Pear Drops

I recently picked up Bird & Blend’s ‘Jasmine Poached Pears’ tea, and was quite impressed with the pear flavour in that one, so it’s a shame that this blend fails so miserably at delivering on the ‘pear’ promise. If the pear flavouring used there came across here, it would be waaay better. As it is, I feel like I can maybe get a whisper of pear in the background if I really think about it? I don’t hate it as much as I did in my previous note – maybe it’s mellowed with age – but I certainly wouldn’t choose to drink it again. I stand by my original assessment that this is basically a plain rooibos with liquorice root sweetness at the back of the sip, but I don’t think it’s as offensive as I found it back then, so will raise the rating just a little bit from 30.

I tried this one hot a couple of evenings ago, and I wasn’t all that impressed because it mostly tasted of rooibos with just the slightest hint of floral pear. I figured I’d use the rest of my sample for a cold-brew, in the hope that that might bring out the pear flavour a little more. I was totally wrong, and, if anything, I like the cold-brew less than I did the hot. And that’s saying something. The reason I dislike this one so much is primarily because of one thing – STEVIA. It’s so strong and artificially sweet, and it’s sticking in the back of my throat so that I can taste it even though I’ve stopped drinking. There’s also no pear. Just rooibos. Wood-shaving rooibos, and stevia. Urgh shudders. Down the sink this one goes!