The East Indies Tea Company

I’m sporting a cold so I wanted a strong flavored tea today. This is one of those special teas that you find over the holidays but will enjoy year round. The cranberry and almond move this beyond a standard holiday spice blend. Don’t compare this with the boxes of grocery store holiday teas. The East Indies Tea Company has raised holiday blends to a new level – one to treasure.

This tea was very simple. Black tea with pomegranate. I had a cup prepared for me in the tea store (Cattail Coffee & Tea, www.cattailcoffee.com ), so I am not sure of how it was prepared and that impacts my review. The tea was actually a little bit bitter. I’m not sure if this was a fault in preparation or if it is a naturally bitter black tea. When smelling the tea beforehand, I was afraid that the pomegranate flavor would be too strong and unnatural, but it was just right. Decent cuppa to pick up at the store as a once-off, but didn’t want to buy any to take home.

This is a very strong tea. When pouring into the steeper, the water instantly changed to a dark brown, leading me to change my anticipated steeping time down from 5:00 to 4:30 because of the expected strong flavor. The first impression I got was that it was the most coffee-like tea I have come across. The smoky flavor as well as a good amount of body is what lead me to this conclusion. The description from the company notes orange peel and citrus flavoring, but I did not notice it. It may have been overpowered by the smoky flavor. This tea is a great change of pace, but stronger than I usually like my teas. It will definitely work its way into the rotation as “my strong tea”