Lots of dust, weird smell. I’ve gotta say, I’m feeling uneasy about this. I had been drinking these in the order of what I expected to like (least to most). Maybe I was wrong. Dry, I get an odd smell, almost alcoholic or possibly even like hand sanitizer. I can smell something definitely amaretto-esque, but not in any sort of pleasant way. I forget how much I hate amaretto…There is no discernible apricot smell, it is all booze. I’m worried.
The rooibos/honeybush are very fine, almost pulverized, though this might have been a fault of their travels to get to me. It’s definitely some of the finest (read: dusty and falling through my filter) I’ve had. Steeped, it smells a little less boozy, but I must say that they have accurately captured the amaretto scent. Still no apricot though.
First sips are fairly accurate to the smell. There is a tinge of medicinal/alochol based flavour at the end of the sip that I’m not too wild about, but otherwise the taste is fairly unassuming. As I said before, they’ve captured the amaretto flavour well, but there is still no apricot to be found anywhere. Since I quite like apricots and don’t like amaretto, I was hoping it would be the reverse.
I’m going to rate this at 70 for amaretto accuracy, but still factor in my concerns about the aftertaste and lack of apricot. I’m quite pleased to have the flavour profile as strong as the smell, that’s rare in Tea Forte teas I have tried in the past. Once again, I can drink this but I wouldn’t buy it. I would consider gifting it though…
