I kept adding to increase the portion of actual tea. Before I knew it I had 5ish scoops in my 16 oz teamaker.

It’s possible I made it too strong (I don’t think I’ve ever said that before). I just can’t decide how I feel about it. Part of me goes ‘mmmm’ with each sip and part of me goes ‘ick.’ I’ll rebrew it tomorrow and hope that it’s mellowed a bit. I may even end up drinking the whole 2 oz bag. But the second bag will probably be put up for swap and I wouldn’t be heart broken if someone wanted all of it in exchange for something less ambiguously yummy.

Smelling this in store worried me a bit, but on sale I just thought, what the heck, I’ll try it!
But it is very intimidating. I can smell this one whole room away once it has been steeped. The aroma is mostly chili and odd fruit notes. But you know what? It really doesn’t taste bad! It smells so weird, but the flavor is instantly fruity. There is some warmth to it, less than I was expecting, but it is interesting to say the least. The pu’erh really grounds the tea in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Dare I say that this one is almost tasty? I don’t know how to describe the flavor very well, but it isn’t the worst tea I’ve had. When this first came out and I smelled it I thought it was an aberation. Now? Not completely terrible. I’d say for those who are interested to give it a try and don’t write it off before trying it.

Thanks The DJBooth for this one! This is quite an interesting tea. Very unsual in flavor profile. I like the fruity/spicy flavor of it. I agree with The DJBooth on adding cinnamon it really would taste like a holiday tea. But it is quite tasty I like it.

Reading the other reviews leaves me a bit surprised. The smell of this tea won me over immediately, so I bought 2oz to take home and sample in the mornings. I wasn’t let down.

It is a bit spicy. You don’t get a purely fruity taste. But I like my tea to taste like tea and not juice. The spice isn’t overbearing, it’s just subtle enough to add to the sweet flavor that tastes like a mix of mango and grapefruit. I’ll admit the sweet taste isn’t well defined, as you likely won’t be reminded of actual mango at all.

Overall, if you like pu-ehr and want to try a sweet variety, give this a shot.

I tend to steep around 6 minutes and use just a bit of sweetener in each cup. This is one you have to be careful not to make too strong of oversteep, as it can get sour.

It’s been a while since I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a tea, particularly from Teavana. I cannot handle a lot of spice, so I have to admit I was kind of apprehensive about this tea (Well it still might kill my stomach, but generally I know right away when something is to spicy for me. And if that happens, then I will put some kind of non dairy creamer in it.) 1st cup wise this is a damn good tea. There is enough curry to make the other flavors pop a little bit, but it doesn’t over power. I think there is also cinnamon. Which seems to make others think of Christmas. It doesn’t with me. Mangos make me think of being on the beach or in a cabana with someone special ;) While I have thought this many times before, I think I will mostlikely want to get this tea again when I’m finished with the bag.

The curry is too over powering for me, i’ve never had curry flavoring in tea before, so thought i’d give it a try. Definitely not for me though.. Not too spicy, not too fruity either. Definitely an exotic taste. Tried at different temps, with and with out sugar, couldn’t finish the cup..Going to have to find someone who likes it!

Just steeped this one for the first time today and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t care for curry at all so I was concerned I would not like it. However, I couldn’t taste the curry one bit. I have gulped one glass down and now working on my second. Mate’s are my favorite since I gave up energy drinks about a month ago. The caffeine helps in the morning!

Blah. Still waiting for the punch

Oh my. This tea is so fantastic. Really though. The spices come alive nicely, and blending it with a chai, or the cococarmel sea salt made it THAT much better.

This tea has grown on me. The smell is fairly strong, but there is a nice sweet mango taste and just enough curry spice to it. It can be blended with a sweet herbal tea to enhance the flavor, or it can be added to a chai to sweeten the chai.