The tea is a deep amber color with red hues. This is definitly a black tea, although it doesn’t look as fermented as it smells. The smell is not all that much different from the way that the leaves smelled. Tangy with a hint of alcohol, the smell is that of unripened grapes, still green and juicy. There is a hint of something not as tangy lingering in the smell. It is sort of like jasmine and oak mixed together. Breathing it in, I feel peaceful. There are no grassy hints in the smell.
This tea has a slight alcohol taste to it, but it is not overpowering. It does remind me of a wine. It is grape like, slightly fermented, but not a lot. It is just enough to give it a hint of alcohol, but without having alcohol content probably. There is a hint of an oak undertone to it that is accompanied by a roasted almond flavor. It is clean and refreshing. In fact, it reminds me more of an oolong than a black tea. There is a strange sort of tangy nuance to the tea that seems to vary from sip to sip. There is a bitter aftertaste and the alcoholic taste of the tea seems to go up in the very end. There is a slight note of jasmine that is almost drowned out by the oak tones.
For the full information on this brew see the following post.
http://teasnobbery.com/2010/12/03/tea-review-vithanakanda-from-souvia-tea/
