The last time I purchased a cherry-flavored green tea, it was called “Sakura Cherry Blossom,” or something to that effect, so the possibility that it might be artificially flavored never even crossed my mind. An artificially flavored JAPANESE tea? was basically my ignorant assumption. It turned out that, despite the use of “Sakura” in the name, the tea had been sourced from other parts and the flavoring was indeed artificial. The big bag sits in my pantry to this day.
Why am I such a stickler for natural flavoring? Well, because aside from vanillin, which is a natural component of vanilla, the other “artificial flavors” used in food stuffs and beverages could literally be n’importe quoi. All bets are off, people. Remember melamine in cat food and toothpaste? Like I was saying.
Fortunately, no such problem with this cherry-flavored green tea blend from Tea Forte: Cherry Marzipan. The name makes it sound as though it’s going to be some sort of über-decadent dessert tea. Far from it, in fact. The cherry flavoring is quite marked on this somewhat bitter but clean green tea. For me, the marzipan facet has more to do with the aroma. I’m not tasting the almond so much as smelling it.
Notwithstanding the decadent-sounding name, this is a fairly clean green Japanese-style tea laced with cherry. It’s pretty good, but the slight bitterness leads me to believe that the instructions given on the filter bag envelope were wrong. “Near boil” is probably too hot for this brew, and I’ll keep the steep to the lower end of the 3-5 minute range next time…
I would never have guessed that this is a rooibos blend. All the better, I suppose.
If I keep drinking these “skin radiance” teas, I should have the most radiant skin around. Or wait: don’t I already, since I drink green and white tea all the time? Isn’t the biggest contributor to skin radiance just plain water? No one can reasonably deny that I am well hydrated.
