Strawberry Rhubarb Shortbread

I’ve had a shortbread tea from AQ2T before – Rose Water Shortbread – but I don’t recall being a big fan of it. However, strawberry and rhubarb are much more interesting flavours to me, so I had high hopes for this tea! To start with, there’s a delicious baked goods smell from the dry (and brewed) tea – it reminded me strongly of another AQ2T blend, though I couldn’t tell you which. I likely still have some of it, though, and will figure this out at some point in the future. But – it’s a yummy, nuttyish aroma/flavour. (Could it be Lemon Lavender Butter Cake? Or is that tea just on my mind because OMG I just discovered that VariaTEA just gave me her remaining couple cups of it and I’m so thrilled/grateful?) Also possible that it’s reminding me of a nutty Butiki tea, but I just don’t know.

Back to the tea at hand… it mostly tastes like that nutty baked goods aroma – I’m surprisingly not getting much strawberry or rhubarb at all, though there is something in there. Actually – I think I’m tasting rhubarb, minus the tartness, but not really any strawberry. I’m digging the cakiness of this tea, though, so it’s good despite not quite being what I expected. It might be good mixed with something fruitier, actually; maybe I’ll give that a shot if I remember. I think this is another blend where a wee bit of hibiscus might have made a nice impact. Or, something tart. But perhaps I’m wrong, and it would have tasted weird – I’m no tea blender.