I’m new to Steepster, so this will be my first note…hopefully, I’m doing this right. I find this mate to be very nice – although I wouldn’t consider it a replacement for coffee, it certainly has a place in my morning routine. I still like my coffee though, but I’ve found that since discovering loose leaf tea earlier this year when I stumbled into a Teavana store, that I’ve been drinking more tea & less coffee. Anyway, back to the review. The taste to me is a bit of a smooth caramel flavor. No bitterness at all. There are some chocolate notes too, but the caramel stands out more to me. I sweeten mine with either the German rock sugar (when I have some) or Sugar in the Raw, plus a tiny splash of heavy cream. It is a sweeter tea, which suits me fine. I steep it for between 5-6 minutes, with near boiling water.
I find that this resteeps just fine for me – I increase the steep time to 8 minutes. I’ve left it for as long as 10 minutes before without any bitter taste. If I recall correctly, mates can be steeped for long periods. Because it’s a “thistle” type tea, a little goes a long way for me, especially when I resteep, making this quite economical. All in all, it’s one of my “go to” teas.
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Welcome to Steester! you’re about to find out that the most wonderful forum on the net is right here! You’re doing fine, don’t worry there are no real tea snobs around here! This community is all about caring, sharing and learning, hope you’ll stick around :-)
Thanks for the welcome! :) So far, most of my tea experience has been limited to Teavana, but unless I have my mental armour up for the day, I don’t like going into their stores…from what I’ve read, you guys know why. I’m branching out locally, looking for other teas. We have some excellent local coffee shops that do their own roasting and also offer some teas. I’ve also disocvered some online vendors through this site that I may order from later. I do still like some Teavana teas, but I’m sticking mostly to mail order for my must haves from them. I’ll go into the store if I have to, but I must be ever vigilant to the sales tactics and overpours :) I do have to credit Teavana for introducing me to the world of tea beyond grocery store brands. I was out of town, shopping at a mall during my neice’s wedding, and of course the aroma of the tea and the sales people standing outside of the store drew me in. I was given the “wafting” experience of several teas, and even walked away with a cup of iced tea on the house. The sales guy at that store was good though. He suggested things that he thought I’d like, but didn’t try to immediately steer me to the cast iron tea sets. I walked out of there with several teas, but didn’t feel mentally accosted. Anyway, I’m rambling, which I tend to do sometimes, so please forgive me. I’m sure I can learn a lot about tea, how to prepare it, and where to get it from this site!
Welcome to Steester! you’re about to find out that the most wonderful forum on the net is right here! You’re doing fine, don’t worry there are no real tea snobs around here! This community is all about caring, sharing and learning, hope you’ll stick around :-)
Thanks for the welcome! :) So far, most of my tea experience has been limited to Teavana, but unless I have my mental armour up for the day, I don’t like going into their stores…from what I’ve read, you guys know why. I’m branching out locally, looking for other teas. We have some excellent local coffee shops that do their own roasting and also offer some teas. I’ve also disocvered some online vendors through this site that I may order from later. I do still like some Teavana teas, but I’m sticking mostly to mail order for my must haves from them. I’ll go into the store if I have to, but I must be ever vigilant to the sales tactics and overpours :) I do have to credit Teavana for introducing me to the world of tea beyond grocery store brands. I was out of town, shopping at a mall during my neice’s wedding, and of course the aroma of the tea and the sales people standing outside of the store drew me in. I was given the “wafting” experience of several teas, and even walked away with a cup of iced tea on the house. The sales guy at that store was good though. He suggested things that he thought I’d like, but didn’t try to immediately steer me to the cast iron tea sets. I walked out of there with several teas, but didn’t feel mentally accosted. Anyway, I’m rambling, which I tend to do sometimes, so please forgive me. I’m sure I can learn a lot about tea, how to prepare it, and where to get it from this site!