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Yeah, this hit the spot so much yesterday that I’m starting my day with it again.

The reviews on SpecialTeas’ site and their description of this tea are spot-on: this tea brings together the best parts of an Assam without being bitter or too malty. There’s a spiciness to the tea that melts away into an almost sweet, fruity aftertaste. It also reminds me in some ways of a less spicy, less bitter Yunnan.

I’m surprised by the bad reviews on this. I love chocolate, and I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of a chocolate tea. The only other one I’ve tried is Adagio’s Valentine’s, which is good, but has that nasty Ceylon base that Adagio uses. This is not bitter like that at all. It has a very rich, smooth, creamy chocolate taste, and is very authentically chocolate despite the lack of milk. The smell of the dry leaves is amazing! The chocolate taste does lean a bit darker than a milk chocolate, so maybe that’s part of the hate on this one. Hm.

This tea is so frustrating. The smell of the dry pieces is TO DIE FOR – just like thick, creamy, sweet apple butter. But the taste just doesn’t live up. I steeped for 10 minutes, the longest recommended time on the package, and it’s still pretty weak. Sad.

It’s springtime (finally!), so it’s time to break out the jasmine teas. This is a good one, but I might have to have to some Jasmine Silver Needle next.. oh, and another tin gone!

This one is rather tough to describe – I feel like there’s a lot going on, but it’s simultaneously a pretty straightforward Ceylon. On the surface, it tastes exactly like what most people would think black tea tastes like: slight hint of lemon, very smooth, not much bitterness or astrigency. When you dig deeper, some great hints of flavor come out: tobacco, florals, fruitiness. This would make a great everyday black tea.

Is it weird that my choice of this tea as my first to try from my new SpecialTeas order was influenced by my deoderant? Yes, I wear apricot-scented deoderant. It smelled delicious this morning, so I reached for this tea. I know, I know.

This reminded me a lot of Caribou Coffee’s Mango tea, which is rather odd, since it’s an apricot tea. Either way, it has that strong, juicy flavor. Really good, if you love apricots like I do.

This was the last of my sample, and I don’t think I’ll miss it tremendously. While good, I have a SpecialTeas coconut black coming my way (delivery today!), so it will be replaced soon.

I’m really enjoying the flavored senchas from Den’s that I’ve tried thus far (the other I’ve tried is the pineapple). The dry leaves have a big, brassy orange scent, while the steeped tea has a much more muted orange scent and taste, but the orange is still present. It’s great how well the orange taste blends with the sencha. I also like that this tastes like orange, not just broad citrus flavor.

Thumbs up!