Raisins are a very very recent vice for me. Since december 30th 2009 actually. I was baking something that included raisins. I haven’t had problems with raisins in baked goods for years now because I’ve just learned to taste around them. But after having put my baking project in the oven, I caught myself, to my extreme surprise, standing there and eating the rest of the raisins right out of the box! This is huge, because just an hour before, if you had asked me, I would have said that I don’t much care for raisins, and I assume that this was what prompted me to get this particular blend.
Upon opening the pouch I’m immediately greeted by a smell that rather reminds me of that vanilla date concoction that I didn’t like. It’s not nearly as strong here, but it’s defintiely there and it’s the same type of smell. This has me a little worried. Also, the leaves look small and very dark, almost as if it’s actually a large leaf black tea and there are lots of raisins in it.
The tea brews up rather dark, almost like an average black tea. I’m used to greener oolongs, so that’s probably why I’m getting a little type confused here. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly oolong-y or raisin-y in flavour. There doesn’t seem to be anything very characteristic of either of the two. Deepest down I would say that it still tastes a bit like a mild black The raisins are only coming through as a slight fruity sweetness while it’s hottest. They are more pronounced as the cup cools a bit.
I like it this way. It’s not very raisin-y, but it’s enough. Had the raisins been more dominant I expect I probably wouldn’t have liked it much at all. But this way it’s very nice.
