Unlike the first tea I had from this company this tea actually has a good deal of scent and flavour. The dry leaves actually smell like strawberries coated in vanilla sugar and have obvious fairly chunky pieces of vanilla and coconut.
The tea brews to a transluent copper colour and smells slightly like blanched almond and cocoa over a powdery floral sweet note.
Over the first sips there is a hint of cocoa, vanilla and coonut and a slightly spicy woodsy powdery floral note similar to some insense. The first half of the cup lacks the fruity notes that rum usually has, and has slighty bitter vegetal base notes blended with cocoa. It is moderately astringent. There is a slight reference to cream and an
aftertaste that references a dark toffee without the sweetness. As I sip the flavour has some of the slightly woody tones you get from the home made cane alcohol I had in Ecuador. As it cools it develops more fruity tones of strawberry and bananna above the cocoa. The final aftertaste and feel in mouth is of having eaten dark bitter chocolate.
The tea has an interesting mix of flavours it doesn’t quite reach the taste of the commercial rums we have in North America but it does reference a cruder rum flavour without a hint of the alcohol. Overall I think Davids version does a better job of capturing the taste of buttered rum. Having said this, the tea is pleasant enough that I will finish the tin.
