Ok, so I actually followed the brewing recommendations on this one today. The leaves o this were pretty spread out, so the 4.5 teaspoons isn’t quite as much tea as I keep thinking it is. At least for the first steep. It smells like this beautiful malted chocolate in the cup. It reminds me a little of the Horlicks/Bournvita I drank growing up as a kid.
The first sip takes that away, since I don’t have the sweetness from those blends, but I’m pretty sure some milk and sugar would transform this to a near taste-alike, if not an exact match. But I shouldn’t do that, or I’ll be drinking this late at night and not be able to sleep.
This is still pleasant, though, with only the lightest touch of bitterness, even brewed at 205 degrees. It’s mostly an unsweet chocolate malt to me. I can glean some of the citrus in this, but only if I look really hard. I’m already thinking of trying to do the second infusion today, if I can finish this first cup quickly enough. I want to see how it works with the milk and sugar.
Second steep: This was brewed between 195 and 200 degrees, for 5 minutes (didn’t quite manage to hit the exact temperature with the microwave this time). I also added milk and sugar this time. It was nice, but the milk and sugar kind of muffled the taste notes. Rather than the malted hot chocolate taste I was hoping for, it just like simple black tea, with a little bit of malt powder in it. Maybe I’ll try it again with half as much sugar and milk, but I think so far, I prefer this one without them. They just tend to drown the flavor out a lot more than I’d like.
Flavors: Chocolate, Citrus, Floral, Malt, Tea
