Thank you Melanie for this wonderful sample!
I’ve been seeing this tea reviewed over and over again…so what’s all the hype? What’s so great about this tea? Curiosity got the best of me when I saw that Melanie had this in her cupboard for a swap…hee hee…would she part with a pinch for moi? She agreed (to my delight)! I don’t go along with the crowd unless there is danger… I form my own opinions and hope you all do also and this tea review is not an exception. Beginning the process I kept the steep at just 3 minutes and at about 180F. Sniff, there isn’t a huge burst of fragrant coconut…no…I’m reminded more of oolong…a faint memory of that corny, floral butter scent. First sip is very creamy and rich, diving right away into a deep pool of coconut taste the way you get it right out of a fresh coconut in the tropics. It’s the aftertaste that is so honest. I spent 4 months living in Puerto Rico where you could stop and get a chilled coconut at the roadside, have the top lopped off with a machete and drink the coconut water with a long straw. So good. That’s the coconut flavor I taste. But there is that floral orchid mixed in also. Makes you want to put on a sarong and lay on the beach. Sometimes it helps to pull away and come back to tea when it is so intensely complex. Doing this was helpful for me. I came back to my glass cup and realized that there is a custard quality quite a bit like the fragrance of jasmine in the Summer on a hot evening when you swear there is coconut cream pie somewhere close by…or you hope there is one waiting at home (there never is though). Real jasmine never tastes like that smell. Tragedy! I think this is very good tea but not one I would serve with food. Too special for that. This is dessert and could stand up to fresh strawberries or pound cake. I thought chocolate was too strong alongside the tea because I tried some and said “no”. Tried some sugar and it was good. I’m off to finish the lovely liquid without you now…bye.
