Moonlight in Marrakesh

Had this one last night!

This is from Magic Hour’s Wanderlust Collection which, if you’re unfamiliar, is a monthly release of a different globally inspired tea. I’m obsessed with the concept, and the profiles they’ve come up with (and the accompanying artwork) is just so standout.

This one is essentially a bit of a souped-up take on a Moroccan Mint, which is pretty fun. I love when people make riffs on what are typically really established, classic tea profiles. Overall, I enjoyed the cup. It’s tough for me to say that I loved it though. Not because it wasn’t good quality – it was. The balance of the different types of mint with the spices was quite well executed – you even still get some of the green tea base, which is challenging to convey when working with so many aggressive and boldly flavoured ingredients. The spearmint was my favourite part, and something about the spearmint with the cinnamon and nutmeg was especially appealing to me – it was cooling yet cozy and very fresh. As a whole, the tea does make me think of DT’s North African Mint blend. The spearmint branches it off, though.

It’s just that, composition-wise, this is just one of those flavour profiles/styles of teas that isn’t really in my preferred wheelhouse. Even with my scary stash of 2000+ teas, herbaceous spiced/mint type profiles are pretty underrepresented. I don’t reach for them often. Not compared to fruits, decadent profiles, straight teas, or even “pure mints”. However, I can see this blend working for a lot of people. My slight ambivalence is purely a reflection on my own tastes, and not commentary on the blend itself.

Backlog from yesterday:
Looked forward to this one and wondered if it would be a variation of the Morrocan Mint blend I used to live by. The ingredients, though, had a lot of spices to put a more Middle Eastern flair and resembled a chai a little bit, so here it goes into my tumbler, no more than a teaspoon, and voila.

Very balanced and sultry. The green tea provides enough body for the spices to meld with the mint and add some fresh character, and none of the spices clash with the mint. There were times I’d be concerned about the cinnamon because it does have a little bit of a fireball smell in the dryleaf, but it’s cut out by the cloves considerably. The ginger and cardamom are also effortless and do not overpower the blend or the mint. I actually sat in my car, enjoying this tea for a good ten minutes before I went in. It felt amazing on my sore throat and had a great flavor. Oddly enough, it got smoother the longer it sat in my tumbler. The spices were more pronounced after a bout 2-3 minutes, but the clove and the green tea were more prominent later on as it steeped. No bitterness or astringency.

I brewed it up two, no three more times. Ginger and nutmeg were more prominent with the mint on 2, the cinnamon and clove were prominent again on 3 with much more action from the cardamom, and four was super soft mint, nutmeg, and cardamom with a little bit of a green malt from the green tea. I’m flossing out descriptions betwixt my teeth, I know, but it’s nice to have a green tea that has great body for a mint blend. It’s also got a kind of subtlety that you’d get something from saffron, which I know is not in this blend.

You can clearly read I like this one. I feel guilty for being the fanboy on here writing the glowing Magic Hour reviews, but I’ve been really impressed with the Astrology and Wanderlust teas. I think the Wanderlust are a bit too expensive overall, but I am impressed with how each of them has been distinct with some of the wall blends. Tulum was the most straightforward out of all of them, Ravello was luxurious and clever, and this one has a blend of ingredients that I would not think would balance each other out. I was worried that this would give me more chai vibes, but it didn’t. It’s my girlfriends favorite so far too of the Wanderlust.