A Beautiful Taiwan Tea indeed! Nice black tea flavors with plenty of nuttiness and fruit sweetness. Really nice dark caramel notes throughout.
In terms of smokiness, this tea is lightly smoked (by its own admission on the package.) For me, the balance is just right. If you focus, you can pick up wood smoke flavors. Really, though, the smokiness is less of a flavor and more of a backdrop that causes the lighter flavors (like fruitiness) to pop, or adds a depth and richness to darker flavors like caramel.
Tasty stuff.
*
Dry leaf: chocolate, stewed berries, sweet/pungent herbal (licorice or sassafras), malt, peanut. In preheated vessel – chocolate and fruit jam notes prominent, dark caramel.
Smell: roast pecan, dark caramel, malt, fruit jam, stewed berries, wood smoke
Taste: roast pecan, dark caramel, light pine wood. Rich fruit jam (plum, blackberry) aftertaste. “Mincemeat” notes… Smoke notes are present, but not prominent.
