Another go at this one! We obtained another sample or two somehow – I thinkin a prize we won at some point. Between free samples for review, samples with orders and prizes in competitions I have an awesome collection of Teavivre samples, yay! I don’t often turn to oolongs but I faced my sample collection at work and found it consisting entirely of whites and oolongs. Say what?!
I remembered having success with this one and believing it to be more roasted than some other options on hand. Roasty is good, in my world! Because I am at work, I had to grab the kettle somewhere before the boil. No idea the temp, but the tea is not burnt at all (half the sample = 4ish grams @ ?? temp in 12 ounces of water for approximately 3 minutes). The result is really nice, sweet like the aftertaste of cinnamon sugar. This would be amazing with a cinnamon bun. I also think it would be great with something substantial and savoury or even a great cheese bun. I work across from a great bakery so these thoughts are always on my mind.
I don’t find this tremendously floral BUT it may well be as I like floral teas but never recognize it as such until someone tells me. For me, this is a lighter tea as I am used to blacks, and I think it could appeal to fans of both lighter and darker teas. It isn’t bitter even under my weirdo steeping parameters but I think it could be if you don’t watch leaf amount and temp. These leaves have expanded way more than I am used to and take up nearly half my infuser pretty densely. They seem to be in thirds or halves, but not crushed into dust. EDIT: a couple steeps later they have swirled all around and I have found a good portion of intact leaves, in addition to the half leaves. No astringency, but some good flavour. Going on steep number two once I clear the masses of paper off my desk. Mmm!
Flavors: Cinnamon, Hay, Sugar, Sweet