Another of the samples I have from the now-defunct SpecialTeas. Looks like there might be two more after this, a caramel one and a vanilla one.
The smell in the sample packet is a greenish coconut rather than a toasty one, but a nice greenish coconut—not overpowering, not artificial-smelling, not cloying. The liquor is a beautiful dark, cherry red with just a hint of brown. The aroma doesn’t have a lot of what I’d recognize as coconut—it’s sort of a generic flat sweetness over the tea base.
I may have overleafed slightly as I tend to use heaping teaspoons and now that I look at the instructions, this one suggests level teaspoons. But the result isn’t bitter or in any way unpleasant. There’s no harshness or bite to it. I will try with less leaf next time, though.
The flavor is definitely coconut. I usually prefer toasty coconut if given a choice, but I can also appreciate a greener, rawer coconut flavor. This is a good rawer coconut with a fruity note. It’s not too heavy or too sweet. The aftertaste has a bit of a cocoa or perhaps coffee quality to it, not too rich and not too light.
It has been a while since I’ve had a coconut flavored black of any stripe. I remember quite liking the ATR and the Premium Steap versions. Looking back at my notes, the Premium Steap is a toasty coconut while the ATR is more of the type in this blend. It has been so long since I had the ATR (and I had the foresight to finish up that sample rather than let it sit for years) that I can’t compare this to it. Interestingly, when I went to rate this, I decided on an 81. Then I looked at what I gave the ATR: also 81. As I sit here I can’t say whether these two compare that closely, but it’s almost an irrelevancy now since I couldn’t get more of this even if I wanted to. The good news then is that there is an alternative.
Flavors: Coconut
