Yay unexpected reward tea! I elaborated a bit more in my previous note about Blueberry Jam as to why I bought this, but essentially I finished work early so decided to treat myself to a new tea using the money I would have been spending on lunch.
The experience in store was kind of interesting, actually. I knew I was looking for a Mate, so when the sales lady (who is also the store manager) asked if I knew what was looking for/if she could help me, I explained I was interested in picking up a new Mate tea so I had more variety in the mornings. I told her I already had Chocolate Rocket (which I love) and wanted something fruitier.
She then pulled down Jungle Ju Ju, Main Squeeze, and Queen of Tarts. In between my sniffing different teas and reading the ingredients lists we started talking about Steepster. I was talking about how I knew a bit about each tea and what to expect based on Steepster reviews. I told her that of the three teas she had pulled, Jungle Ju Ju has the highest rating (81 I think?) and Queen of Tarts has the lowest. She seemed really personally offended that Queen of Tarts was scored lower, and then really insisted that it was the best selling Mate they had. I don’t know, it just really stuck out to me.
Also, in theory, it makes sense logically to me that Queen of Tarts would be a high seller since it’s really new. It was August’s tea of the month, so it was featured and therefore a lot of people probably tried it out above other Mates. Also, anyone who is a really big DAVIDsTEA fan, it seems, goes out of their way to try the new blends at least once so that’s even more people buying the tea.
Anyway, I think I’m glad I picked this one out. Jungle Ju Ju didn’t do anything for me smell wise, and Queen of Tarts smelled SO strongly of hibiscus – and while I like hibiscus I can get the flavour from either Goji Pop or Pink Flamingo, both of which I have stocked.
The dry leaf of this one smells super strongly of all things tropical. When I worked at the theatre, we sold a smoothie called “Tropical Storm”, and the smell of that smoothie is really akin to what I smell in the dry leaf of this one. It makes sense, they share some similar contributing flavours like pineapple and orange. There’s a gentle earthiness to the dry leaf as well, from the green yerba mate. I’m so excited to try this out!
My Dad is getting here from Regina at around five, and then we’re gonna go out for supper and see a movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2)! I’m also gonna try and convince him to take me grocery shopping so I can buy more stuff and don’t have to worry about walking back home with a ton of grocery bags. However, since he’ll be here in less than two hours I really only have time to properly review one tea and I was kind of torn between this and the two Della Terra teas I’ve yet to try. Opted for this though – I could probably use the energy.
I used a level tsp. for my 6 oz cup, steeped in near boiling water for 5 min. and 30 seconds. This steeped up to be a really vibrant yellow colour. The smell of it steeping was a pretty concentrated papaya, with some notes of orange and pineapple. The earthiness of the mate is also present.
Tasting it, the initial notes in the front of the sip are about 50/50 earthy flavours and tropical ones. The tropical notes are very sweet with a well rounded balance between pineapple, papaya, and orange. Part of me also gets an incredibly faint sense of mango. Again, I have to allude to the Tropical Storm smoothies I used to serve at work, minus the creamy dairy. I’ve read a few reviews that said the flavour was toned down in comparison to the dry leaf smell, and while (of course) it doesn’t taste exactly like the dry leaf does, I think this is pretty flavourful and powerful in its own way. The earthy flavour from the mate doesn’t hold up in the aftertaste. Instead, the aftertaste is an all tropical one that sits in your mouth for a really long time.
I think this is going to be a really good morning/breakfast tea, and I’m super happy with the purchase! Really loving all aspects of this tea (we’ll just have to wait and see whether or not this one is as stimulating as I hope it’ll be). I feel like I have a really good mix up of Mates at this point: Mate Mint from Tea Desire, Chocolate Rocket from DAVIDsTEA, and now Main Squeeze also from DAVIDsTEA – all together equalling three really distinct flavours. Also, it’s great to have something really tropical/citrusy that ISN’T an herbal tea.
EDIT: Yikes, this rating is a novel! I never realize I’m writing as much as I do until I post. The few of you who occasionally comment, how do you put up with reading so much?
Haha that happens to me sometimes too. You hit the submit button and think “Whaaaat? How did I write that much?” I’m glad you enjoy this tea! It was a little bit of a disappointment for me, personally.