Lots and lots of reviews on this. It must have been a happening tea back in the day. hehe Well, I can see why.
The dry leaves are twisted and dark. It smelled good, like a ‘hot cocoa’ mix with a strong vanilla aroma. As soon as the water came in contact with it, I could smell an intense dark chocolate and vanilla aroma. I wondered if it would be too sweet for me.
The liquor is a rich-looking copper color. The flavor though wasn’t just the chocolate and vanilla as I had imagined from the aroma. Not even. It wasn’t the simplistic taste I had thought it would be (from the aroma) but had lots of different notes: Toasted bread, dark chocolate, vanilla, malt, and fruity notes. Cherries? Plums? Raisins? At the end of the sip, the creamy vanilla (Kind of like a high-end vanilla ice-cream but warm) and slight sweetness remained in my throat, but then the dark chocolate is there in the background, lingering. It’s complex, and I didn’t detect any artificial flavoring. Just the real deal… Natural vanilla always tastes different than artificial vanilla. This malty, vanilla, dark chocolate, fruits, spices, great black tea base blend isn’t your normal everyday blend. It’s very smooth with a whip-creamy taste without that buttery mouthfeel. I’m glad I took my time with it and I’m glad it was available when I checked their website a few days ago. ^^
Gaiwan, 6g, 205°F, 110ml, rinse, 9 steeps: 10s, 15s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s
Flavors: Bread, Cherry, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Plum, Toast, Vanilla
Oh this was THE tea back in the day. haha
haha :D Sure seemed like it while I was reading all those reviews!
I just got some of this, too, and it’s been hard to keep myself from opening it! Must. Finish. Other. Teas.
lol Tabby, I couldn’t wait… /cry