Finishing up my sample, apparently I haven’t done a tasting note yet. Out of the bag the aroma is very sweet, far more than I would prefer. It almost has a licorice smell which is not appealing to me at all. I get sickenly sweet icing from the aroma rather than red velvet cake. With some trepidation I steeped it for about three minutes. The steeped aroma is nearly as sweet as the dry and not really my cup of tea. I would like to be pleasantly surprised by this one but my expectations are not very high.
The tea steeps up a dusty rose and smells of buttercream icing, rich and sweet. I don’t like icing at the best of timea so smelling it in my tea is actually bad news. First sips yield moee white chocolate than icing and for this I am grateful. It is still quite sweet bur not as much as the smell suggests. I can taste the bkack tea occasionally but it is easily overwhelmed by the additives. Much too sweet for my taastes but woukd be good for someone craving a strong dessert tea.