Vanilla Mint Mate

I steeped this for way too long. It’s not fair for me to rate it in its current state. It tastes burnt (not in the way actual tea gets burnt but like it tastes like an ashtray smells…. ew) and just blech. I will try again when I have more time but for now I’ll have to dump this out.

Thanks to Ian for sending me this one. First I am a big of roasted mate…..okay I’m a fan of Frank too :) It has a nice minty aroma coming from the dry leaf. I couldn’t really detect vanilla. I like it. I couldn’t really get the vanilla out of this one. I guess I was hoping the vanilla would make it a little more creamier. More like a wintergreen than spearmint. However I was sitting at my desk conversing with a record label rep with my nose inside the cup. I happen to do this quite a bit. I like to take in all of that the tea has to offer. More that simply just sipping it. I noticed something. There is this marvelous aroma arising from inside the cup. It’s like a nice a Cavendish or a high quality cigar. I’m talking Cohiba or Artuo Fuente. Whew refreshing like walking into a humidor.

I have been on a roll with 52teas. I have been enjoying every one I tried. I guess I can’t like everything and lucky streaks can’t last for ever.

It took me a while to decide to purchase this, but I like vanilla, mate and mint enough that I eventually gave in. As soon as it arrived I opened it to sniff at it. It coated the inside of my nose with “toothpaste” smell. Not what I was expecting. It was very sharp. After this experience it took me a long while to urge myself on to try it.

I steeped my 2 teaspoons to 12oz of boiling water. The smell of the brewing tea was much more pleasant than the actual leaves. It smelled smooth and creamy reminding me of Creme de Menthe. At this point I became a little more optimistic about liking the tea.

I tried it unsweetened and I got sharp spearmint taste. The vanilla was there, but not as smooth as I was expecting it. The Mate flavor was permeating through all the other flavors. Its woodiness and slight bitterness reminded me throughout the cup that this mint had caffeine! It reminded me of Root beer, except it was hot (not really a good thing…).

Once it cooled down I found it a little more palatable, but I can’t imagine me actually wanting to have more of this… I will try it iced, which might work well since I do like Root beer (cold…).

Oh well…

You can’t go wrong with vanilla and mint. Or so I thought. Turns out I have to be a bit more careful with my brewing technique.

The first time I had this, I loved the smell of the dry leaves and couldn’t wait to drink the tea. But it was very bitter. I couldn’t finish the mug! I had steeped it for about 7 minutes and added a little bit of sugar.

This time I steeped it for only 5 minutes and put both sugar and milk. Much better this time. Up until now, I hadn’t really given thought to the taste of different mints. The spearmint is quite different; I’m not sure yet if I like it as much as peppermint. But the combination of mint and vanilla is very nice. The maté is very different for me too; earthy and rich. I’d like to try this as a latte as well.

This reminds me of a blend I threw together myself! Great minds think alike?

Mate and mint are just a really excellent combination, and the vanilla adds a nice little touch. Personally, I’d rather have a stronger mint flavor but this would be an idea choice for someone who wanted only a touch of mint.

Queued post, written June 24th 2014

I thought I’d had this already. I can distinctly remember drinking it before, so I don’t know why it was still in the box of things untried. It’s possible that I had some earlier and then, since there was lots of it, decided to just write about it later and therefore left it there.

Or perhaps I had something else entirely and just confused it with this in my head.

Either way I think it must have come from one of the EU TTBs but I don’t know which ones. Why did I not number the things I took from those boxes? I number everything else that I haven’t bought myself so I can see where it came from, but not the TTBs for some reason. Curious.

It smells very mate-y and very minty. I can’t smell any vanilla at all, which is disappointing as the vanilla is the only reason I can think of of why I would take this one. I’m not really that keen on mate to be honest. Furthermore I’m a little iffy about the mint in this one. I used to not much like mint in my tea, and I’ve never liked mint in my sweets. After Eights? Keep them. Please. I do like mint in cooking though, and I’ve learned to appreciate it more in teas. But I still don’t want minty chocolates. So why would I take something with mint and vanilla, vanilla being a sweet flavour? It’s all highly peculiar.

Flavourwise, it’s mate-y and minty and here I can detect the vanilla. Not so much as a flavour, but as a sort of thick-ish creamy substance. I can’t say I’m entirely impressed by that. I think minty mate by itself would have appealed to me more. The vanilla in this one isn’t really doing anything for me, other than texture. And I’m not sure I really want this sort of texture in this particular drink. It feels off. If it had been super-sugared as well, I would have been just one small step away from that minty filling in After Eights and their ilk that I don’t like.

I can drink it, I think. But I can’t really say it’s a great enjoyment.