Thanks so much for sending a bit of this to try, Annie! I must say, this one is one of the less intriguing blends from the Christmas advent. But that was some tough competition from many blends that sounded amazing or were old favorites I wanted reblended. Also, anything with ginger in the name will probably not appeal to me. A few days ago, a Steepsterer wrote a glowing note for this tea, so I wanted to try it sooner rather than later. I’ve also never tried ginger cola. Never heard of it! The dry leaves certainly have the fragrance of soda. However, the ginger wasn’t too bad here, as I was tasting mostly cola. This is the perfect base tea for cola flavors: light but not too light. There isn’t a chocolatey black tea flavoring with the cola… that would be weird. The base tea almost stays in the background, to not interfere with the cola at all. So definitely this is a nice base for the cola. It isn’t my favorite in the advent though.
Steep #1 // 1 1/4 teaspoons for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep