Raspberry Lemonade

Thanks so much for sending some of this, Mastress Alita! Your tasting note the other day reminded me I didn’t write one yet. I’ve been on a run of raspberry teas lately. On sight, this is a tiny leafed Darjeeling with raspberry and lemon. I certainly love the concept. I went with one teaspoon because the leaves were so small. Luckily the flavor is delicious, not overdone or bitter. It definitely tastes like Darjeeling. Hints of raspberry, not so much lemon. Some tartness for the muscatel of this Darj. The second steep is also lovely. I like it!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

This is a very old TeaSource tea that is discontinued… and I have yet to try it! (Pathetic!) The package recommends this as an iced tea, but since I’ve never tried it, I wanted to see how it would fair as a warm cuppa, too. The base was darjeeling but the leaf looked CTC, so I tried to give it a briefer steep than usual… I may need to shorten it even more! I went for a two minute steep in 195F water… somehow I seem to get less astringency when I brew darjeeling in slightly cooler water?

My cup is a light coppery color and it smells like autumn leaves (the darj is coming through strongly!), raspberry, and perhaps a touch of a citrus tang. The flavor is… surprisingly quite berry-forward, and I wasn’t expecting that! There was quite a bit of lemongrass in the leaf, by far not my favorite of the citrus herbs, but I’m not even really getting that odd hay-like/herbaceous quality it often leaves in a tea. The tea is very smooth, so I may have found the sweet-spot on my brewing parameters, and I was expecting a lot more temperment because, quite frankly, it usually takes me several tries with darj’s to find the sweet spot. It is not overly-leafy tasting in flavor, like I get from a lot of darjeeling, but I do get a soft autumn leaf/vegetal background note, that mixes with a more malty foreground note. The raspberry flavor then fills in nicely, and it’s very present but doesn’t have that syrupy/fakey/metallic flavor I get very often from raspberry flavorings; there is a softness to it at first, and then it leaves a gentle berry tanginess on the tongue. It’s really nice! I’m not getting a very strong citrus note, though; I get a very subtle citrus aftertaste on the roof of my mouth, but it isn’t pulling very strongly against the other flavors in the cup. Honestly though; I’m alright with that, because the tea is quite delightful as is. I may try it with a dash of lemon juice to bring that note out for curiosity’s sake, but I’m really happy with it. I will have to try this one iced, and maybe add just a touch of my lemon-infused honey… mmm.

Now I’m sad knowing TeaSource discontinued this one!