Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Review: Guayaki Yerba Mate - Mate Chocolatte Tea

A couple of my friends are ga-ga over this Mate Chocolatté tea. After all, it's organic, it's robustly flavored and it gives you a nice kick of energy.

But I just can't get into it. I'm not quite sure what it's trying to be. Is it trying to be a coffee substitute? A hot chocolate substitute? Or a drink with its own personality? It smells like Mate tea with a hint of cinnamon and cocoa. And if you haven't smelled Mate tea and want me to describe it further, I would say there's an undertone of bark, soil and damp leaves. It's an earthy, vegetal smell. The taste is more chocolatey when you take that first sip. It's like a diluted (very diluted) hot chocolate with some cumin and cinnamon thrown in for good measure. Not that there's any cumin in it, but that's the impression that comes to mind. It's certainly not a sweet hot chocolate, but a spicy one, with an earthy aftertaste. The ingredients are Yerba Mate leaf, cocoa, nutmeg, cinnamon, stevia and clove.

I suppose if you were just giving up coffee or coke, or even hot chocolate, and wanted something to make you feel like you're kind of getting a hit of your favorite beverage while being healthier than the thing you just gave up, this is probably something to go for. If you're more of a tea drinker to start with, like I am, it may not entirely hit the spot. I feel like it's trying to be too many things to too many people rather than being itself.

Sorry girls, I don't love it. It is apparently at Whole Foods for $4.99 (I didn't buy it), but for that price for 16 bags of tea, it's got to be swoon-worthy for me. And this isn't.

Two stars.

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