First and foremost, this is my first experience with any Monk’s Blend. The smell from the bag is a sweet knee to the face. Incredibly sweet and intriguing. I’ll be steeping this at around 195 for roughly 3 1/2 minutes. One minute into steeping and there’s a very nice dark copper color.
Now I’m just starting to spread my wings into the world of flavored teas (The Earl aside of course). This seems like a very logical starting point for me, as I already know that I like grenadine. Cherry’s always been my favorite flavor of everything, and though grenadine doesn’t automatically equate to cherry, that’s what most of us associate it with. Regardless, grenadine makes me like things. For example, I don’t like any tequila that isn’t top shelf, but I’ll flat out murder a Tequila Sunrise.
Based on the sweetness of the in bag smell, I’ve decided not to add any milk or sugar, which is a bit odd for me. I’m looking forward to trying this again later with a splash of milk, but after my initial taste, I know I made the right call. This is a smooth tea with a nice sweet finish. The grenadine clearly carries the flavor, but their* is a subtle creaminess added by the vanilla. That’s just the way I like it. When it comes to vanilla, a little bit goes a very long way for me. I think it’s a bit sweet to be a daily drinker at this point, but I’m definitely glad that I’ve got a couple oz’s on hand. I betting that a splash of milk will add a nice bit of creaminess to the flavor that will make me enjoy it even more, though I can’t see any reason to add any sugar to this. I’m also looking forward to trying this blend iced.
*I was talking to multiple people, both online and in person, while trying to write this. As such, I completely forgot to proof read this little review at all. While most people would have simply made the correction upon noticing it, I just can’t live with that. The there, they’re, their error is far too egregious a mistake for me to just edit it out after it’s gone public. I’ve snuffed the myriad of other typos I caught on one read through (which in no way means I didn’t miss any), but only that was left to stand as shining monument of how inept I become when I attempt to multitask.
