Monster Brew

I love these blends. I think they’re so cute! This one is nice and relaxing. Cherry is the main flavor with orange and chocolate kind of lingering in the aftertaste.

Smells nice and chocolate-y. Tastes pleasant but very dilute and almost flavorless. There attempts at chocolate flavors, but it doesn’t quite get there. Steeped for the whole 5 minutes to try and enhance the flavor – no change noted. Drinkable, but tastes like drinking hot water. Tried 10.2018

Sipdown 149/397

I tried slightly different steeping parameters this time, and probably should have stuck to how I brewed it last time, but I was hoping I might stumble upon a way I liked it better. I didn’t. There was more of a smoky note this time around, the cherry still noticeable, but no vanilla sweetness. It’s almost whisky-like this time, definitely not something you would expect aimed at kids!

Meh. It was fine, I can see how it would appeal to kids. I agree with the reviewer who said the flavors are kind of muddled and remind you of a fruit punch. It was OK, but nothing special.

The last of the Tree House blends. I think this one waited until last because I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the flavour. The other two blends – Tea Rex and Rocket Fuel – are reasonably clear in terms of flavour profile. This one has all the ingredients – orange, cherry, coconut, chocolate, apricot…

To taste, it actually turns out to be all of those things and none. The overall flavour is a kind of fruity nothingness – anything distinctive gets lots in the cacophony of flavours, but I suppose with a name like “Monster Brew” that’s maybe to be expected! Cherry was the strongest flavour, but only by a fine margin, and only if I really concentrated on what I was drinking. It’s not the kind of tea that you’d sip and instantly say “cherry!” I didn’t really get much chocolate, except in the background, and the orange was almost totally MIA. There was some creaminess from the coconut, a woodsiness that wasn’t unpleasant from the rooibos, and a “juicy” kind of flavour that put me in mind of the blended fruit juice drinks I had as a child.

It wasn’t a bad cup by any means, but the two blends I’d tried before were definitely better defined. It’s a pleasant-tasting caffeine-free option, though, and the generically fruity taste is nice if nothing else. I’m going to try this cold brewed next, because I think (as with the others) that it might come alive a little more that way.

Trying a lower/shorter steep on recommendation of LiberTEAS and Dexter, to try and avoid that terrible sour taste honeybush can have. (I’ve been going through my list, and TeaG and Butiki have been fine, as have a couple I’ve tried from Bayswater. A couple blends that are “honeybush” but mostly other stuff have also been fine. But I’ve had a bunch from Steam, and some other local shops (usually teas to go), 52Teas and Adagio, and I’ve noticed it in all those at varying levels. I don’t always note it because for a while I thought it was how it was supposed to taste. Heh. Guess not!)

Steeped low and short, this tea is very herbaceous, actually. I would say that the flavour is 90% raspberry leaves, 9% honeybush and rooibos, 1% other. :) Not exactly the flavour profile I’m going for! Even though the last time I had this, before it went sour, it was kind of weird.

Now to let this cool…

Hmm. It’s starting to get sour again. Now, this one probably isn’t the best test for this, but I’m not sure I want to buy some honeybush to test it out. I might try some of the others I have in my cupboard this way. And it really isn’t as bad as it was last time – as in, I can still drink it so I’m finishing this cup instead of dumping it.

Interesting.

(1 teabag)

(WOO 212!)

I picked this one up and the other 2 in the series last time i was in chicago for tea bag options when travelling. I had only had rocket fuel at that point so it was a bit of a gamble but they were on sale lol. I had this tonight in an effort to try and sample all the teas in my cupboard. Still working on my 6 month goal, but i also want to make sure i’m trying the new teas before they’re “old” :) This one wasn’t bad..but it wasn’t as yum as rocket fuel. the flavours just sort of blended into a fruity sort of tea that wasn’t distinctly anything in particular. didn’t hate it though, and that’s saying much given my dislike for a lot of adagio teas.

Not sleeping tonight, but technically final count: 107

Of the tree house collection, this is my least favorite. There is a fairly strong cherry flavor that at times can be slightly medicinal. The coconut provides a creaminess but can also take on a lotion-esque quality. Very weird. Not horrible but not great either. Still, I am grateful for the chance to try something new. Thank you Scheherazade!

Thanks 221Tea! I cold steeped this for 14 hours and it’s ok but I really prefer the Tea Rex tea! The packaging on this is cute though! (160)