Test-Teas Tuesday
5Welcome back to Test-Teas Tuesday!
Today @cythwulf and I have Moroccan Mint from Art of Tea.
Art of Tea bio describes it as:
“Organic peppermint and spearmint hand blended with organic gunpowder green tea. This tea is great hot and is great over ice as well. The cool, soothing mint adds a refreshing touch to any meal.”
Tea history you probably didn’t ask for:
Gunpowder tea is a form of Chinese Tea that has been rolled into tiny pellets. I sincerely regret not getting an image of this before we ran out, so take a look at Art of Teas image -
This dates back to the Tang Dynasty around 618-907 and was introduced to Taiwan in the 19th century. The leaves are withered, steamed, rolled and then dried. Formally it was done by hand individually per leaf, nowadays it’s done by machine. Rolling the tea this specific way allows them to keep their flavor and aroma and it can also prolong the shelf life of specific oolong teas.
From the crowd -
Looks - 8.13
You guessed it.
“Hangover piss color”- @Chadp
I think that response is to be expected at this point with any of the teas.
Smell - 9.6
“Smells too minty” - @leftoverburrito
…pssst
It’s a mint tea 
Taste - 7.41
The most interesting one was just “BANG.” That’s it, just…bang.
The common response from this was about the mint flavor and less about the smell this time.
“I hate mint and I love this”
“the mint comes and goes”
and lastly “the mint is not overpowering.”
Someone also said that it “Tastes like sleepytime tea” which, it does actually have spearmint in it so if you like sleepytime tea, you may want to try this one.
More importantly, from a non tea drinker, this got high praise: The after taste is almost stronger than the initial taste and it leaves mouth feeling fresh and minty clean.
Serving info:
- Water Temperature: 180-185 F degrees
- Steep Time: 3-5 minutes
- Suggested Serving Size: 1 tsp/8oz
**All around, this tea is refreshing and very light. If you enjoy minty things, you might want to take a look at this one. I’ve personally never been a fan of minty teas myself, but I would sit down and drink this iced any day. The more I think about it, the more I want to try this with Tikka Masala, I dig a good mint sauce with that so I can only imagine how this would compliment it. **
Let us know what you’ve tried this week, what you’re drinking now or what you want to see up here. We love hearing from you guys and we appreciate all the comments so far!
To look at our previous week, you can find them below:
- 4 comments, 15 replies
- Comment
That @ChadP drinks a lot huh?
@therealjrn He does not.
@ChadP Not if you keep getting those hangovers you shouldn’t! haha
Maybe include links with which teas have been tested?
I am not sure about mint or gun powder. I might try it if offered somewhere but not something I would pick out for myself. I have been drinking a fruity tea or a plain black tea lately.
@speediedelivery This one can be found here: https://www.artoftea.com/moroccan-mint.html. I’ll edit the post to include it.
@riskybryzness I was thinking the links for the threads. Business links are good too.
@speediedelivery Threw those in there too! Thanks for the tips!
Maybe it’s hard to tell with the added mint, but the leaves in that image don’t really look like they’re rolled tightly at all.
I’m assuming it’s just the picture. The actual tea leaves were tightly rolled, right?
@Limewater That’s what I was thinking as well when I saw the other images for the gunpowder tea. It’s definitely something I’d like to try from another company.
@riskybryzness I don’t think that reflects very well on Art of Tea if it really did look like the picture. Gunpowder really is supposed to be rolled tightly. Even the cheapest gunpowder I’ve ever bought was still tightly rolled.
It makes them seem like Starbucks when they bastardized the term “macchiato.”
@Limewater I’ll have to order some again and do a comparison, genuinely curious now.
@riskybryzness It’s not amazing. I don’t want to set your expectations too high. I’d wager it was more important in the days before vacuum sealing. It’s just odd to me that they’d call something “gunpowder tea” while not featuring the specific characteristic that defines gunpowder tea.
@Limewater @riskybryzness If you look at the photo right above the white swishy thing there’s a little ball of dark green tea. I can see a few others too.
@riskybryzness @sammydog01 Huh. You may be right. I still can’t really tell, but I would trust your eyes more than my own in this case.
@Limewater @riskybryzness @sammydog01
We’re currently out of the Moroccan Mint, but we have more on the way. I’ll snag a pic once we’ve got that.
@Cythwulf @riskybryzness So was it good and want to order more or need to inspect closer and just drinkable? Inquiring minds…
/image gunpowder green tea leaves
@riskybryzness @speediedelivery It always depends on your tastes. I am pretty on the fence when it comes to green teas, so the subtle mint tipped me into the “pro-Moroccan Mint” party.
I just brushed my teeth.
Not sure if I would want that after taste after drinking something.
@RiotDemon I do. I’m drinking mint tea right now.