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Bitter, malty, and salty. I must have oversteeped it, since it’s nowhere near the light and floral brew that others have described. I’m getting no hints of heather.

I’d say this is comparable to Twinings English Breakfast, but smoother.

It seems like it’s been days since I’ve had anything that didn’t come in a bag or in CTC form. But I’ve made a sizeable dent in my pre-good-tea-education now, so I’m treating myself to a new and interesting experience.

And this tea lived up to my expectations of being an interesting experience. It is odd that this tea tasted exactly like what it was, with no additional flavors: a pile of old wet leaves. And while that may not exactly sound appetizing, it was something I could appreciate.

Imagine a slow moving river in the swamps of Florida. The water is black with tannin; the banks are muddy and steamy with the Florida humidity. This isn’t a place that has that gassy smell, more the scent of decaying detritus at the river’s bottom. The sharp tang of minerals hangs in the air as the sun bakes the brown soupy mix.

That’s what this tea tastes like.

I’ve been searching for the best caffeine free tea to have in the evening, and I think I finally found it! Who would have thought that I would love a bagged Numi tea? It would be interesting to try this loose leaf.

The base is rather muted beneath the spices, appearing only as a bit of astringency and that mild rooibos flavor. Unlike the Apple cider, there is NOT an underlying sour note, which ruined that particular experience.

The highlight of this tea is the spices, well blended with several coming through at once: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg…it’s like pumpkin pie without the pumpkin. I wonder what a hint of sugar or honey would do to this…

Firstly, I must mention that I have the loose leaf version of this tea, not the bag.

The smell of the dry leaf and liquid smells extremely strongly of blackberry. There’s something sort of dry-smelling at the end of the scent that suggests artificiality. I couldn’t detect any sage in the scent.

Starting with the base, there’s some astringency and bitterness, but they take a back seat to the flavoring. As with the scent, I can detect no sage in the flavor. The blackberry flavor is strong. It’s a tiny bit artificial, but it’s still a nice flavor.

Since Stephen likes this tea, we’ll be keeping it around.

This is a nice tea for when I am in the mood for something bitter and peaty. The liquid also has a bit of a tannic tang to it that leaves a mineral sort of flavor in the mouth.

There’s little to no astringency, which is also a nice bonus.

It’s a fine tea for when I’m in the mood for something like Lipton, but fancier.

This tastes like water with the vaguest hint of buttered green beans. Even oversteeping, there’s not much to this tea. I’ll stick with the Japanese greens.

I have to agree with the other reviews in that there is nothing special about this tea.

It’s light, it’s black tasting. There’s a nice cool finish throughout the palate once I swallow, followed by a black tea sort of tang on the tip of my tongue.

The flavor isn’t strong at all, but it’s lightly tannic and bitter, just like most of the Indian black teas.

Nothing to write home about, but nothing really to fault it on either.

I wasn’t sure how different this was going to be from Scottish Teatime. After all, it’s the same kind of CTC blend, should be the same flavor profile, same company…

Comparing the two, they ARE rather similar, but there are some notable differences. This one is a little more bitter, covering up that tannic, autumn leaf pile a bit more. On the bright side, this is almost completely lacking in astringency.

And believe me, after drinking Scottish Teatime and sitting through a 2 hour meeting with no water, I am all for no astringency.