Mango Maté Pu-erh Punch Maté Tea

cries

WHY?!

…

First of, this tea smells like garbage. By that, I don’t mean that it smells bad. I mean that it smells like rotting garbage, bags of it.

As for the taste, well… One of my co-workers tried this, and it made him physically ill immediately thereafter, no exaggeration. I struggled with myself to prepare this one (I had to dump out Forever Nuts Caramel Almond Amaretti to make this!) and I can scarcely nerve myself to drink it. I did have a few sips in-store, see, so I’ve gotten a sneak preview…

…Okay, I let this practically go cold trying to work up to drinking it, and again, it’s not as bad as it was in the store. (How does that keep happening?) In-store it tasted like tea that someone had accidentally dropped curry powder in, and I shuddered over it for a while and then fed it to the sink. (Actually, someone was reading the ingredients, and I think they mentioned that there is curry powder in it, but I could be remembering that wrong.) I would have rated that tea with the lowest rating Steepster would allow.

This tea…okay, I’m not sure what’s different. I did steep it longer (the directions say five minutes, which I missed in the store – I think I steeped it for three in the store). Did I drink it unsweetened in the store? Now I can’t remember…

Well, there’s some sugar in my cup now. Maybe that’s what sorta-kinda saves it. It’s got a bit of fruity sweetness to it, and a bit of a spicy bite at the back. I can basically see the “mango curry” taste they were going for here.

I’m just not convinced they really pulled it off. I can be convinced to swallow it, and normally I would rate it above a 50 if I don’t have to outright toss it, but…I have absolutely no desire to drink any more. None.

With the price as cheap as it was I decided to pull the trigger on this one and get a pound. Ah the aroma on this one is intoxicating especially since I love curry! The mate and pu-erh combo I like as well. It kinda reminds me of a curried Tang. This one is especially good with a little straight Pu-erh mixed in as well. I fear I may be one to get the last of it with the sell off of Teavana teas as of late. If you added some cinnamon this would be Christmas tea.

I think I know what it is that throws me off about this tea: it kind of smells pickled. Both the dry leaf and the steeped tea have this kind of pickle-ness that is just weird in tea. After that first cup I’ve been avoiding this one a bit. Not because it is really terrible, it just has a very intimidating factor. This is a really “dirty” tea, in that even with my finest mesh this leaves a huge amount of floaties in my cup. I hate that. I find tea floaties and oily blends visually displeasing.
Today this tea smells much more juicy than my last one. I tried to make sure I got equal parts tea and extras. Today the tea seems more spicy with equal parts juicy fruitiness. It is okay; just okay. I can’t pin down what type of fruit this is supposed to be even though mango is in the name. It is not overly citrus, berry, or mango. It seems like the tea that can’t in a way. It wants to be this tropical, spicy thing and almost does just that, but fails because it is just a weird jumble of lots of things that sounds tasty.

I haven’t actually tasted this yet, but so far my first impression of the smell in my cup is this isht smells #cray.

First sip… Wow. Nasty…
Next sip… Wow. Something this gross is actually being mass-produced and sold?! dry heave
Next sip… Wow. Just wow. pour down the drain

I don’t mind curry. But in this tea, the curry does not make sense. The mix of flavors is just sickening. Blehkkk. Bye.

I bought this during the heavenly sale as I’m always looking for new mate teas since I find them so helpful with my migraines and I tend to always only find chocolate-based mates (not that I’m complaining but sometimes you want to mix it up).

Opening the package for a smell…hmmm…not too sure about this one. But something intrigued me enough to try it this morning. It didn’t smell too offensive (it seriously doesn’t really smell good) so I figured why not.

I like my tea strong and I find that I generally need to add more than Teavana suggest. With this tea I felt like I was getting all fruit so I kept adding to increase the portion of actual tea. Before I knew it I had 5ish scoops in my 16 oz teamaker.

It’s possible I made it too strong (I don’t think I’ve ever said that before). I just can’t decide how I feel about it. Part of me goes ‘mmmm’ with each sip and part of me goes ‘ick.’ I’ll rebrew it tomorrow and hope that it’s mellowed a bit. I may even end up drinking the whole 2 oz bag. But the second bag will probably be put up for swap and I wouldn’t be heart broken if someone wanted all of it in exchange for something less ambiguously yummy.

Alas, like a lady waiting, glancing at her watch for her date, I’m feeling a little stood up.

Not a good way to start the morning.

My mango, where have you gone? I’ve tried to blend this tea a couple times now with other citrus or fruity teas, and I’m not finding as much of the mango & sweetness as I did the first brew. The spice from the curry and ginger tends to overwhelm all the other flavors, leaving a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. Perhaps I can find it again with the right time/temp, but my wake up mate tea needs to be a bit more forgiving in the morning. A shame.

Thanks The DJBooth for this one! This is quite an interesting tea. Very unsual in flavor profile. I like the fruity/spicy flavor of it. I agree with The DJBooth on adding cinnamon it really would taste like a holiday tea. But it is quite tasty I like it.

Reading the other reviews leaves me a bit surprised. The smell of this tea won me over immediately, so I bought 2oz to take home and sample in the mornings. I wasn’t let down.

It is a bit spicy. You don’t get a purely fruity taste. But I like my tea to taste like tea and not juice. The spice isn’t overbearing, it’s just subtle enough to add to the sweet flavor that tastes like a mix of mango and grapefruit. I’ll admit the sweet taste isn’t well defined, as you likely won’t be reminded of actual mango at all.

Overall, if you like pu-ehr and want to try a sweet variety, give this a shot.

I tend to steep around 6 minutes and use just a bit of sweetener in each cup. This is one you have to be careful not to make too strong of oversteep, as it can get sour.

It’s been a while since I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a tea, particularly from Teavana. I cannot handle a lot of spice, so I have to admit I was kind of apprehensive about this tea (Well it still might kill my stomach, but generally I know right away when something is to spicy for me. And if that happens, then I will put some kind of non dairy creamer in it.) 1st cup wise this is a damn good tea. There is enough curry to make the other flavors pop a little bit, but it doesn’t over power. I think there is also cinnamon. Which seems to make others think of Christmas. It doesn’t with me. Mangos make me think of being on the beach or in a cabana with someone special ;) While I have thought this many times before, I think I will mostlikely want to get this tea again when I’m finished with the bag.

Just drank the last of this and wanted to add that I really enjoy the spice in it. I do like Chai but it’s typically too spicy unless I douse it with milk … so this tea actually reminds me of a very mild Chai.