2 Tasting Notes
We were at the mall the other day and my husband suggested trying Teavana. Not a good experience, sad to say. The shop girl kept trying to push us into buying a pound of tea, even after we decided to pass. Feeling pressured to buy something, I picked out some of this raspberry yerba mate. Was already feeling not so good about the transaction and the price, but figured the tea would be, at the least, a drinkable pick-me-up.
When I got home and opened the bag, the unpleasant medicine-y, “cough drop” smell was overwhelming. I literally can not find ANY mate in there, just red chunks and some slivers of lemongrass. I assumed the tea had just settled and the shopgirl missed scooping any into the bag, but it looks like other reviewers have had the same issue.
This tea is NOT as advertised. No bright, tart, fruity raspberry. No sour, citrusy lemon. No herbal, grassy mate. Hot, it tastes like syrupy, artificial hibiscus. Iced isn’t much better. Barely tolerable with sugar. No mate uplift. I even tried adding a scoop of my precious discontinued Rishi lemongrass mate to the second pot to see if that would balance it, and all I did was waste my lemongrass mate.
I was extremely disappointed in this tea.
ETA: If you add some good mate and lots of sugar, and let the pitcher sit out on the counter for a half hour, some of the hibicus/rose mellows out and it becomes drinkable. As far as sugary drinks go, Koolaid is slightly better and a lot cheaper.
