From the queue
This is the first Try from the EU TTB, round 2. There are so many things in this box that I need to try, and I’ve still got things from the first round that I haven’t posted about yet. Heck, there are things from the first round I haven’t even tried yet!
But I’ve received the second round today and so it must take priority.
I was dithering about this one, so I thought it would be a good place to start. I don’t know what aronia berries taste like at all, I’m indifferent to mango-flavoured teas and I’m on the fence about rose. So I don’t actually know why I’m even tasting it to begin with. Rose is… well, it’s floral, but it’s not downright unpleasant like jasmine is. I can’t actually work out if I like it or if it’s one of those flowers that are just too… floral. In general I tend to avoid floral things as much as I can. The attraction here is erm… Why am I tasting this at all? peers at cup
I can easily smell the oolong. It’s a dark roasty one, which is the sort of oolong I prefer when I have oolong. Along with that there’s a note that is sort of mango but not mango and floral but not floral all at the same time. Very difficult to define. I don’t know if there is aronia in that one as well, because as mentioned, I don’t know what they’re like (I don’t even know what they look like. Remind me to look it up), but I’m going to pretend that it is the aronia that makes it so difficult to define as either of the other two things. This sounds plausible to me, so let’s play that I’m right.
Moving right along, then. So far the rose hasn’t been off-putting as too floral, but it’s quite forward and perfume-y in the flavour. This where it’s a bit too floral for me, and rose is the first and last thing I taste on the first sip. Actually, it’s pretty much all I can taste on the first sip.
Trying again, I get less floral and much more oolong. Again a fairly roasty tasting oolong with a fair hint of something cocoa-y. I also feel like I’m picking up a smidge of mango.
I’m still stumped on the aronia though. There seems to be a very vague note of tartness on the swallow and in the aftertaste. Is that aronia? Is aronia a tart berry?
I still don’t know what possessed me to try this one in the first place, but it’s a fairly pleasant cup, in spite of all the rose, so I think it must have been instinct that made me do it. I’ll keep it to this one cup, though.
