I love how this one smells so I’ve been anxious to try it – it’s vanilla-creamy with a splash of creamsicle-like orange. And I’m a sucker for anything orange, so yeah. Post-steeping the smell is awesome. It reminds me (what I remember) of SpecialTea’s Earl Grey de la Crème, which I really enjoyed (though it has been years since I’ve had it).
Additive-less, the initial sip seems a little sharp but the aftertaste is sweet and creamy. Mmm. A few sips in, the sharpness evens out and I’m left with smooth, creamy, sweet but not overly Earl Grey-y tea. The citrus bit pops up mostly at the end of the sip and is nice and bright but sweet in a way that doesn’t really scream citrus fruit so much as fruit-like candy. It’s nicely sweet but I almost want to add sugar to fully realize the dessert potential of this tea.
Ultimately, this falls more in the dessert tea category for me than Earl Grey category, but that’s okay because I like the dessert tea category a lot. I have a feeling I’ll really fall in love with this one when I put in some sugar and milk (and thus the rating might go up).