Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Maté, Rooibos & Green Tea
Where to Buy: Capital Teas
Tea Description:
A superior blend of green mate, rooibos, and green tea forms a perfect canvas for infusing the brilliant colors and flavors of chili peppers and mango. Inspired by Aztec recipes blending chili with fruits, we’ve also added a dash of coconut and an energizing pop of ginseng for the perfect combination. Try over ice for a spicy cold treat on hot days or enjoy its lingering warmth when brewed hot on a cold day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea has a lot going on, but, I’m enjoying the way the flavors come together.
The title suggests that this may be a spicy blend, but, it doesn’t start out that way. A gentle warmth, perhaps, but, I really thought that this would be spicier right from the very first sip. The spiciness gradually builds, starting with a gentle, cozy warmth and building to that spicy tickle that hits the back of the palate and throat. By mid-cup, it is much spicier than at the start, and my palate is quite warm long after I’ve taken a sip.
I think that the sweetness of the mango counters the spicier notes of the chili … softening the blow, so to speak. The mango adds a distinct sweetness, but this doesn’t taste overwhelmingly MANGO. By mid-cup, though, the mango is much more distinguishable. The coconut adds a creaminess to the taste as well, which seems to smooth out all the flavors and bring them all together into one unified flavor. This is not a mango tea, or a chili tea, or a coconut concoction … it is a seamless beverage that offers pleasing notes of many different ingredients, like a treasure chest of flavor, offering many surprises along the way.
The background flavors are earthy, with barely-there notes of vegetation. I don’t taste a lot of flavor from the Yerba Maté, green rooibos, green tea or even the ginseng as individual components, but, I do taste their collective input. It becomes more of a medley of collected flavors rather than specific flavor notes that I can pick out and say “this is the Maté” or “this is the green tea.”
From the very first sips as a mild, intriguing set of tastes to the last drop where the flavors are zesty can even be categorized as hot … this is a very enjoyable cuppa. I really like the way the flavors present themselves, a mass medley of tastes that allow the drinker to discover the various flavors.
Definitely a fun and creative cup!
