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Using up the last of my sample this morning because I felt that a tasty tea latte would be perfect for the morning after two nights of going out (which I never do, I was being a REALLY good friend this weekend). Turns out this hit the spot, toying with the idea of ordering some of this while Teavana is having their free shipping promotion.

The dry leaf of this smells amazing. The etsy product page states “90 seconds at 175F” So I took 8 oz of boiling water and added 2 ice cubes to bring down the temp and set the timer for a mere 90 seconds. The smell of the brewed liquid is not as pleasant as the dry leaf, and woah, it’s taste is something I have yet to come across. I think the main taste my buds get from this is cinnamon popcorn? It’s strange, in a very tasty way. I look forward to having this again and trying to find the blueberry in it :)

https://instagram.com/p/7s5HZBJnr0pPnB4uKPLuq_BDBDbMGb0kWTG880/?taken-by=kkpeltzer

I get mint from the dry leaf and the first few sips of the liquid. I’m having a hard time finding the chocolate in the cup. There is something teasing the edges of the mint. There ends up being a gentle chocolate taste towards the very bottom of the cup. Interesting tea!

Trying this one again tonight to see if I can decide how I feel about it. I still don’t smell the vanilla in the dry leaf, but there is some sense of cream somehow. Tonight this cup doesn’t have much taste. My mouth kind of feels fuzzy from it, strange.

The scent of the dry leaf is nice, almost juicy. The scent of the brewed liquid, is not. The first sips I get a black tea feel with a bit of a bite. The addition of sugar seems to round out the cup and makes it very pleasant!.

The smell of the dry leaf is indeed raspberry. I also always enjoy when you can see pieces of the different ingredients. I steeped this for 2 minutes instead of the recommended 3-4 minutes because that is what I have better luck with as far as black teas go. Ended up adding sugar to this one. It took the edge of the black tea off and encouraged the berry flavor a bit. I’d like to mix this one with lemonade and see what happens!

https://instagram.com/p/7p_i_BJnnOU6GOd6L1c7rslQxSxwrukSo_RKY0/?taken-by=kkpeltzer

I’m not getting vanilla out of this. There is a sweetness at the back of the sip which is quite pleasant. It is also very smooth. While I can tell this has black tea in it, it isn’t bitter. I think next time I will try a sweetener to see if I can encourage the vanilla :)

This goes well with PB Toast. Smoky really is growing on me :)

I am certain that I didn’t catch the “about 1 tablespoon” the last time I brewed this. Whoops. So this time it is 1 TABLEspoon in 8 oz. Making it this way definitely makes the liquid seem thicker. I also believe the only taste I am getting out of it today is smoke. The back of the sip reminds me a bit of the scent of the sauna but not as much as I remember from my first cup of this. This one is growing on me and I may save a bit for when I purchase a gaiwan.

Last night my father appeared over my shoulder, “You’re looking at tea?! You have tea all over the place!” If only he knew how I envied the stash of many of them members of this site ;)

I am off to a late start to this labor day weekend. I have a list I made of teas to drink this weekend, I don’t know now if I’ll get to all of them with waking up three hours later than planned. This one was at the top of said list as I made it for a work morning and wanted to be sure to fully review and appreciate it. I liked this better at the 2 minute steep time, today was 3 minutes and the black tea taste took over the cup a bit too much for my true liking. I still finished the cup, but I would have preferred to have more of a balance with the maple flavor.