Salted Caramel Mate

A sample from Roswell Strange. This has to be one of the oddest combinations ever? I mean, mate, black, herbal…? Surely it’s hardly herbal if it’s got both mate and black tea in it, neither of which are renowned for their caffeine free-ness. I can get behind the idea of mate and black, though, and caramel works well with darker teas as a flavour, so…maybe?I have another question. What’s monk fruit? Please don’t say fruit eaten by monks. I could google, but the people at work would think I’m odd. Or odder than they already think I am, anyway. Maybe that’s one for later.

I gave the bag 3 minutes in boiling water, and it’s brewed up to a medium golden-brown, no additions. The initial taste is very heavy on the mate – quite earthy and pungent with a burnt coffee-like aftertaste. There’s also something smoky, although I can’t pinpoint exactly what. Maybe the mate? The monk fruit? Ha. I didn’t get much caramel initially, but as the cup cools I can begin to taste it. It’s a little on the artificial side, but not too badly, and there is a hint of salt. The salt actually works really well with the savoury flavour of the mate and the smoke – somehow it helps to bring everything together. Then with the underlying richness of the caramel, it actually makes for a pretty decent cup. I’m not even sure how it is that earth, coffee, smoke, salt and caramel taste good together, but they kind of do so there you go. My befuddled morning brain can’t make any more sense of things than that.

This tea is about 2 years old, so I’m glad this is a sipdown.

This tea is best as a latte, don’t bother with it coldbrewed or straight unless you like the flavour of yerba mate. It has this roasted woody flavour I really dislike (even though I normally like woody and roasted flavours).Maybe the straw/hay flavour with the roasted notes remind me too much of tobacco smoke.

This is definitely the strangest tasting Yerba Mate I have ever tasted. I really like Yerba Mate but the salted caramel really wasn’t my thing.

The first few sips of this are so strange.
Something tastes artificial, but I think that may be the truly odd mix of teas in here and how they meld.
Definitely also caramel notes. Fake ones, but they are there.
Also something smoky and I’m not sure which tea the smoke belongs to.
Things get less overwhelmingly strange as the cup cools. Thankfully.
Overall a very interesting cup, but not something I’d want to seek out more of. My friend gave me two more bags… I’m not sure what to do with em!

I liked this tea the very first time I tried it. The aroma is amazing, and it’s very strong, which I usually like. And salted caramel is one of my favorite flavors. But my opinion about it declined afterwards, and I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m not a fan of mate after all? It’s gotten to the point where I almost feel queasy when I drink this tea. Adding sugar doesn’t really help; I’m not sure if adding milk would.

I am new on my tea journey, but so far this is the worst tea I have tasted. I was so disappointed because I wanted to like it so badly. I did not taste any caramel….it honestly tasted like dirt to me. Also, the smell was nauseating. I thought it was just me, so I made my MIL a cup, and she took two sips before the smell got to her and she poured it out. I love Stash, but this tea is not for me.

Trying to clean up my cupboard a bit, so here’s another sipdown. This tea isn’t terrible, but it’s strange, an odd combination of flavors that don’t really go together. It would definitely have been better without the mate (and why would you ever need black and mate in the same tea anyway?).

Holy Shanghai. This is way too strong for me!
Tastes like a really bitter coffee. 0_0
Oyyy not a fan! D:
Thanks for the sample though, The Cookie Lady!

Think it would have been better without the Mate. I love Yerba Mate tea, and I love salted caramel, but I found the flavours together to be a bit odd. To me, salted caramel is a dessert tea and mate adds this earthy, smoky flavour that just doesn’t go well with the caramel.

edit: I have to add that this tea has really grown on me. Maybe it’s an acquired taste, or maybe the caramel comes out more when the steep time is longer, but I have been having this Mate most mornings now and really enjoying the earthy, buttery, caramel flavours.

I am both really happy and really disappointed with tea for having cacao shells as an ingredient. While they taste lovely in this tea, they totally mess with the salted caramel flavor I was promised! It smells like it’s going to be totally awesome when you first pour water over it. But, as it brews, it loses the caramelized sugar smell and develops a smell that is decidedly not cacao but is totally a result of the cacao shells. Overall, I’m really glad I picked up a box of this for $2 to drink at work, but I’m still on the lookout for a true salted caramel flavor. Maybe I just need to add sugar? Ugh…I hate when I have to add anything. I’ll just take this for what it is and not what it claimed it would be.