At this month’s Helsinki Tea Tasting we delved into the murky world of Finnish tea drinking. It has to be said that tea is not the drink of choice for your average Finn. They are in fact the world’s largest consumers of coffee per capita. However for those who do choose tea, it’s most likely flavoured.
Our wonderful host, Kitti, guided us through her collection of “Mutant Tea” accompanied by a slice of suitably artificial chocolate cake. Or fully organic and delicious carrot cake if preferred! It was a blind tasting with everyone giving their best guess as to the tea base and the flavourings. The following is based on my tasting notes, but generally we were finding the same flavours.
our intrepid tea tasters and wonderful host Kitti (in pink)
Tea 1
We were off to a promising start with a nice juicy peach aroma. However as is often the case with flavoured teas, the taste proved much weaker than the aroma promised. A black tea base.
Well, it was black tea but no peach! Nordqvist brand: Viisasten tee (Philosopher tea) with pomegranate, strawberries, lemon, dried pineapple cubes & flowers. Nope, didn’t detect any of those flavours…
Tea 2
This tea was pale yellow with a creamy, butterscotch aroma. The butterscotch came through in the taste, as well as a subtle coconut note. It was quite drying. Thought I liked it at first, but then couldn’t bring myself to drink more than the taster. A white tea base.
Again, spot on with the tea base, but not the flavourings. Tiger brand: White Ceylon tea with peach flavour and peach pieces. Peach?
Tea 3
Next up was a dark golden liquor smelling of sweet caramel. This time the taste lived up to the intense aroma. It’s quite nice, but maybe a tad overpowering with a full cup. I’m guessing either black tea or a rooibos base.
Our taste buds are acclimatising! Lipton Vanilla Caramel – black tea with real caramel and vanilla. This one is 100% natural, no preservatives or colouring.
Tea 4
We’re starting to get flavouring fatigue… It’s similar to the last one, but is that a hint of apricot in the aroma? The taste is lighter, and it feels smooth and creamy. This one is a rooibos base.
Loyd Rooibos Sense - Honey & Madagascar Vanilla.
Tea 5
No really, we have flavouring fatigue. They’re all merging into one. This is very similar to Tea 4, maybe a bit more watery.
Oh, it is the same tea. Very funny, Kitti.
Tea 6
This one offended everybody’s tastebuds. Truly awful. It has a pale yellow liquor with a faint grapefruit aroma, but the taste is like cardboard. We’re guessing a low grade green tea base.
Lipton Strawberry Cupcake – Green tea with artificial flavourings of cooked strawberries and buttery cupcakes and strawberry cubes. Avoid.
Tea 7
After all those artificial flavourings, Kitti treated us to a bonus round to refresh our palettes. An expensive flower tea from Austria – Star Anise. With its intense sweet aniseed aroma and taste, it was worth the 10 minute brewing time.
Thank you Kitti for a fun afternoon, guiding us through the minefield that is flavoured tea!