I don’t think I’ve been so excited about tea since Frank announced the coconut cheesecake blend – which, incidentally, was my gateway tea way back when.
Salted caramel is absolutely one of my favorite dessert flavors ever. And both Teavana and David’s tea have blends for it this year! I got my boyfriend to spring for a perfect tea mug for both of us, then tacked this tea on (while he tacked the Organic Breakfast for himself). And then I waited for this sucker to ship from Canada down to Georgia.
My first cup was this morning, and I’ll be honest – I wasn’t impressed. I steeped it for about 4.5 minutes and added a splash of milk, but even before I added the leaf the dry smell was kind of off putting to me. Almost like musty and toffee mixed together. Even once I steeped it, that smell kind of remained. The milk made it creamy and perfectly drinkable, but – eh. Also, I got none of the salt. So I was unimpressed that first go around.
But obviously I wouldn’t give up that easily. So tonight I tried extending the steeping time with the hope that maybe that smell would transform into caramel with time. The steeped smell is a little more caramel and a little less toffee, so that’s good. And I think there’s a little salt in the sip, which is better. But plain – I’m getting some astringency that I’m not liking. We’ll see what the milk does…
The milk definitely makes it smoother – but there’s still that weird note in the background. I’m wondering if it’s the coconut or vanilla? I do get hints of caramel but nothing that makes me think of actual salted caramel. Darn.
It’s good, but not amazing. Sigh. Has anyone tried the Teavana blend? I would love to know how it compares…
