Received this one from Darby in round 2 of the secret pumpkin swap.
On smelling the dry tea, this one really reminded me of coffee for some reason. I think it is the chicory in it (a staple ingredient in Tim Hoton’s coffee).
The brewed tea tastes kind of weird to me. Not weird in a gross or bad way. I am finding the flavours are just not melding together. On very first sip I get a strong mint, mainly spearmint, taste. Then there is a very strong fennel and chicory taste. At the very end of the sip there is a very strong sarsaparilla taste – it is very drying but not astringent. After I sit for about a minute, I feel like I can taste clove lingering on my tongue. I am still reminded of coffee, even though it does not taste like coffee at all. I think the Wuyi oolong mixed with the chicory is giving me that kind of feeling of coffee in my mouth.
This one is not bad but I am not sure what to make of it. It seems like to me it is missing that one ingredient to tie everything together. After sipping about a half a cup I thought maybe some cocoa in the tea would help. However, I am not a huge cocoa/chocolate tea fan so I am not going to try it myself.
