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I’ve posted about this tea before, but it was at the beginning of my fascination with loose leaf. Sadly, a lot of teas that I loved at the beginning of my introduction to loose leaf have suffered as I delved more into the fancy-schmancy teas. Just as bagged tea used to be fine in my cup, so did almost any flavored tea. Now? It’s a different story.

Thankfully, this tea is one that holds up well. It’s a different drinking experience now compared to two years ago, though. When I first had this, I pretty much put sugar and milk in with any flavored black tea. Now that I no longer have to fill a travel mug and deal with a morning commute, though, it’s a rare day that I put in any additives. With sugar and milk, this was a creamy, sweet, dessert-like coconut concoction. Let me tell ya, it was pretty good.

But straight? Well, I think I might enjoy it more. The coconut flavor is more honest-to-goodness coconut instead of dessert coconut. There’s even a slightly musky under note that makes me think of fresh coconut. The tea taste isn’t overly strong – the coconut is definitely the star – but it’s not like it is hiding. Just like it acknowledges that the reason it exists is to give the coconut a place to shine. Mild with a little prickle of dryness (but not to the point of calling it astringency) the tea gives a good, faintly woodsy backdrop to the honest coconut flavor.

Coconut always makes me think tropical thoughts. Slightly different coconuts (sweet, musky, dry, toasted) all give me slightly different tropical thoughts. This one has evolved from toasted coconut on the road to Hana in Maui (when it is sweetened and creamed) to sitting on the mostly empty Kailua beach, feeling the silky sand under my hands and quietly watching a little puff of cloud go by in a bright blue sky.