Making a cuppa while I wait for my dragonwell to steep. Ok, so I’ve proven I’m not patient- but at least I get brownie points for being able to make 2 cups of tea simulatenously!:)
Holy frickin packaging! I’ve only ordered from Dr. Tea’s Tea Garden once before and that was a while ago… and the packaging is nothing like this one! There’s a twist off cap… then a pull off lid… then the tea is in a plastic bag inside the tin. This tea could stay fresh in a nuclear war if the bag had been fully sealed! Which brings me to my next point. Be VERY careful when you empty the tea from the bag to the tin. It’s partially open.
As soon as I take off the 1st cover I can already smell the tea… WOW! It smells sweet. Kind of like the berry syrups at iHOP. I’ve never had a tea that’s smelled syrupy before. YUM. I CAREFULLY empty the tea into the tin. I see black tea speckled w/ bright red shriveled berries and blue flecks that are pretty but I can’t identify. I can smell it even better now. Can I eat it raw? lol:)
Unfortunately my heart sinks when I look at it in the tin… the tin is only 2/3 full! Don’t get me wrong, I’m greatful for my tea. But I think that the packaging should be proportionate to the contents… having a much bigger container makes it look like you got jipped. Maybe I did. I’ll email them.
I love his teas, but I hate his steeping instructions. I do my typical steeping method for blacks. 2.25g of tea per 6oz of boiling purified water steeped for 5 min.
The tea’s liquor isn’t quite as dark as I had expected, but more red. Such a pretty color, almost auburn!
The 1st thing I taste is a sweet black tea. Then I’m able to identify the sweetness as berries. Not tart berries though. It tastes like berries in a simple syrup. Then finally the creamy depth of the chocolate.
Conclusions: Weird packaging, WONDERFUL TEA! Does not need to be sweetened even if you normally sweeten your teas. I’d classify this as a dessert tea, but could definitely be drank anytime if you’re looking for just a black tea on the sweet side. Very versatile. Even though there is no reason to sweeten it, it may be sweetened and used in place of plain water for simple syrup. I gotta try that… that’d be good on fruit… cake.. maybe even ice cream and pancakes!:)
