Cynthia Carter Send Message

I bought a sample of this with my last Adagio order, because I really need to find a bedtime tea I like that is not mint. This just might be it, but it is so unlike anything I would call tea that it deserves its own genre.

Oh yeah – tisane. That’s the word.

This tea looks a lot like the dried fruit blend I buy for adding to my oatmeal. I see very little in here that looks like a leaf. When I add hot (not boiling) water, the smell seems familiar, rather like what you smell when you walk into a Yankee Candle store. Except that it is much less intense than the candle store, which is an all-out sensory assault on the nostrils. Still, it has that same undefined sweet rush of different fruity odors.

It’s hard to identify anything in the taste or smell that actually reminds me of mango, but it definitely has a very sweet, fruity taste. Somewhere lying underneath the fruitcake potpourri is the distinct taste of hibiscus. I happen to like hibiscus tea – a hangover from my hippie vegetarian herbalist days – but I’m glad it is not a strong presence in this tea. After getting home from a late choir practice, I’m not ready to be assaulted by what’s in my cup. Sweet, unsophisticated fruitiness feels rather soothing.