First, thank you to the kind folks at Just Organic Tea for the amazingly generous set of samples they sent. I’m looking forward to trying them all!
Just Outstanding Orange Spice was the sample I originally requested, so it is the one I chose to try first. The dry leaf smells amazing. It made my entire kitchen smell like Christmas, all cinnamon and clove.
I steeped the tea according to the directions on the label (195 degrees for 3- 5 minutes). The liquid was pale amber, and the smell was still full of spice, but it wasn’t as strong as the dry leaf. The taste, not surprisingly, was also spice. The dominate spice was cinnamon, but there was a fair amount of clove as well. I could not pick up any orange flavor which was kind of disappointing. I will say that the base tea is really, really good and has a presence even with the strong spices. It is smooth with no bitterness or astringency. There is also a forest floor note that I really liked.
If I were in the mood for an orange tea I’d have to look elsewhere, but if I were in the mood for a cinnamon or spice tea I would happily take a cup of this.
