This is insane. I’m drinking a sticker. And I mean that as a good thing. See, when I was a tiny Anna with braids and glasses and knee socks, we used to trade stickers during our breaks in school. This was a huge deal; I carried something like five albums on any given day. Some of the most highly prized stickers were scented, my favourites being a large strawberry with the best sweet berryful vanilla-esque scent ever, and another one, the shape of which I can’t currently recall (and this is driving me crazy) but that smelled…
…exactly like this tea.
Nose-in-bag, this is almost too lush. Malty and dark and nutty and sweet. I very much want to eat something that tastes just like this tea. Preferably in cake form.
Steeped, the scent is far more subtle, but equally gorgeous. Flavour wise, it’s all there – the malt, the maple, the pecans – and I absolutely love it. I think I might have underleafed slightly (trying to measure out a teaspoon of spindly oolong leaf is about as awkward as trying to put pants on a cat) so it’s much too elusive and I find myself savouring the aftertaste more than anything, as the sip itself is a little watery. I always try to follow the instructions to a T (Ha! Punface!) on a first brew, and this definitely meant using less leaf that I would have chosen myself.
This is the second massive nostalgia trip a tea has given me in the past month (the other one was this: http://steepster.com/annchen/posts/196900) and I’m enjoying it immensely.
[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
My favorite teas are the ones that bring forth memories.