I had this tea last night at a fancy restaurant. I was impressed at how delicious it was, so I knew I had to do a tasting note even if my tasting conditions were less than ideal. This is all from memory, and about halfway through my cup a dessert of smoked almond ice cream came and made some sips taste like a lapsang souchong. But still! Very tasty tea.
I’ve never had a tea with malva flowers in it before, but from what I can tell from some online research, they’re more for visual and textural effects than for taste. This tea came in a pyramid sachet, and dried it smelled like bergamot with a distinct sweetness. The aroma of the brewed tea and the taste matched the dried smell pretty perfectly. For a while I was having a time trying to identify what about this tea was making it so delicious; there was no bitterness, the black tea base was very smooth, and there was that sense of sweetness to the tea. The ingredients on the package list only black tea, malva flowers and bergamot, so I was surprised when I finally realized that I was getting fairly strong vanilla cream notes from it, like a really nice Earl Grey cream. I might have to grab a box of this one because I really did enjoy it immensely.
