This smells nice. Sweet and warm and cuddly. A bit like cinnamon toast without the cinnamon. So basically buttered, sugared bread. Mmm. I actually think the vanilla is corresponding to the butter and sugar thing. There’s another, almost blackberry preserves note in there. Very faint. I’m guessing it is the currant? I have no idea what a currant really is or tastes like (other than it is a fruit) so I’m not sure if that is how currant is supposed to smell, but that’s what I’m going with.
Taste-wise, it’s not as sweet as the smell. I’m picking up more of the blackberry-which-is-probably-actually-currant taste, especially at the end – it is the main aftertaste, very fruity – and not so much on the vanilla. It’s nice and I think a pretty easy to like tea, but I want something more dessert like. So for the remaining 8-ish ounces, I’m putting in a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk.
Hello berries! It’s very fruity now. Almost a mix of grape and blackberry jelly – not preserves but the sweeter jelly (might want to back off on the sugar next time just a bit). The front taste is very grape jelly and then a more blackberry taste comes in on the end. Yep, this would qualify as a dessert tea now.
Okay, this is not a complex cup. Sure, there is tea in there but it’s a backdrop for the fruity taste, especially once doctored. Straight it is darker, richer… more of an average-ish morning feeling blend with a fruity addition. It seems like a better quality tea base than a lot of flavored blends (I’m thinking Adagio here, which I don’t really enjoy their flavored stuff without milk and sugar) and very sippable with no additions, but it’s nothing more than on the good side of standard. The milk and sugar makes it very dessert-y though. The tea moves fully to the background and dark berries just do a little chorus line dance in the front of it, sequins flashing. Yeah, not a fancy or nuanced cup. But nice flavors and so I’m liking it.
