Pitahaya de Colombia

Gonna be honest, I expected to not love this one but I thought it was pretty solid. In typical Mariage Freres fashion it’s basically impossible to find an ingredient list (which drives me insane), but it’s pretty clearly meant to be a dragonfruit forward blend and I did feel like it tasted fairly strongly of dragonfruit. That’s a tough flavour to emulate and commercial dragonfruit products sometimes just taste like fruit punch. I got some of that fruity punch thing here, but waaayyyy less sweet and with a ton more natural floral flavour which feels (to me at least) a bit more authentic.

The green tea base smooth enough with a pretty strong grassy note, but I definitely got the impression it’s the sort of tea that would quickly slide into coarse, bitter territory with hotter water or a longer steep time. The grassiness with this more subdued pink tropical note does feel right though, just emotionally. And of course I don’t only taste dragonfruit here – I feel like there’s maybe some guava sneaking in there and a bit of pear!? The pear is interesting though because people often say dragonfruit tastes like a watered down pear. So, am I tasting pear subconciously because I know that? Am I tasting pear because a pear flavour was added to the blend to lean into that comparison? Or am I tasting it because there’s truth to the comparison and it’s just a note I’ve isolated from the dragonfruit flavouring being used?

THIS IS WHY I WANT INGREDIENTS LISTS, MF!!!

Anyway… A gentle fruit blend with a tropical lean that I’m not at all mad about.

Mariage Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 3

Today seems to be fruit-themed in advent-land (to distract from the frigid weather, maybe?). I love dragonfruit and enjoyed the couple of Colombian MF teas I’ve tried so far, so I’m actually excited to see this one pop up!

Dragonfruit is a mildly-sweet cactus fruit, not unlike a watered down kiwi or pear, with soft floral hues. It’s tricky to find a tea base that won’t overshadow such a delicate profile, but this gentle, grassy-sweet Colombian green appears to manage just fine. A pleasant astringent dryness builds over the course of the cup, which transports me to somewhere warmer that I’d rather be.

I could see some finding this tea insipid – but it puts me in mind of what I dub “spa teas” (ex – those refreshing but subtle melon and cucumber-inclined profiles). I like it (disclaimer: I also like Glacéau Vitamin Water Mega C) and think it would make a good cold brew.

Steep Count: 2