Second Samovar sample of the day. I’m now out of Samovar black tea samples to try until I come out of lockdown and can order again. It looks like there are only two that I haven’t tasted yet.
Does anyone else occasionally look at their tea log and go “wow, I can’t believe there are even that many teas in the world, let alone that I’ve tasted X number of them, let alone that I’ve written about Y number of them?” It’s a little mind boggling to me sometimes.
Wow, love the smell of the dry leaves. Floral. My first thought was lavender for some reason. Maybe my smeller is still off from being sick. It’s really rose.
The tea is a little too red to be called mahogany, but otherwise pretty close. And it has a sweet, fruity, floral aroma that is difficult to pin down. I’ve only had lychees in restaurants and I don’t really care for them as dessert offerings, but I like what their flavor does in this tea. It gives a sweetness to the tea that is a departure from the usual malty sweetness I get in Samovar black teas as it is lighter and fruitier. Nectar-like, really. There’s a slight nuttiness to it too, which is consistent with my experience of lychee in general.
This is one I’d like to drink next to some other rosy florals for comparison purposes. It seems to be a bit more subtle in its floral qualities than some others, which I like, and though I’m not an overly enthusiastic fan of the lychee by itself, at the risk of repeating myself, I will say I do like what it does in this tea.
