Relaxing Rocco

Cold Brew!

Initially I was very into this cold brew. The raspberry was sweet and ripe tasting, and the lemon verbena was fresh, citrusy and almost lemonade like in taste. Definitely raspberry lemonade vibes overall that were just super refreshing – especially when it was still ice cold. However, the verbena definitely lingered on the palate and about halfway through the cold brew it had built up in the back of my mouth in a way that, while not cloying, was very intense and was starting to take on an almost perfume-y sort of aggressiveness. Kind of like those citronella candles you buy in the summer that make mosquitos bugger off.

If I hadn’t been drinking this so quickly, thus giving more time for the flavours to dissipate inbetween sips, I don’t think it would have been a problem though.

Iced Tea!

Picked this one up at TO Tea Festival. It was one of very few flavoured teas that I ended up grabbing and what is perhaps more interesting is that I believe it was the only flavoured tea that both Marika and I ended up purchasing. We rarely agree on flavoured tea blends, but when we tried samples of this one we both looked at each other and were just like “Woah, that’s a really nice raspberry note!”.

Steeped up iced I think I could have gone heavier handed with my leafing because it steeped a smidge delicately, but it was still uber refreshing with such a playful and zesty balance of bright lemon notes and sweet and tangy raspberry. Certainly raspberry lemonade but make it more natural kind of vibes to this tea. Some of the thoughts I had while sipping were that it would probably be very flexible with cold and hot brewing and still work in a teapot but also that it would be super interesting to make cocktails with. A splash of champagne or prosecco? Hell yeah.