Cran Marnier

This is a bit much.

I can’t believe they say to use a tablespoon per cup. I used 2 tsp TOPS and it was impossible to drink.

The cranberry flavor was completely lost underneath all the spice and licorice, which is really disappointing when there are these big rehydrated cranberries floating around the infuser.

Like, I’ve had Gran Marnier in some drinks but not by itself and I don’t think it has nearly this much spice to it? I don’t understand what they’re going for here. I don’t get orange at all.

I have a little sample tin so I’ll try it again with only a teaspoon next time.

I got this in my Art of Tea Holiday sampler.

It was a spicy cinnamon -cranberry herbal tea.

I enjoyed this but it was a little but week in flavor. I will try it again with more leaves.

Autumn Harvest! This was another sampler I had from a holiday sampler pack from Art of Tea. It was described as “a warming caffeine-free blend of cinnamon, cloves and sweet tangy cranberries with a citrusy finish, reminiscent of Grand Marnier” but since I’ve been alcohol-free for decades due to my chronic migraine condition, I have never had a Grand Marnier and have no idea what it is even supposed to taste like. I only know this should be a cranberry-forward blend, and it’s harvest season, and I want some cranberries, so let’s do this!

The dry leaf smelled very strongly of spice, particularly of clove. It steeped up an unsurprising deep rooibos red color, and the aroma still smelled overwhelmingly of spice. It also tasted overwhelmingly of spice, too, with cinnamon and clove leaving a very strong impression on each sip. The tea reminded me more of a spice cider than anything else; it left a warm, cozy, by-the-fireside feeling from the cinnamon-clove spice, but if there were any other flavors in the tea, they were completely lost beneath the strong spices! Where in the world was the cranberry? I mean, I could see them in the leaf, but there wasn’t so much as a hint of it in the flavor! There isn’t even so much as a fruity note to this! Hell, I don’t even really taste the honeybush/rooibos base all that much, too be honest. The tea is sweeter than if the delivery vehicle for the spice were a black, sure, but even the base feels really drowned out in spice. Meeeeeeeeh. Just a bad blend all around.

You can’t call yourself Cran Marnier and have no cranberry!