I have had Exotica twice now (does that sound dirty, because I really didn’t mean that). Anyway, I purchased some samplers last month and immediately became a little leary – there are peppercorns in it. I hate pepper in my tea. The only think I loath more is licorice root! So I went really easy with the sample and cold brewed it hoping the pepper wouldn’t be noticeable. It steeped in the fridge for 24 hours and it produced a very light but refreshing sweet lemony water, without the acid lemons will give you. No trace of pepper from what I could tell. Having done this, I knew I’d love it brewed the traditional way.
So my latest DT order arrived at my door today and in less than a week. YAY! I’m becoming more and more of a fan of this company! :) I bought 100 grams of this because if nothing else I can cold brew it and really increase my water intake, something I’m really bad at despite all the tea I drink.
I brewed 1.5 tsp of tisane in about 6 oz of boiling water for just over 7 minutes. I tried a sip of it while hot and it was very lemony! Again no pepper detected. :) Put in a couple rock sugar pieces a few ice cubes and it’s pretty awesome! I may have to rethink my disdain for pepper – at least pink peppercorns, let’s not get ahead of ourselves now…
I’m really glad I got the extra pouch because I’ll be having this year-round!
Sometimes what’s called pepper is really fruit from a different plant which is the case with pink peppercorns. You may have lucked out!