1837 Black

I’ve found that trying to do reviews while drinking the tea as a morning tea is a bad idea. I can’t pay attention to flavours because I’m half-awake and trying to get food into my system.

However, it smelt strongly of strawberries, followed by other, less identifiable berries. The first sip was tingling and delicious strawberry, and every time you take a very small sip it’s everywhere throughout it and trailing into the aftertaste. The tea itself isn’t passive here, though. It’s a strong tea, not sharp, Ceylon. You taste it more with larger gulps.

There’s a nice sweetness throughout. Not as strong as Marco Polo, but I’m rather liking this anyways.

I liked this tea more than I thought I would since I don’t usually drink flavored black teas. I received this as a gift and found that it makes a pleasant cup. The black tea is quite smooth with just a hint of dryness. It isn’t very brisk. The berry notes in the tea are delicate but held up well with a spot of milk.

The strength of this tea is the balance between the black tea base and the berry flavor. They complement each other well, with neither being overpowering. In a way, this is a straightforward tea. What you see is what you get — there is no “complexity” to it, no varying flavors or aromas with each steep. But what it does, it does well. The bottomline is: it’s a good berry-flavored black tea that makes a lovely cuppa.

Not everyone’s taste, but I like the combination of brisk black tea with a scent of caramel to give it more body and a light fruity after taste

This has got to be one of my all-time favorite black teas, I have yet to find something to replace this at my #1 spot, and although a few have come close nothing has de-throned it just yet. Being one of TWG’s signature teas, I usually pick it up at one of their salons while in Asia or UK and keep a good supply of it so I don’t run out. Awesome value for the price too, IMHO.

The brewed leaves smell of ripe forest berries muddled with black Vietnamese sugarcane, makes me want to eat them. The aromas of the liquor itself are a bit more subdued, kind of like a hot caramel was poured on top of said berries. The taste is very smooth, but surprisingly not fruity like you would expect based on the smell — center stage are some wood barrel notes, like ones used to age a berry wine or liquor. Although it is excellent unadulterated, 2-3 tsp of raw honey (per 300ml) makes the berries explode to the forefront while the caramelized sugarcane balances it out, reminds me of a dark berry creme brulee. Rockstar all the way.