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Day 32 of my 101 days of tea challenge and, saying as I am not very interested in the taste of alcohol or the mouth-feel of carbonation, what I rang in the new year with.

Unfortunately, I made my first cup far too strong — I wasn’t using my usual set of tools, and I think I may have put far too much tea in, so I’ve given it a second chance this afternoon/evening.

2.5(ish) teaspoons in a teaball for my two-cupper. Steeped 3:15 the first time, around 10 the second time. Let the kettle sit for a while the first time, and put an ice cube in the second, so I have no clue over the exact temperature either time, but it was cool enough not to burn the leaves at least.

When NOT made to be far too strong, the tea isn’t bad at all. It has a very dry taste to it, and the candied pineapple leaves a sweet, fruity aftertaste. There is also a slight sourness from it — not the bitterness of oversteeped tea, but just a slight sour tang. Seems to be better hot than not (I left the tea cool for a while and drank some lukewarm, and found that I preferred it hot). The resteep is nice as well — the flavour is still quite strong if you let it steep for longer (and not bitter at that!). I tried adding sugar the second time, but found this to be unnecessary — it didn’t seem to add much to the taste.

This tea’s scent — quite fruity — is also lovely. I think I might even prefer smelling it to drinking it!

I certainly hope that this is around next year. As someone unlikely to accept a glass of champaigne to ring in the new year, this could be a very fun substitute!