I received this very nice sample from Chicago Tea Garden last night but since it was late by the time I checked the mail, I waited until today to give it a try. The dry tea consists of brown and gold curls which were almost too cute to steep. The dry leaf smells…I don’t know…I can’t really place it but the word “malty” kept coming to me so maybe it is malty. After steeping, the tea takes on a dark red/brown shade which I found a bit odd for some reason. The brewed tea is also a medium brown shade which I suppose it to be expected. The malty scent from the dry leaf is intensified after brewing and I wasn’t sure if I was fond of the smell since it was so strong. I was standing at least 1-2 feet away and could still smell it. The taste is very smooth, earthy and malty. Honestly, it reminds me a great deal of how Dawn by the Simple Leaf tastes. It has that same sort of earthy quality…so maybe the initial scent isn’t malty but earthy…hmm.. I’m not getting the vanilla that some others and the vendor were tasting but there is a slight sweetness to the aftertaste. I wouldn’t peg that sweetness as vanilla though.
Anyway, I’m surprised I liked this tea so much because it seems most others were using really short steeps. Since I made it before getting online, I used my typical 3 minutes. It will be interesting to see how many infusions I can get out of this.
3 min, 0 sec
I got this one yesterday too!
I got this one TODAY!!!!
I like it! To me, it is Dawn without the chocolate…but in a good way.