Mascarpone & Sour Cherry

The smell in the bag was ahhhhh. Subtle sweet creaminess. I smiled and my shoulders relaxed.

It smelled pretty good brewed up, with that same subtleness but also light tanginess that accurately captured mascarpone. A vegetal/cooked green quality was present from the oolong (cheap and/or old tieguanyin or milk oolong?). The taste was strange and weak. The cherry came through with a 3 minute steep time but sampled with a longer 5 minute steep, the flavor was more watery, generic hibiscus sour. The light vegetal taste from the oolong didn’t complement the intended flavor profile. In desperation to get some of that creamy taste, I inhaled through my nose while taking a sip. Nada. I think the mascarpone and sour cherry combination would be awesome but the aroma and tastes didn’t integrate well enough for me to consider this a cohesive brew. Still enjoyable but not recommended.

This is one of those weird teas that doesn’t pop up in searches properly so it was never added to my cupboard but today I was going through the teas I keep at my sisters and there it was. It sounds good to me but mostly it was hibiscus to add sour to the cherry flavour. While that was fine, it didn’t really have marscapone.

Cold brew in oat milk overnight

A free sample from my B&B order! Thanks so much, you excellent team of tea people! This blend was intriguing. First, I had to look up what mascarpone is. It seems like a fancy cream cheese, but also, how the heck would that translate in a tea?!?! Let’s say since I didn’t know what mascarpone tasted like, I was looking for cream cheese and definitely wasn’t tasting that… if anything there was a hint of salt, but that can sometimes be from oolong leaves itself. So there was a savory element more than not but only if you’re thinking about mascarpone. I’m not sure if I’ve had a B&B oolong before, except for the tasty Brighton Rock, but that might not even be the same base oolong. Another B&B blend where the hibiscus and rosehips are tame enough not to overwhelm. I hope nobody sees those ingredients and gets scared away from trying B&B blends… in most of the blends, the hibiscus and rosehips are subtle. I really wish the blend didn’t have orange peels though? They don’t fit here, but I’m also not tasting them. The first steep has the most flavors of tart cherry and cranberry. But those flavors slowly fade in the second and third steeps. With a slight cream note throughout. Credit for actually using cherries and cranberries in the blend though! The color of the brew was actually lavender which was different. I like this tea, but it just isn’t special enough for me to really crave or call amazing. But this is why I LOVE samples.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 7 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

My Bird & Blend order arrived! This is one of the teas I was most looking forward to of the ones I bought. Creamy sour cherry oolong sounds basically like my perfect tea. Steeped, it smells and tastes of cherry, but it’s fairly light. However – there’s basically no oolong, which is the most disappointing part. Despite having a decent amount in my cup, I just can’t pick out any contribution from the base tea. So this more or less tastes like a cup of slightly creamy, weak cherry juice. Not terrible, but not what I was hoping for. I’ll try a longer infusion next time to see if it makes a difference, but I’m not sure that it will. If I can’t coax out any oolong, this may just become a summer iced tea, instead.

Yesterday I got my another B&B subsciption envelope. I am thinking about cancelling it, but it is quite cheap (305 CZK per month) and teas are always interesting to try. So I won’t probably.

Anyway, this is one their new blends they call Summer Ice Cream Collection. I took this one, because it is oolong with fruits.

Unfortunately, my strainer is still too small (I tend to forget to buy big one, cup size), so oolong leaves do not have much space. Moreover when cherries are there too.

After recommended 3 minutes steep, it is quite cloudy (some dust went through mesh), light red, rather pink colour.

It is not much aromatic. Yeah, of course there is sour cherries, but not much of mascarpone or other fruits (see ingredients).

In taste it is weak sour cherry flavour and do not notice mascarpone, or at least creamy flavours. Maybe I have steeped it too short.