Cranorange Clove Breakfast

Awe…I feel a bit bad that this is the first tasting note on this one. Especially because i don’t like it. This is another sneak taste from Cavocorax

The blend starts out lovely, but then quickly turns to a whole lot of too much clove. If the clove isn’t in the sip then there’s an abundance of hibiscus/sour taste. I think that this tea has potential if the hibiscus were cut back and the clove taste was WAAAAAAY less. I know i tried to get a teaspoon of tea that had a little of everything but this is just too much clove and hibiscus.

Every now and then, there was the promise of a wonderful taste of a well blended black tea but then one of those two flavours would ruin it. Ah well! Another tea off the list of all the teas to try :)

i don’t mind clove, quite like it actually… but for me it boiled down to too many acid ingredients without complimentary agents: orange, cranberry, hibiscus… and the clove doesn’t tone it down, if anything it boosts it.

i’d like a stronger tea component which ideally plays the part of a non acid baseline for all of the acids. maybe not a darjeeling because they can have acid flavours, maybe not a keemun because they can overpower. not a puerh (even though it’s my favourite)…. i don’t know what baseline changes need to be made… beyond my skill sets!

too much acid, not enough complimentary base. that’s my two cents worth. it does have potential though!

Oof, this is not for me. Got that tart-fruity thing going on up the wazoo, unsurprisingly—I mean cranberry + orange + hibiscus = of course. I tried it anyway because the discussions on Steepster made it sound interesting. It does have some clove-y warmth attempting to counter the astringency, but I’m not crazy about how they mesh somehow. This would be fine cold steeped with lots of syrup added, or turned into tea syrup for soda (that recipe has been a super helpful starting point, I wish I could remember which Steepster mentioned it!) I’m guessing. That’s how I’m going to use up the rest of it. I’m sure this tea would be great for some folks, it just isn’t my thing at all. I much prefer Whispering Pines Gingerade, which is maybe the only hibiscus/tart-centered blend I’ve had that I really, really like (the warmth of the ginger totally saves the day). Ah well. Can’t win ’em all.

So the samples were cheap and I went nuts. I even grabbed this even though I wasn’t sure about the cloves. I got it because it seemed like a festive tea similiar to some of the Christmas blends I’ve had.

I’m not a fan. The cloves are too strong, and it’s too tart with the cranberry and hibiscus. Like Sil says, it’s on the verge of something good, so maybe it just needs to be tweaked a bit.

I’m dumping the rest passing the rest of this sample onto Ozli, with love. :P (152)

I’m trying my best to keep focused on school work and studying, but I still have little motivation at this point. Random rant: I have been writing APA style papers for a couple of years now and apparently my writing skills are sub-par for this particular professor. Every paper I have written for that class is marked down one point over tiny details that none of my professors in higher level courses ever marked me down for. I may have a heart attack if I get full points on one paper! Ah well, onto the tea!

I’ve had this tea in my cupboard for a while, but finally got around to trying it. The dry smell is so good! It’s spicy from the clove and has a lot of citrus notes. Kind of reminds me of an orange clove pomander! I used one teaspoon, which was plenty for this cup.

I seem to be in the minority, because I actually like this tea. That said, I think it could be improved upon. It is rather tart from the cranberries and hibiscus, but the clove is nicely lingering in the background. I am drinking this with sweetener, which helps cut down on the tartness. I wish the orange was more present, but is overpowered by the tartness. It’s not an everyday tea, but it will be nice when it’s colder outside. I think I need to play around with this more.

Ah well, back to the grindstone I go. I cannot wait for graduation! :-)