MateVana

12 ounce hot spigot water

in Kati http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/kati-review.html

5-7 min
5 min on http://steep.it/5%20minutes + walking back from hot water spigot

3 heaping tsp

nice dark color

nutty smell, nutty earthy taste

yum!

Today I’m going to use my brand spanking new gym membership for the first time, so I need a little kick to wake me up before I go.

The other big project for the day is planning my itinerary for my trip to Austin next weekend. Zhi Tea’s HQ is on my list (yay!) – anyone have any other places, tea or non-tea-related, to recommend?

Have to be at the station this morning and have to take the kiddo back to her mother’s after having a full week with her. DOUBLE GRRRR! Mmmm Tea roasty, chocolatey….back to work and stopping my whining.

Backlog #3
Ok so I got a teensy bit outta control with the tea buying. but it was my first time at Teavana and I had to see what all the fuss was about! Folks here(at Steepster) love to hate and hate to love this place.
I’ll admit, the prices were excessive (I bought this one because it was one of the two cheapest options they sell), but the staff were friendly, and not too pushy like I had expected! just a tad excited about tea, which I totally get ;)
As for the tea, well this is really nice. Moreso than I expected. Kindof chocolatey and nutty. I need to try it here in Toronto but I seem to have left this one in Florida, eek!
Well, it looks like I’ll be a slave to this establishment whenever I’m in town, as much as it pains the wallet…
gah, I so badly wanted to despise Teavana :P

I stopped in at Teavana last night just to check out the mate’ types that I don’t have yet, and I got a whiff of this one. Mmmmm, cocoa. I picked up 2 oz. and had a nice cup this morning.

Before I rate the tea, I’m going to put on my tinfoil hat and sit on the grassy knoll and tell you my Teavana conspiracy theory. Now, I am pretty convinced that the Teavana employees know darn well what a 2 oz. scoop of tea looks like. Yet EVERY TIME I buy tea from them they put 2.8 oz. on the scale (which of course is almost a full oz. extra) and say, “Is 2.8 oz. OK?” “NO,” I always say, “2 oz.” They pour out a little bit. “2.6 oz.?” Me: “No, 2 oz.” They pour out a little more. “2.3 oz.?” Me, exasperated: “Fine!” I have a feeling they are trained to do this so that people who are not paying attention buy .8 oz. (almost a full oz.!) more than they asked for…it adds up, customer by customer! Am I crazy? Is it just me? Tell me your experiences!

So on to the tea. I drank it down pretty fast, which is a good sign. I am not a coffee fan, but I can see why they compare it to coffee a little bit. I get a roasted taste and an aftertaste that is reminiscent of coffee, but not in an offensive way. I definitely get a nice cocoa flavor without it seeming like a hot chocolate. It’s a good mate’ and I’ll gladly drink what I have. I’m going to reserve judgment on whether I’d buy more of it or not.

I don’t love coffee or Teavana at all, but I was still excited to try this one for some reason. Probably because this tea smell so good! There is a wonderful smell of chocolate from the dry blend, and the tea has a hazelnut and cocoa aroma. The flavor is richly chocolate and nuts, with a strong coffee aftertaste. As it cools, it becomes less coffee-like and more hazelnut hot chocolate. It is like a mix between hot chocolate, coffee and tea. I like this despite the surprising similarity to coffee flavor, but I probably wouldn’t reach for it every day.

-Dry blend has a mixture of cocoa kernels, mate and rooibos with pieces of flavoring and long yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of chocolate. Tea liquor aroma is of hazelnut and cocoa.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium brown color with an oily sheen on top.
-Rich chocolate and nutty flavor and finish. Strong coffee aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A smooth cup of nut, chocolate and coffee-like flavors.

Finally had a chance to try this. It has a roasted-chocolatey-cigar type smell.
For taste – a milky-woodsy-chocolate-type taste
It’s alright.
Good morning Cup!

Another great day of tea prep. 3 heaping perfect teaspoons + 500 mL water makes for a rich, nutty, hot chocolate (with a touch of coffee) like brew. Better than with my old set up! Maybe because I’m not used to it, my chemistry finds mate very invigorating. You should see all the work I did today!

This was part of a gift I received from my brother last Christmas and evidently I forgot to log it until now.

Anyway I am not a big fan of mate and even less a fan of teavana but since I have it I might as well drink it, right?

So let’s see I steeped this in a mug for 6 minutes with boiling water and a t-sac. The flavor I’m getting is light chocolate and even lighter nuts. IMO this is kind of a weak blend even though I used over 1 tsb. of leaf. Might need to try even more leaf next time? I don’t know. This doesn’t remind me of coffee at all, perhaps some dirty ovaltine. Hopefully it wakes me up anyway!

Goodmorning!
Thanks so much to Erin for a sample of this! I’d been wanting to try this blend for a while. My boyfriend’s a really big fan of mate so he stole most of it to take to work. :P But I did reserve a small cup to review :)
Dry leaves smell like bran flakes. Steeped 1 1/2 tsp per cup at 205 for 6 minutes.
I have to say this isn’t the best mate I’ve had. It’s not bad, though. It’s smooth and decently roasty. But I’d like it more intense, and roasty-er. I am picking up on the hazelnut and chocolate, but it’s faint. It’s like I can taste a hint of Florence from Harney & Sons…which just makes me want some Florence. Which I’m out of, but WHICH Erin included, THANKS ERIN :D.
Basically it tastes like it smells: bran flakes. Cuppa cereal. I added a splash of coconut milk & brown sugar. Enjoyable, but not knocking my socks off. Glad I got to try it, but I don’t know if I’ll be purchasing it.