The aroma of this as it is steeping blew me away. I was convinced before tasting that it would be THE apple tea for me. I steeped it three minutes and leaned in closer for a better sniff. Hmm. Not good. Up close, this doesn’t smell nearly as good as the tantalizing apple aromas that waft out of the pot. I’m not much of a green tea person, so I was a little concerned about the green tea base, and I think that is what I am picking up on in my “up close sniff”.
First sips echo my recent thoughts. I get apple, certainly, but I get a bit more green tea taste than I would prefer. I found it reminiscent of Baked Apple from the last winter collection, which it took me time to enjoy so hopefully this will grow on me as well. I have 26 grams to learn to love, for now. It also reminds me of the dreaded chamomile apple bagged Twinings that I bought a few months back, and that is NOT a taste association I ever want again. Drinking that made me nauseous.
As it cooled, I got more pastry aspect, though I noted that it could use a bit more cinnamon to round out the apple pie aspect. I considered blending some with a vanilla tea to give it an ‘a la mode’ aspect…this is something I might try later on. The beau made a second steep this morning with breakfast that I didn’t try but he reported that he liked it better the second time and found it had more pie aspect.
While there is always the strong possibility of my mis-steeping it (no temp. gage or thermometer in our house!) this leaves a little something to be desired, for now. As I reported to the beau, I’m on the fence about this one. It has the potential to be great, but it hasn’t shone yet.
