This is a fun tea! I get a lot of orange, a moderate amount of cream, a little caramel, and basically no oolong flavor. I have these cookies, knock off pirouettes that I got from the Chinese grocery store that’s just down the block. They’re chocolate with a cream center and they go reaaaaally well with this tea. Tasty afternoon snack!
Okay, so the tea. This tea is very sweet and candied. I steeped it three times, though by the third time, the only flavor that was left was basically bitter orange peel. I would probably only steep it a maximum of two times next time. The first steeping (2 min) was very sweet and orangey and had a lot of cream flavor. There was the tiniest hint of caramel at the end of my sip, but the caramel flavor was basically nonexistent. The artificial flavorings and add-ins completely covered up any oolong flavor, but I was okay with that. I wasn’t really craving oolong this afternoon. When I got down to about an ounce or two, I added a little sweetener and cream. That completely covered up the flavors and made the whole experience pretty one dimensional, but I used too much cream. I’ll probably try again with milk or less cream next time. The second steeping (3 min) had a less strong cream flavor and the orange was a little more bitter, but that kind of improved the experience for me. That extra little bite had me eagerly gulping at my cup, and I completely forgot to try some milk in my dregs. The third steeping (5 min) was basically just bitter orange peel water and could be totally skipped.
