Happy New Year, Steepster darlings! I don’t do resolutions but I am trying to get back into the groove of writing Steepster posts and/or taking Instagram pictures somewhat regularly. We’ll see how that goes but I have missed it so I’m moderately optimistic.
I’m starting off with a tea that I’m also moderately optimistic about. The flavor sounds delicious and I like that it is caffeine free, but the ingredients include stevia (blegh) and “natural and artificial almond and hazelnut flavouring” (always eyebrow-raising but not inherently disqualifying). I only have one sachet so there’s not much to lose by trying it.
I have to admit, the scent of the dry leaf is a dead ringer for caramel shortbread cookies. As soon as the 206f water hit the leaf, a lovely aroma of warm caramel and cookies wafted up from my (prewarmed) cup. I steeped this blend for five minutes. It has a slight oily sheen on the surface which should have been a red flag but I blew right by that and went in for the sip. My immediate response was “what am I drinking and why”. It certainly does not taste like I expected it to, though not as terrible as that initial response might have you believe. It tastes very fruity and sweet with a strong berry flavor and no cookie or shortbread flavor. That unmistakable stevianess lingers in the aftertaste. That’s fine if you like stevia but less than pleasing if you don’t. This is a perfectly adequate berry and stevia tea. It is not, to my palate at least and to the great disappointment of my olfactory sense, a caramel shortbread tea. But at least I got a Steepster post written about it!
Flavors: Berry
Ugh, Stevia. shudders