As promised, I cold brewed this last night. I hate wasting leaves from limited/expensive teas, and doing a hot then cold brew also has the benefit of offering up slightly different flavor profiles. And let me tell you, the differences between this tea hot with milk & cream and cold unsweetened are pretty drastic! And while I am a rabid fan of cold brewing, I think I might actually like this one a little better hot.
What’s really lost in the cold brew is that lovely strong black base. It’s still there, but not as upfront and brisk as it is hot. It’s more mellow, like the base in a nice sweet tea. The mango is about as prominent—both ways this isn’t really a super mango-y tea though. The flavor is there for sure, but it’s quite subtle. In fact, mango ice cream is usually pretty softly flavored so I suppose it’s fitting! The cream aspect is what really stands out this way—it’s even creamier, milkier, richer. If I had my eyes closed I could swear there was cream in the glass. It’s almost silky, not just a taste but a mouthfeel. Kind of surprising, I expected the mango to pop and the cream to be subtler while the opposite is true!
