Good morning, Steepsterites.
I got this one from TeaEqualsBliss, and actually tried it for the first time a little while ago. I took backlog notes then, so this post is going to be a combination of three different sessions with this particular tea.
The first time I had it, I paid attention to the aroma, something I neglected to do with the other two times. It actually smelled like milk chocolate. Not cocoa, like so many supposedly chocolate-flavoured teas do, but real chocolate that you could eat.
I found the flavour to be sort of hazel nutty and chocolate-nutty, but no the same sort of milk chocolate that I had found in the aroma. That was a little disappointing. It had an ever so slightly flowery note which makes me wonder what those orange bits in the leaves are. Given that it’s a valentine’s blend, my first instinct is rose petals, but orange rose petals? Anyway, it was possibly a little oversteeped as it had turned ever so sllightly bitter. And as for the strawberries, uh, where exactly were they? I couldn’t find even the smallest hint of fruit in either aroma or flavour.
All in all, I wasn’t particularly impressed and would have given it around 40-50. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t good either.
Second session was last night when I decided to take a cup with me to bed while reading. Not really sure what I did. I used the regular amount of leaf and boiling water. Then I winged it on the steeping time and eventually poured a cup, suspecting that it had had just a wee bit too much.
That was a whole other story! The chocolate-y bits of the flavour and the slightly floral bits were more milk-chocolate-y this time but otherwise the same as before. But THERE! There they were, the elusive strawberries. Very very clearly. A fruity sweetness just underneath all the chocolate-y notes.
Much, much better, but still not something that I would say was amazingly awesome. Based only on this session I would have gone up to 65-70 points.
Encouraged by the second session I decided to make up another pot of it this morning. I wanted that sweet strawberry and milk chocolate again. Just a shame that I didn’t actually know how I had really brewed it the day before. I used standard amount of leaves and boiling water, but when it came to the steeping time I had no clue. So I had to wing it.
And guess what I got. First session again. Slightly bitter, very hazel nutty and not even remotely sweet or fruity. Apparently this is a tea that has to be steeped just so to be at its best.
I’m rating it as a compromise between these three sessions.
