Tea Series Challenge: Day 1

For Day 1 of my Tea Series Challenge I chose to try a tea called Green Mango Peach.  I was feeling like something fruity and something that would give me a bit of pep since Tuesday is the day in my cleaning schedule I like the least (more on this in a later post).  The description for this tea is: “The sweetness of ripe fruit, sharpened by peppermint and ginger.”

The tea comes in little pyramid-shaped cardboard containers and then in little pyramid-shaped infusers (read: fancy tea bags).  I love the little leaf on top and was impressed that it didn’t get drowned in the water like I thought it might.  The water was still mostly hot from my husband’s coffee-making so I let the tea steep while I made my breakfast oatmeal.  I generally always drink my tea after breakfast so it doesn’t compete with the flavors and has a chance to cool a bit.

My first sip was mostly fruity followed by notes of peppermint, but subsequent sips melded the two flavors a bit more.  I thought the flavors would compete, as mango peach and peppermint are not, to my mind, natural flavor buddies, but they really do complement each other well.  The peppermint really does “sharpen” the flavor and sweetness of the fruit and keeps it from being a fruit juice made into tea.  Don’t get me wrong; sometimes I really do want a super-fruity tea, but not today. 

I had to try harder to find the ginger, but my guess is that it helps to balance out the peppermint which is not as overwhelmingly minty as I sometimes find peppermint teas to be.  

I will also add that, as I reached the last of the tea, I was getting more of a peppermint and green tea taste but it was also only slightly warmer than room temperature at that point. 

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In order to compare the tea blends I thought I would try a tea rating scale from Tea Review.  They rate their teas by Appearance/Color, Aroma, Flavor, Body or Mouthfeel, Astringency/Structure, Aftertaste/Finish.  So, using the link above as my guide for each category, my ratings are as follows:

Appearance/Color

The tea leaves looked like tea leaves.  Honestly I didn’t pay that much attention because I decided to use this ratings system after I disposed of the tea infuser.

The liquid was a pleasant yellow-brown color that I tend to associate with green teas.

Aroma

I always smell the tea before I drink it and this one was mostly fruity.  I could definitely smell the mango more than I could peppermint, peach, or ginger.


Flavor

I’ve already written a good amount on the flavors so, to summarise, there was a fruity and minty mix of flavors that was a bit bitter towards the end of the cup.  The flavors were mostly well-balanced and complementary.  It definitely tasted like a green tea and, while it did not seem to me to be a sharp or intense flavor set, I would not say it was mild or weak flavor profile.

Body or Mouthfeel

I’ll admit that I don’t usually pay attention to this but, since I’m challenging myself, I would say that the tea was light and maybe a bit thin?  Maybe I’ll get more used to this system as I write about it more.

Astringency/Structure

I would say the tea was slightly bitter at the end which is perhaps due to over-steeping and not the tea itself.  Perhaps this is another category I’ll learn to pay more attention to as I progress through this Series.

Aftertaste/Finish

I definitely noticed that it was the peppermint flavor that lingered in my mouth, as well as a sense of dryness that I think came from the slight bitterness of the probably over-steeped green tea.  I could still detect a bit of fruitiness but only if I tried.  

Conclusion

Perhaps this is a tea that works best when just cool enough to drink without burning your mouth, and when steeped properly, but overall I was delightfully surprised by my choice today.

See you tomorrow for Day 2 of the Tea Series Challenge!

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