Secret Weapon

I just got a package from DavidsTea and I’m not wasting any time jumping in!!! This is the first of 5.

Upon opening the package this smells like nuts! Lots and Lots of Nuts! Almost a peanut butter type aroma. Underneath I can smell a little fruit and even less flowers.

I’m not gonna lie…I stole an almond sliver before infusing…it was tasty!

After infusion this smelled like almond but more mellow. I can also taste the Goji Berries slightly. The white tea itself has a great clean flavor! I can’t really taste the licorice much…that’s ok with me…oh wait! There it is…it’s on the assist with the aftertaste…but only a hint!

I thought I would have a cup of this because I have a little sniffle going on today…I think it’s more my eyes watering than anything…I decided to change from my contacts to my glasses and I hate wearing my glasses! Oye! But…with 500X more Vitamin C than Oranges…YOU BET I will give these lil Goji Berries a whirl! POW!!!!

This is a creative and comforting blend! Fun and unique and GOOD FOR YOU!

2013/01/30
i don’t understand this tea.

2013/02/03
peace out secret weapon.
i can’t say that you’ll be missed.

I need a secret weapon about right now. I didn’t sleep last night, and I’m really hoping that this tea will be the ticket to chill me out so that I may sleep tonight. My husband leaves for a research trip tomorrow morning and the car service will be here early, so sleep is a must. Thank goodness I don’t have to drive him to LAX but I’ll miss being able to see him off. It’s silly, but I miss my husband terribly when he’s gone because he’s my best friend. Blah, blah, blah…

I think I need to steep this tea a little longer next time. I can smell and taste the coco nibs and almonds, but I want more. I don’t really taste the goji berries but I’m glad to know they’re in the mix. The body is refreshing and light. I get slight licorice flavor in the finish.

I like this tea but I just want more flavor. I brewed it at 185 degrees for 3 minutes, and I think that another miniute may be the ticket.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

This is really tasty. The almond and chocolate flavors are the most prominent, with hints of the goji berry peeking in. The goji is especially noticeable in the aftertaste. If I were to change anything, I’d like there to be a bit more licorice flavor, because it is a very subtle note.

I find myself a little surprised that the white tea can be tasted – some of these other flavors are very strong… but the white tea is definitely there. After the first few sips, I notice the licorice more (yay!) I’m really liking this.

This one smells quite almond-y dry, though now that it’s steeped I’m getting a scent of…pencil lead? That can’t be right. Perhaps weapon is the key word here.

The taste is not so bad. But I’m finding it difficult to get past that bizarre scent. I go to take a sip and all I can smell is pencil lead. What’s up with that? May be a deal-breaker Secret Weapon.

This came as one of my samples from my most recent Davids Tea order. I mostly just get a nutty toasted almond flavour from this tea with some hint of cocoa. It might just be because it’s a small sample but I can’t really taste goji berries or anything that really reminds me of fruit at all. It’s not bad, I guess, but I think it needs a more robust base than this white tea.

So…another one I won’t be rating.

A friend brought this to work today to share with me. I was extremely nervous because I loathe licorice. He didn’t know that. He did know I love almond, so it was a genuinely nice gesture.

That said, this is really an uneventful tea. I wanted the almonds to be toasty, the goji berries to burst with joy, and the licorice to be unnoticeable. All I got was unnoticeable licorice.

I shared it with Dylan and my friend Mary. The reaction was the same all the way around.

I have had several amazing bai mu dan teas in the last few days. This isn’t one of them. This is unremarkable.

I used to love Secret Weapon so much! But today, we are NOT getting along. It doesn’t taste as toasty as it should, the flavour is not as full bodied as I remember, it’s giving me a headache AND its triggered my acid reflux. I thought we were best friends :’-(

It is one of my first white tea. A friend came back from the shop et gave me 15g of this tea. (I’m always happy to try new teas!)
The dry leaves smells very nutty, almost exactly like peanut butter.
Once steeped, the smell of the cocoa nib become more proeminant and the tea smells wierdly like freshly baked chocolate cake. It’s mild and sweet. Taste like almond with some fruits in the aftertaste. I can’t find any licorice in the smell nor the taste.
It’s a nice tea for the morning when I need something milder than my usual black tea (and it make me want to eat some peanut butter toast with it !)

Not my favorite but I don’t hate it either.

I’m really sad because I wanted to like this tea..
But today was my third time drinking this tea and probably the last. I wasn’t able to finish it… All the flavors taste really odd to me and I can’t stand the smell either… I don’t know I think it smell like something ..Moldy…:S. And strangely it’s giving me a headache.

Before trying the sample I got with an order from DT I was thinking about buying this tea.. I’m really happy to had try it first because now I know I will not buy it.

There is not anything I dislike about this tea. When I received it in a sample box, I instantly went sniffing through all the leaves — this one was the most memorable. The tea itself is a peculiar combination of flowers, fruits, and nuts, I am surprised by the result. Granted, this is a white tea, so the taste is quite mild, it’s so creamy, smooth, and has a really unique nutty, toasty flavor to it. On the first sip, the first image brought to my mind was a toasted marshmallow (but not quite as sweet), but even then I wouldn’t say that flavor is accurate.
This might possibly be my new favorite comfort tea.

The first time my roommate and I tasted this, we HATED it. I think she actually poured her cup out, while I felt forced to sweeten mine to make it palatable to drink. All I remember is that we thought it tasted like dry nuts with no redeeming qualities.

But, since there’s still some left (and I received a sample in my last online order), I get the chance to give it a second shot!

The dry tea smells like dry almonds. That’s the only smell I’m getting from it, despite the other ingredients. It doesn’t smell objectionable, but not terribly interesting either.

Steeped, I am still mostly smelling dry nuts, just in a weaker form. Hmm, this seems like it may turn out the same as last time. There’s a bit of a sweetness overtone that counteracts the dry aroma a bit.

Drinking it, I can taste the nuts, and I think I’m getting a hint of chocolatey flavour and sweetness from the cocoa nibs. I’m not sure if there was a goji berry in my teaball, but I’m not tasting anything that leads me to believe there was one in there. I’m also not tasting any licorice whatsoever (fine by me!) nor the white tea, even though there was some present. Perhaps I should have steeped this longer? I’m also feeling like it’s rather weak.

Either way, I don’t think this is a tea for me. I’m not sure why we were so put off by it the first time, but it’s not terrible, it’s just nothing special. If I want a nutty tea, Mulberry Magic is the winner for me.

ETA: After a bit of thought, I am wondering why this tea wasn’t called Forever Nuts instead of the nutty cider that Forever Nuts actually is? Secret Weapon is far nuttier…

ETA again: Second steep for who knows how long results in a similarly nutty brew. Really nothing special. And I checked – there were two goji berries in the tea ball. Not much anticipation for future steepings.

Got this as a sample in my last order from David’s. I have always wanted to try this one and tonight seemed the best night to do it. Stupid furnace isn’t working. Not sure what the issue is but the house is holding at 60 to 62F and it is supposed to warm up over the weekend and next week so we can wait a bit to get it looked at (like until hubby gets paid next week) And to top it off I am having a case of the sniffles. So hopefully this will warm me up and help me hold of this cold that is coming.

Taste is very nice. Kind of overwhelming with the almonds but I like them so that is ok. I was worried about the licorice because the only licorice tasting thing I like is Sambuca shots but you can’t taste the licorice at all in this. I think this is one I will get a small amount of so that I can have it when in the mood for it as I don’t think this is an every day tea.

Opening this tea, right away you’re awarded with an almond scent freshly sweetened with the goji berries, not too strong, but enough to get your mouth watering.

The scent while steeping is even better, as it releases the toasted accents and mixes with the almonds, you are left with a lightly buttery smell.

And you really taste every fine detail in the resulting brew. Lightly toasted and buttery almonds and cocoa nibs sweetened with the goji berries really give you a unique and flavorful experience. You can barely make out the licorice and white tea underneath, but it gives for a subtle after taste.

I would think, if slightly sweetened with rock sugar, this would amount to a greatly delicious secret weapon.

I still have the tiny tin of this from the advent calendar. I had tried this before, but I guess I didn’t write a note. So on to the tea:
This was a good chocolate-y almond taste. Slightly sweet, but mostly a darker chocolate taste.
I like that the licorice is subtle but I can still feel it coating my throat a little.
2nd steep: boiling, 5 min, the almond is still there, and I can taste the goji more, but less of the chocolate.

Got this from a friend of mine who received samples of it and Exotica and didn’t like the smell. I liked the smell of both of them! Plus I just like tea swaps. But I digress.

This is nice, no more, no less. It’s got a light body and a pleasant nuttiness once you get down in the cup a little bit. I’m still not good at tasting white tea, so I don’t know if it’s evident or hidden in this blend. I enjoyed eating the little swelled-up goji berries (I usually keep a stock of dried ones around and like them anyway) from the spent leaves. I liked it enough, but I wouldn’t fork over money for it.

I should probably have learned from the time I only wore a hoodie while waiting forever in a line for a concert on a January night about 8 years ago. I had a sinus infection that was so bad I missed school for 2 weeks. Needless to say I woke up all sniffly today and haven’t felt good all day (though that’s not entirely related…)

So this came as a sample in my order and I figured I would give it a try. It’s very very almondy. It’s almost too much because it tastes like nothing but almond. There were plenty of orange pieces and goji berries in there so maybe I just need to let it cool a bit more. It’s kind of weirding me out to drink liquid almond.

Probably wouldn’t ever buy it, but interesting to try.

DEEEEEELIGHTFUL!
Heavy on the almonds with a strong “white”/splash finish. I can hardly taste anything besides almond but I love it so that is just fine by me! If I squint really hard, I can imagine the gogi berry flavour, and maybe some of the licorice, especially in the after taste.
The only reason this isn’t getting a higher rating from me is that I LOVE the Creamy Nut Oolong from Teaopia a tad more… but then this is much healthier so I guess that balances it out. Hmmmm. I haven’t had it since I finished my supply months ago so next time I hit teaopia, guess what I’m getting!

WOW. I love this tea. When you smell it, it smells like rotting cardboard and almonds, if you can imagine that. Brewed, however, is an entirely different story. I’m not sure how to describe it – The cocoa really comes through with a bit of citrus. It’s just so good! Give it a chance and don’t let the scent fool you.

Currently drinking the most amazing cup of secret weapon I have ever tasted. I sweetened it slightly and added some chocolate almond milk to it and it’s like a hug for my tummy before bed. This is already one of my favourite teas but this cup meant I just had to increase my rating.