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Full disclosure: this is my third cup of green tea already today. Last night was a little rough, so I’ve been self-medicating. 1) Detox (Organic) from David’s Tea; 2) Electric Lemon from David’s Tea; 3) North African Mint from David’s Tea.
You know… this one.
I’m on a bit of a no-milk teas kick (I have almost a need to cloud my black teas and most tisanes and rooibos, so that leaves the earthy greens in my arsenal.) I did slip some honey in, though, because the throat, she’s not doing so good these days.
I don’t know what I think about the smell of the dry tea. I certainly don’t get a “mint” smell from it, like I love and am used to, but it has a firmly enigmatic and foreign sense to it.
Steeped it in my infuriatingly pine-green-interiored mug (but it’s such a great size and shape that I can’t stop using it), so I can’t tell if it has any colour to it. I suspect it has darkness, but can’t (am too lazy) to confirm.
Oh, THERE that mintiness is! It’s hidden in the warmth of steeping! It’s not as toothpastey as I tend to find peppermints. All the other spices really keep it in check. I am absolutely getting cloves in the smell. Very nice. The licorice is largely hidden, and the ginger kind of lingers in your nostrils as an after-smell.
First taste is a punch to the mouth. I took too big a gulp (because I steeped it so low and it’s so cold here that tea gets undrinkably cold very quickly, so I’ve developed the habit of chugging my tea. There’s so much happening. Heat, coolness, spiciness, body… let me take a proper sip and try to figure out some of this craziness.
Gingery burn is the first thing that happens. It teams up with the pepper and lasts as long as the tea is in your mouth. Immediately above that burn is the cold of peppermint. It’s a very nice sensation. The fennel and cloves almost make me feel like I should see my breath in a puff of ice crystals like I was outside on a very cold day.
I have to be honest and say that this little tin sat in my World Tour box for a long time because I just didn’t want to try it; that was a mistake. I’m finding that the teas I wind up liking the most at David’s Tea are the ones that I hesitated to try. I can see replacing my current mint (which was ruined by going to a different format and which will remain nameless) with this green tea version. Yum!