I have been sneezing all day and I can’t seem to stop. I’ve probably sneezed over 100 times today. It’s weird because it’s like allergies, watery itchy eyes and all, but there’s nothing different about my house and I haven’t been anywhere today. I just woke up suddenly apparently allergic to myself…
This tea is holding up pretty well, but not as well as I’d hoped given that it’s the only Butiki tea I bought in a tin. The ones in the regular paper bags seem to be holding up better! It’s still really enjoyable, though. Plain, it’s rich and chocolatey with a zesty orange backnote. The chocolate is definitely dark chocolate, and it pairs really well with the base tea. Butiki seem to have done lovely deep, rich chocolate teas that no other brand seems to be able to get right at the moment, hence my usual aversion to chocolate teas. The orange is zesty and compliments the dark chocolate and base without overpowering them, but if you add a little sugar it becomes fresh and juicy, much more prominent in the blend. The marshmallow root rounds out the tea pretty well and adds a really satisfying thick mouthfeel. I’ve never had this base on its own so I’m not entirely sure of its notes, but it’s really lovely and smooth with no astringency whatsoever. I added a touch of milk, not because it needed it but because I wanted it to be more of a dessert tea, and it definitely was! The chocolate turns into a sweeter milk chocolate note and the orange becomes candied, but never fake. The mouthfeel is super thick and rich too, and it’s almost like drinking a liquefied Terry’s Chocolate Orange, which pretty much sounds like a dream I’d have. The only issue with this is that as I said before about the tea ageing, I didn’t notice it at all until I added milk, but it brought out a slight ‘stale’ sort of flavour, which didn’t bother me too much because it was only slight, but I do think I preferred it before the milk. This seems to be my general opinion of black teas lately! At one time I rarely drank a black tea without milk, and now it seems about 50/50. Maybe my tastebuds are maturing…
