Harney & Sons’ most popular tea by a long shot! I guess there are almost as many people who hate this tea as there are people who love it. It’s certainly unique and its pronounced sweetness and almost tongue numbing spiciness is something I have to be in the mood for to really enjoy and it’s not a tea I would want to drink several cups of each day.
The cinnamon flavor tastes both natural and artificial and is reminiscent of artificially flavored cinnamon gum/candy – think Red Hots and Big Red gum. Although you have not added any sugar to the tea, it tastes like you have added at least 1 teaspoon of sugar by default, which is very unusual. That’s also the part about this tea I have a love/hate relationship with, as I am usually not a fan of adding sugar to my tea.
In my opinion, there is not much aroma in this tea besides the candy-like cinnamon flavor which is plenty strong. It also contains orange peel and cloves but those flavors are barely there in my mind. It maybe has a hint of orange, but the cloves are nowhere to be found.
The flavor of the tea itself is completely lost in the strong cinnamon flavor but I guess tea flavor is not the point of this tea. The point of this tea is its sweetness and strong spiciness.
I highly recommend this tea if you are a huge fan of cinnamon and like a tea with an extremely pronounced sweetness.
Dry leaves, appearance:
Chinese black tea leaves mixed with orange peel and cinnamon pieces covered with cinnamon dust.
Dry leaves, aroma:
A strong, spicy cinnamon aroma. Slightly artifical smelling but smells incredible. It smells like autumn in a tea.
Liquor:
Medium brown with an orange hue.
Packaging:
4 oz. loose tea tin.
Flavors: Artificial, Candy, Cinnamon, Honey, Orange, Spices, Sweet
