Experience Mamaki

 After I was lucky and could get Mamaki seeds and now a Mamaki plant is also at home with me, I could not wait to try also once a Mamaki tea. Therefore, I had such a tea sent to me from Hawaii, which was actually quite expensive for the amount of tea received.

It was 1 heaping teaspoon infused with about 250ml of boiling water and left to infuse for about 15 minutes. According to the note on the packaging, however, Mamaki tea should also be good to enjoy as iced tea.

Mamaki seems to be a very mild herbal tea. Unlike described here, it does not become sweeter the longer you steep it. However, it does not taste tart, bitter or sour even when steeped for more than half an hour. The smell and taste of the leaves may be comparable to that of Ama-cha (Buddha tea), which is prepared from a special tea hydrangea. However, Mamaki tea lacks the sweetness that Buddha tea possesses. Mamaki tea is not inferior to other teas - it is just a herbal tea with a very mild taste - but it does not stand out significantly from other teas. But it seems to be well suited for tea blends with teas that also do not have such a dominant flavor.

Orange Blossom + Mamaki

The smell of orange blossom is heavy sweet, but the taste is rather tart. When mixing one heaped teaspoon of orange blossoms and one teaspoon of dried mamaki leaves to about 200ml of water, the orange blossoms are very dominant in taste. Adding honey improves the taste considerably.

Lemon verbena + Mamaki

Again, the lemon verbena is quite dominant in a mixture of one teaspoon to one teaspoon of mamaki and 200ml of water, odor and taste, the mild mamaki flavor hardly asserts itself. Nevertheless, this mixture seems to fit quite well, you can drink the tea well without honey, but experiences with honey, I think, a taste upgrade. Probably Mamaki could also be combined well with lemongrass.

Fresh peppermint + Mamaki

Mamaki tea and fresh peppermint leaves is not very exciting in taste, the mint flavor is very intrusive. Even honey would not improve the taste.

Fresh ginger + mamaki

A thin piece of ginger root about 3cm in size was sliced and infused with 2 teaspoons of mamaki to 200ml of boiling water. The ginger gives the mamaki a slightly fiery spice that tastes quite good. Just don't use too much ginger root, as the flavor of the mamaki is only very mild. Ginger would probably also be a good ingredient for the mixture 1, only unfortunately my Mamaki material is no longer sufficient for a test.

Tea blends that taste very good:

Blend 1:

- ½ tsp orange blossom

- ½ tsp lemon verbena

- 2 tsp dried mamaki leaves

- 200ml boiling water

- honey to taste

Let this mixture steep for about 15 minutes. You can also add a few fresh peppermint leaves, but do not steep too long, otherwise the peppermint flavor will be very prominent. It is also very refreshing when enjoyed cold. If you want to add ice cubes, you would probably have to make the tea even stronger. Ginger would probably taste quite good in this blend as well.

Blend 2:

- ½ tsp Alnatura "mild fruit tea" (contains apple, rosehip, hibiscus, honeybush, licorice and beet).

- 2 tsp dried mamaki leaves

- 200ml boiling water

- Some honey

Again, pour boiling water over it and let it steep for about 15 minutes, can also be drunk as iced tea.

There are no limits to experimentation here, but my Mamaki tea is already coming to an end. There must certainly be more tea blends with Mamaki, which taste very good when enjoyed hot or cold.