Leaf Type: Yerba Maté
Where to Buy: Tea Chai Té
Tisane Description:
This new organic yerba mate blend is fantastic with a nutty flavor and sweet vanilla aroma. Mate is blended with vanilla and macadamia nut oils. Organic & Mateinated.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the three teas/tisanes that I picked up at the new Sellwood location (just look for a fiery red train caboose!) when I visited them a couple of weeks ago. Yerba Maté is not typically something I’d choose and that’s one of the reasons that I selected this one. I wanted to step outside my comfort zone a little bit. That, and I couldn’t resist the flavor combination. Vanilla and macadamia nut? That sounds amazingly yummy. I had to try it!
The aroma of the dry leaf is incredible. It has a heady vanilla scent with a delicious nutty fragrance in the background. The yerba maté appears to be either a green (possibly a smoked green) or a very lightly roasted yerba maté – or perhaps a blend of green and roasted yerba maté. I kind of expected it to be a roasted yerba maté as I figured that the roasted tones would unite quite deliciously with the macadamia nut, so I was kind of surprised to see a green yerba maté here.
Oh! This is really tasty. I like the subtle vegetal notes as well as the earthy tones that the green yerba maté provide. The vanilla is prominent, and it offers a very smooth, sweet flavor that is quite nice. I’m used to tasting vanilla flavoring with the leaves of camellia sinensis, and I do enjoy vanilla flavored teas, but, I’m also really enjoying the vanilla yerba maté. Because there is no astringency to the yerba maté, the creamy tones of the vanilla are not interrupted. It is smooth from start to finish.
Also nice is the way the macadamia nut develops. It starts out as a light flavor, weaving its way in and out of the sip, but not being very assertive one way or the other. Then, by mid-cup, it is deliciously macadamia nutty! YUM!
This is delicious served straight up and hot, but, it is also quite good iced. I also think I might try making a latte out of this, it would be quite a decadent treat!