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Tastes like chlorophyll and toothpaste. Blarghhh!

I conclude its probably because I don’t like spearmint, its probably not the fault of the tea itself. As a result I won’t say NOT recommended because of my biases but simply ‘steep with caution’.

This tea reminds me of orange zest! As someone who hasn’t drank much Western-style tea but more Asian teas, this is the first time I’ve tried Lady Grey. Medium weight tea on the palate, with hints of orange and bergamot. The rose petals and the name make me feel like I should be drinking this in a fancy Royal Doulton teacup and saucer.

A flavoured black tea, that smells very different dry vs. steeped! I don’t know why, but when dry the leaves reminded me of dried vegetables – the kind usually found in Asian markets. I like that smell, so I don’t mind, but not sure why that came to mind.

When steeped though, the flavour becomes of earthy, fruity dark chocolate. There is a medium weight to the tea, it definitely has some body, not as much as Keemun but noticeable. There is just a hint of astringency at the end, but barely perceptible.

Wanted to record impressions of this when resteeped the second time. The tea is still quite aromatic, so be sure to resteep to get your flavour’s worth! The main notes that have longevity are the spices – cinnamon etc. The apple notes are more muted.

Second time drinking this tea this week.

Similar to the Pumpkin Spice Brulee, this also fills up the area with a nice warm cinnamony apple smell. I’ve been thinking about the flavour more and I think that what makes it more cider-y than apple pie is how the apple note feels more like a dry crisp but sweet apple, rather than the juicy, syrupy pieces you typically find in just baked pie.

Wondering why this tea isn’t rated well here, but then again, I enjoy my alcoholic cider as well so that could be why I enjoyed this more than most?

Did a resteep of Mango Madness the other day out of curiosity and forgot to log it. Very faint mango on the second steep, its really just white tea left by then.

Perfect on a winter afternoon, when you have a dessert craving but a resolution to keep.

Went into a colleague’s stash for this again. The first notes are of baked goodness and hints of almond. Was trying really hard to put my finger on what specifically the smell combination reminded me of and I finally figured it out – it smells like almond biscotti in a cup! Nutty, twice baked goodness.

I let it steep all the way home in my thermos and it was still great, no worries about oversteeping at all.

In an ideal world with non-existent budgets, I would definitely consider buying this for my stash.

I got to try a coworker’s stash of this. Very strong mango smell, although weakens when brewed. The smell is more candied mango than fresh mango, and the tea does contain pieces of dried mango and pineapple.

Its a white tea, but I did brew it at a slightly higher than recommended temperature. The taste is very mild – if not for the smell, I would think I was just drinking white tea and not a flavoured kind.

As you can tell I wasn’t very impressed with the mango-ness of this tea once steeped, and I suspect its because the stash is probably over a year old. So if you’re thinking of buying this, don’t get more than you’ll drink in a year’s time.

Round 2, I steeped 1 tsp in half cup of water 125mL. The taste came through much better this time, although the liquorice was also stronger in taste.

I tried this as a tea latte as well, with a strong half cup brewed as above, then with hot milk mixed in, but unsweetened. The milk helps bring out the chocolate and cocoa flavours, and the creaminess of the milk also serves to mask some of the icky liquorish flavour. I’ve never been fond of liquorice flavour so tend to skip when possible, especially here where it seems a bit out of place among the decadent dessert flavours of choc, coconut, etc.

If you like Black Forest, and have a sweet tooth, you’d probably like this tea. The flavour is uncannily like a vanilla cupcake with some notes of black forest (hints of cherry, chocolate).

Its a novelty tea thats would be great in an assorted sampler or swap, but not something I’d want to buy in larger quantities to drink regularly.