The Tea Grotto

I thought this would be a different tea to try and boy was I right. It’s slightly floral with (what to tastes to me) hints of licorice and fig. It took a few sips to get used to but I think I like it. It’s different.

I was cautions when I bought this tea. Cherry teas can either love me or hate me. This one… Slightly dislikes me. I want to say it’s kind of a fake cherry taste, like cough syrup… But in a strange way I kind of like it. It’s mellow though. There is a hint of rose.. but maybe it’s not my favorite… Mm no.. maybe play around with the steeping times?

I bought a new pouch of this yesterday and I’m so excited. This is one of my favorite black teas! Last night I had my gaiwan tea set out so I just decided what the heck… I threw two of the little balls in my gaiwan. Here are the results:
Dry leaf:
Aroma: Deep malty, chocolate/cocoa
Appearance : Tightly rolled round balls, black with small streaks of brown/yellow

1st 205* at 1.00
Aroma: cocoa, malty, earthy
Flavor: Light, cocoa dusted earth.

2nd 205* 2.00
Aroma: Burnt sugar, malty, slightly earthy
Flavor: Sweet, raisins, cocoa, malt, slightly earthy

3rd 205* 3.00
Aroma: Dried fruit, cocoa, burnt sugar, slight maltiness
Flavor: Raisins, cinnamon, cocoa, slight malt

4th 205* 4.00
Aroma: Dried fruit, cocoa, suuper light malt
Flavor: Raisins/dates, cocoa, cinnamon applesauce

Backlog:
Ok so when I went on my trip I packed like 10 different teas to take. I guess I forgot to take my bag with the tea in the house because I found it in my car on my break. I dug through it and found this one. Oh my goodness. It made me so happy. Yesterday and today have just been stressful at work so to have good tea available to me is quite nice. I enjoyed these quite a bit. So malty, chocolatey, and full of happiness. :]

I needed, NEEDED a decent unflavored black tea so I reached for this one. This still has a nice malty, dark chocolate taste to it.

Had a nice pot of this to start the day. Still one of my favorites!

Blah. It’s only Monday and I can tell it’s going to be a long week. I’ve been sipping on a pot of this while playing my 3DS game. This is still in my top 3 favorite black teas. I’ve missed this one and I’m happy I stocked up on some more.

I have been craving bold black teas lately. This one is perfect! The dark chocolate notes are pretty tasty and I’ve gotten a few steeps out of the leaves.

Still my favorite black tea!
:)

This one has been ignored for a while so I thought it should get some attention. As soon as I opened the tin I was greeted by a coco/dark chocolate smell. I love watching this tea steep. The little balls are fun to watch open up.
The taste of this tea is still amazing :] Bold black tea with hints of dark chocolate. I knew I picked the right tea to start my day off :D

Mmm this tea is delicious! I’ve only had one other companies dragon pearls, but these are probably my favorite. They have so much flavor to them! They are sweet, malty, and with a slight hint of dark chocolate. Mmmm my new favorite black tea. :D

KallieBoo! Thank YOU!

I’m not real sure which fruits make up the fruity flavor but I find them to be a “Motley Crew” – lucky for me – I’m a fan of Motley Crews AND Mötley Crüe.

I can taste citrus flavors, various blossoms, earthy and woodsy contributions, and perhaps a peppery flavor, too!

It is a bit odd but for some reason I really like it! Maybe for the pure and simple fact that it is ‘odd’…different!

At times I found my sip to be sweet, others tart, and others sour or bitter but in a good way.

There is something in this flavor combo that keeps me coming back for more!

Like a Rebellious or Mysterious Man you shouldn’t be intrigued by but are!

This tea.. quite possibly saved my life today. Such a great one to relax with after a long day. I had forgotten just how deliciously awesome it was. It has a dominant flavor of mint and chamomile with after tastes of warm, berries or fruit. There is a hint of vanilla which makes this blend very well. The smell of this one just makes me melt. This tea will always have a place on my shelf :)

KallieBoo! Thank YOU!!!!

This smells amazing! Strawberries and Cream – a lot like that hard candy I remember from years ago!

The Strawberry is true and not overdone. The Cream is absolutely dreamy! The green tea is a great base for this. I am also picking up just a touch of popped rice in this as well!

Groovy Hot or Cold! Very nice!

Thanks to KallieBoo! I was able to try this one! Thanks so much!!!

This smells amazing!

It has a sweeter medium strength black tea base with a juicy pom flavor almost as strong as the black tea base. This is pretty good hot but I’m liking it more when cold/iced!

My first Tea Grotto Experience was a good one! Thanks again KallieBoo!

Drinking the last of this one. I always forget how good it is. Now I have am excuse to walk over to the tea shop to get more :)
Candy like but creamy and toasty.

Just finished up the last of this! Mmm :]

This is one of my favorite teas from The Tea Grotto. You would think that there were a lot of fake ish tasting flavors in this tea, but surprisingly there isn’t! It has a very, very light strawberry cream flavor with a slight bitter aftertaste. The cool thing about this tea is you can still get hints of the green tea. I imagine it would be pretty tasty with some milk and sugar :]

It’s too early. Which is why I chose a sweet pu erh this morning. It’s enjoyable but to be honest… I think I’m sick of this tea. I’ve just had it too much.

Sipping on this right now. I kinda wish I had made this iced.

First pot of the day. I enjoyed it. The earthy and fruity flavors were nice to wake up to.

This is one of my favorite pu-erhs. It has a wonderful earthy flavor followed by a sweet/slightly tart fruit flavor. Honestly it’s a weird taste but it blends very well together! It’s really, really good iced, too!
I got about 3 steeps out of this tea with just a tad of flavor lost on the third.