I’m new to finicky teas, which to me means anything other than: drown it in boiling water and forget about it until you remember it again. ;-)
(well, not quite that bad)
But reading the ingredients, I was really curious about this one – the dry leaves smell very nice, especially the cherry smell.
So I steeped this carefully, according to instructions – letting the boiling water sit for 5-6 minutes to bring the temperature down to about 175F (I also tested it with 2 different meat thermometers, just to see; the digital one read 179F), and then timed it to steep for 3 minutes exactly.
I added about 1/4 tsp sugar.
The steeped tea still smells really nice, mostly the cherry. There are subtleties and complexities that I can’t really describe – probably the green and white tea leaves. I’m not sure I can pick out the jasmine, coconut, rose… but the overall blend of aromas and flavours is pleasant.
For me, there is a sort-of acidic or bitter taste that detracts from the overall. I tried adding a little more sugar (up to 1/2 tsp), and a little milk, and that improved it. I just tried eating one of the dry coconut chips, and that was strangely bitter/acidic/unpleasant (maybe stale?), so next time I’ll fish those out of the dry leaves before I add water.
This tea is interesting and appealing enough that I think it could grow on me, once I get more familiar with the flavours of green and white teas. I do love the cherry smell.
And as I get down to the bottom of the large mug, it’s tasting better!
The description says “5 different types of tea”, but I count only 4 in the ingredients list that I copied from the package.
