How does this tea have no notes yet?! It’s sold out so certainly it’s popular! I don’t think I’ve ever had the first note for a 52teas blend before, how exciting. The magic of tea of the month club! Which, funny story, my mom accidentally ordered 2 of (in a 3 month increment) and instead of cancelling the second one decided to just give me 6 months. My family is pretty awesome in supporting my tea habits! Though part of the deal is that they get to try them all, which of course is no problem for me. I love sharing tea!
I am very picky about cinnamon tea. I love it when it’s done right, and man oh man… is this done right. My dad is a connoisseur of cinnamon teas and says that this is his favorite blend with cinnamon, and I agree. Let’s start with the base: it’s a dragonwell, giving it a nice lightness along with a buttery smooth quality. The cinnamon is hot, not mild and bake-y like cinnamon bark, but it also doesn’t have that fake Big Red quality you sometimes find in cinnamon. It’s pure and delicious!
It’s backed up by a punch of heat from the pepper, which gives it a bite that of course any dragon tea should have. The smoke is very subtle: in fact my only criticism is that I could have used perhaps a bit more, but I think going light was a good decision because lapsang tends to be really divisive.
Best of all, this tea stands up to a ridiculous number of steeps for a flavored blend. I did 4 hot steeps and a cold brew and the flavor lasted all the way through! As you’d expect the cinnamon fades a bit and the pepper was almost nonexistent by the end, but the dragonwell shines through a lot more and has a really crisp quality in steeps 3-4. And the cinnamon doesn’t seem watered down, just less strong. I think I’m going to shed some tears when I eventually run out of this blend, it’s perfect!
