I made one of my RiverTea blends for work today, to drink hot. It wasn’t until I had it steeping that I realized this was the second mango tea I was making for the day. Oh well – one was cold brewed and white and this one is hot and black, so that’s pretty different!
I used 2 tsp. of leaf in 12 oz. of boiling water. I’m not sure how long this steeped – I lost track of time while I was checking the mail (oops). I’d guess between four and seven minutes – so possibly a little oversteeped. The leaf for this has massive chunks and things in it – so you kind of have to make a choice about what to include when picking the leaf out – there’s no way you can get a chunk of everything without sacrificing the actual tea leaves. So, this had a chamomile blossom, giant ass motherfucking cinnamon stick, and a few of the smaller fruit chunks in addition to the black tea – no cranberry in the leaf I used.
Taste wise, I’m thinking this was probably closer to that seven minute steep time because, though it’s not bitter, it’s pretty astringent and it’s not usually this astringent. Also, I get a distinct taste of mango, vanilla, cinnamon, and… What’s this? Banana? BANANA! This is the first time I’ve been able to taste the banana in the blend! Maybe one of the fruit chunks I used was banana, and I’ve just never gotten a banana chunk before. There’s not even a slight taste of cranberry this time around, but like I said I didn’t include any cranberry chunks in the leaf.
So, the astringency is a little undesirable (but more than likely my fault). Otherwise, this is really good! It travels fairly well in my timolino!
Also, why the hell to people feel so entitled when they’re shopping!? It pisses me off so much when people open up the packaging of things in my store. They’ll open up boxes, tear off shrink wrap, and rip folders to shreds just to get a look at something they might buy! Are you kidding me!? You haven’t paid for that – what makes you think you have the fucking right! Every time someone does that and damages the packaging (even if the product itself is undamaged) I have to write it off! And honestly, if you flat out asked me to see the product 80% of the time I can open the packaging without damaging it.
Big. Dramatic. sigh.
