I had forgotten all the components to this before sitting down to brew up a cup, so the smell of the raw tea was sort of a surprise. I hadn’t expected the raw tea to smell so much like one of those expensive coffees you get from Starbucks, but I was willing to give it a try.
The first infusion steeped for 3 minutes. The tea smelled kind of like coffee, but the taste was of very strong tea with a bitter aftertaste. There wasn’t much astringency in the first few sips, but it did get stronger.
I put in creamer and honey, and the creamer was too much. I could taste something else trying to come forward with the honey, but the creamer just blanded it out.
The second infusion (lost track of time, but it was supposed to be for five minutes) was much better. I didn’t use creamer, and the honey brought forward the caramel flavor, which was a nice surprise. I’m not sure if this will be something I keep around all of the time, but it is definitely a nice wake me up.
