One of my very favorite teas is the Samovar Moorish Mint, and because I have such a deeply ingrained bias toward it, it’s very hard for any others in this genre to compare. I know that’s not really fair, because, for example, this tea I’m drinking now doesn’t have all the same ingredients as the Samovar blend. But then again, that’s the reason I’ve always loved Samovar — their blending superpowers.
This sample packet smells very strongly of peppermint. That’s really all I smell. The dry tea volume is about four times the usual for a Todd & Holland sample, but it’s pretty clearly because there’s so much mint in here.
And really, that’s all I taste as well. The tea, if it’s in here, might as well not be — I can’t taste it, nor can I taste any effect of it, such as damping down the volatility of the peppermint. Ironically, I do get a bit of green tea background in the steeped tea’s aroma, but it doesn’t come through in the flavor.
It’s tasty if you like peppermint, but honestly, if I wanted this flavor, I’d just drink straight peppermint and not have to worry about the caffeine. This lack of tea-ness has caused its rating to suffer at my hands, because one criterion I use for rating is whether a tea lives up to its name — Moroccan Mint is a category that should have some tea flavor coming through, even if it is minimal.
Flavors: Peppermint