Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
A few weeks ago, I got a delivery from FedEx just as I was brainstorming tea ideas. The poor delivery guy had no idea what he was getting into, bringing me a package at that moment. “Quick! Give me an idea for a yummy flavored tea,” says I, to which he merely responded with a blank, mildly confused stare.“Well? What kind of tea should I make, man?”“Uh… I–I don’t know.” He really wanted me to sign for the package and leave him alone.“Do you like tea? Do you like flavored teas?” He nodded. “Well, what would be a good flavor for a flavored tea?” He still looked baffled. “What sorts of dessert or fruit flavors do you like?”“I like grape. And pomegranate.”“Awesome choice! Pomegrape tea it is!” So, I signed for the package and gave him one of our grape flavored Southern Boy Teas iced teas for helping me out and sent him on his way. And then I got to work on this delicious blend of buttery sweet Chinese sencha, freeze-dried grapes and pomegranate airils, and organic grape and pomegranate flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I really wasn’t all that excited when I learned about the tea of the week for the week of July 21st: Pomegrape Green Tea. Not because of the pomegranate, but because of the grape. I’m just not much of a fan of grape flavored things, as I’ve confessed on this blog at least once or twice (and probably more than twice, actually).
I don’t like grape flavored candies, I don’t like grape ice pops, I don’t like grape soda. I just don’t like that overly sweet flavor that comes with the grape flavored thing … whatever that thing might be.
That said, I love grapes. I love the sweetness of a grape, the sweetness that comes from nature. But I don’t dig the overly sweet interpretation of grape flavor when it comes to candy or other grape flavored edibles.
However, I have managed to find some grape flavored teas that I actually have enjoyed (and I do love the natural muscatel of a second flush Darjeeling!) So even though this tea smelled like a bag full of grape flavored runts when I tore open the pouch, I decided to not let that deter me and I was going to taste this tea with as open minded as possible.
So I measured out two scoops of the tea that smelled of grape candy into my tea maker (along with 500 ml of water) and let the tea maker do it’s magic (175°F for 2 minutes) and hoped for the best.
While the tea is still hot, the flavors are a little … muddled. I taste notes of grape (and not an overly sweet grape, either) and I taste notes of pomegranate and I even taste subtle hints of green tea in there too, but it’s all very obscure and difficult to really describe other than to say it tastes muddled.
So I let the tea cool a little longer, as it has been my experience with flavored teas that sometimes a short cool time allows the flavors to become focused. And that is true in this case. Now I’m starting to pick up on flavors that are a little more concise.
It’s sweet. But it’s tart too. I think that the tartness of the pomegranate flavor helps to offset some of the sweet, candy-like flavor of the grape, allowing it to taste more like grape and less like soda pop. These two fruit flavors balance each other quite nicely. It’s a little tart, a little sweet and a whole lot fruity, but not as candied as I thought it would be. Yeah, I still get that candy taste occasionally, but it’s not in my face. I don’t feel like someone melted a grape Popsicle in my green tea.
And I’m also happy to say that the green tea isn’t completely overpowered with these flavors either. I taste the sweet, buttery notes of the Chinese Sencha and it has a creamy taste and texture to it that is an unexpected yet appealing complement to these fruit flavors.
So, this flavor combination is a win for 52Teas! I liked it hot and I liked it even better iced. I’m glad I decided to give this one a chance!
