The smoke within this tea actually eliminates the malted notes that should occur and leaves the ‘harsh’ sweet notes of a thin molasses. It’s harder to plain than to taste, how the malt is generally the ending taste throughout the mouth ends up with a smoky ending which ends up coating the mouth so the malted notes are like a burnt sugar that isn’t sweet… whatever that is.
Burnt sugar is one of those weird notes. It’s the the cooked after taste of it rather than the actual sugar.