Yay! I finally found my sample of this tea! I thought it had either gotten lost in the move or that I had drunk it and forgotten to write a tasting note. (Blasphemy, I know).
The aroma of the dry leaf is pure York Peppermint Patty! It smells amazing! When I first lifted the lid off my strainer to get a whiff of the brewed tea, I was assailed by overly strong mint and peppercorn. It felt like my nose hairs were burning!! Oh dear. But once it began to cool, the chocolate aroma came out more. I’m excited to try this, but I really hope those peppercorns die down. I’m not a fan of hot and spicy things.
First sip, hmm…this is interesting. It’s mint at first, and then it slowly transforms into a prickly peppery sensation on your tongue after you swallow, but then the mint seems to come back again. And then finally about 10 seconds after the sip, I get a dark chocolate flavor that’s so soft it’s like I ate a piece of chocolate 5 minutes ago and can still taste it.
The more I sip, the more the chocolate comes to the forefront. It’s definitely mint chocolate now followed by that prickly sensation from the peppercorns. I think it would be much better without the latter. I’m just not a fan of that sensation.
I’m going to add a little bit of sweetener and milk to try and overpower this strong mint. It’s making me feel lightheaded. Ah, that’s a little better. I think I probably should have used a bit less leaf. This is one strong cup of tea! I like mint, but I think this might be too heavily mint for me. I’d like more of a balance between the mint and the chocolate. It was fun to try though, and I’m sure others could enjoy this more than me.
