The multicolored short, choppy leaves are slightly smokey with an underlying sweet grassy note.
Steeping produces a dark cup. The spent leaves have a somewhat unpleasant acrid smell. The tea itself, however, is a smokey vanilla caramel.
Many of the reviews here mention chocolate notes. I didn’t get that and the flavor of this tea is new to me; it was like a mild lapsang with a touch of vanilla. It’s of medium body with a slight astringency.
This is a bold tea and I like this one a little more than Queen Catherine. The more I got into the cup the more I enjoyed it.
