Holy Spice!
I received this as a sample from Lala and decided to make myself a small teacup worth to test out. I picked this one first out of the 52Teas samples she generously gave me because my Mom kept bugging me to see what it smelled like. I guess the name really drew her in. To be fair, it drew me in too.
And holy balls, does this smell spicy! Like, you really, really get the presence of cayenne and cinnamon from the dry leaf – and then a sweeter banana undertone (but not before you get a ton of tickle in your nose and sneeze several times). I’m really hoping the banana counter balances all the spice. Like – I’m not a green tea fan, but just preparing this the green tea taste is really the least of my concerns. I fully expect this to be a memorable tea drinking experience.
So, preparation was just barely 1 1/2 tsp. (closer to 1 1/4 tsp.) in 6 oz. of approx. 80 degree Celsius water – steeped for 2 min. 30 seconds. The liquor is a non-threatening pale yellow, and it smells like peppery spices and banana medicine – but not too strongly.
First few sips…
Ok, to be perfectly honest my first thought was “ABORT!” – but I managed to down a few more slips slowly while I made my mind up, to give the tea a fair chance and to be honest it’s really not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, you do get a pretty strong taste of sweet banana and I appreciate that (I quite enjoy banana) – however, the spices and the cayenne in particular are super strong for a person who does not typically like or enjoy spiced tea. I really don’t own many Chai blends, and the ones I do have err on a sweeter side.
This just sort of burns. Like, you get “Sweet banana and mild cinnamon” that sort of quickly explodes to “Holy fucking shit, my tongue is on fire! Why is the tea so spicey!”, and the spiciness holds on for dear life in the aftertaste. Seriously, it took forever for it to fade away. It did get more bearable as the tea cooled down; basically the sweet banana flavor lasted longer before transitioning to ungodly spice attack.
So yeah – I’m not sure I get the “Ferret”, but I totally get the “Napalm”.
Anyway – I have at least one, maybe two more cups left of this, and it really isn’t so bad I wouldn’t drink it again. In fact, next time I’m really craving a sweet, spicy treat I may pull this out over Tea Desire’s Chai Apricot (which is another gunpowder based chai with sweet fruit in it).
And hey, I totally didn’t notice the green base at all. So that counts for something, right? ;)
LOL. For a minute there, I thought you were going to say you were disappointed in the balance of the napalm and ferret flavors.
This post made me laugh! I am glad it ended up not being so bad:)