I recently ordered some samples from the Tea Spot and, on a whim, decided to throw in this flavored tea as well. As I’ve noted elsewhere, I don’t usually care much for flavored teas. The dry leaf was a bit malty and sweet, but didn’t leave much of an impression.
I first tried this plain, with no sugar or milk. The flavor was very nice like this, but I wanted to see where it could take me. I added a small amount of sugar and suddenly the caramel was much more prominent (as tends to happen when adding sweetener). It wasn’t until I added a splash of milk that I felt the tea was fully rounded out.
I think the reason I enjoyed this as much as I did is due to the flavoring being mild and in coordination with the flavor of the tea itself. So much in the past, I have encountered flavored teas where the flavor vastly over-writes the tea itself. This has primarily been with the various Teavana teas I’ve tried. And I guess it’s biased me against flavored teas in general.
I just got the chocolate tea sampler from 52teas and am looking forward to exploring the world of flavored teas in a nicer capacity where the flavor of the tea itself is a considered component in what flavor it is and how flavorful it is.
