The Apache Tracker

my second Nightvale tea.
i drank it before leaving work, chugged it basically, only because i didn’t want it to go to waste.
it’s very earthy, as toasted mate tends to be. it has a somewhat dark mood to it.

i’m real behind on my tasting notes.

there are inches of snow and ice outside.

my cat almost climbed into a hole in the bricked-up fire place tonight and if i hadn’t caught her legs i might have never seen her again and it was terrifying.

It’s a mate! Roasty and nutty and sweet!
I’d pick Thor over the Apache Tracker any day.

ok so i know i just waxed poetic about how awesome mate is(NOT)…but this one is ok. It seems the chocolate cuts through that, i’m mate…i taste like burnt chalk taste and adds to this. But you know? if it was just black tea with this flavouring… i’d like it more. so POOP ON YOU MATE! true story. but the flavours of this one at least make it drinkable…mostly. thanks cavo! one more for “all the tea!”

Ok, this is a mate! New to me, though I think the chocolate blends well with the earthy taste.

This is the last of the Nightvale collection – now I’ve tasted them all. Hmm, while the Teen Wolf collection was all about fruity-chai-green-green, this collection is more about the earthy-gunpowder. Makes sense to me.

That awkward moment when you’re trying to smell the dry leaf of a blend, and instead you just wind up with a bunch of tea leaves up your nose…

Anywho, I’ve only listened to the first three or four episodes of WTNV, but that does include the first appearance of the Apache Tracker, so I do know a bit about the character. With Adagio blends I think it’s kind of important you understand the character, because their rating (since they are so unique) should incorporate not only how they taste but whether they accurately represent their namesakes.

I was excited to get this one from aisling of tea because Adagio blends are so tricky to get your hands on here in Canada unless you have a tea mule or are willing to shell out lots of money for the shipping. Plus, if you don’t want the full sampler of something, then 3 oz. is a lot to get for a blind try. And, on top of the fandom/character itself I thought the teas that compose this blend all sounded really interesting too!

My friend Robyn may have been a little more excited than I was though; she’s really into WTNV.

Anyway, now that this is steeped up I think it’s really incredibly good! The first thing I notice is actually the really rich and full almond/hazlenut with a dark chocolate weightiness to it; and then the roasted mate’s earthiness and the black base. All in all, I’m actually incredibly impressed with the flavour of this one! It sort of reminds me of Tea Desire’s Bralisiano but with more more nuttiness where that one has sweetness.

I would totally buy a full 3 oz. pouch of this one! Out of all the teas I’ve ever had, I think this one – hands down – does the best job of really capturing and conveying a flavourful and distinctly “nutty” flavour.

As well, the nuttiness totally matches with namesake of the tea, though Cara mentions it being “offensive” in the description, and the flavour of this one is anything but. However, all in all I think this is a good character portrayal and I’m super pleasantly surprised.

Onto the shopping list!

On to Night Vale. Once again, I’m going in alphabetical order, so that means I’m starting with the Apache Tracker.

“Can you believe this guy said he used ‘Indian magics’? What an asshole.”

For those unfamiliar with the Apache Tracker, he was a white man (apparently Slavic in origin) who wore a huge and cartoonishly inaccurate, horribly offensive Native American headdress. (thank you Night Vale wiki!)

This brew is dark. Dark, dark, dark. I can really only taste the toasted mate, everything else fades away. Okay, maybe there’s the hint of chocolate and maybe a nut or two, but…this is MATE. Ah well. I enjoy mate, but much like its namesake, this tea pretends to be something it isn’t.