The smell is intoxicating. I almost got drunk off of it, seriously! I felt like I walked into a candy store right after they covered the cherries in steaming chocolate. Coffee beans are ground into fine espresso, filling the air with an aroma of liquor. I’m so glad this came so soon-three papers in the same week-yikes! The customer service is awesome, and it seems that I have some pretty similar tastes to Madhatter. Considering how much I love my coffee, stone fruits, chocolate, and oolongs, this should be no surprise.
Now the taste. I agree with Roswell-the liquid is pretty thin and could use a cleaner mouth feel. I drank the tea while it soaked to test out how it changes. The sweet spot for me might be closer to 2 min 45 or 3 min. I tasted the creaminess of the oolong more at 3 minutes with Hojicka dominating, but I tasted the cherry and the chocolate a little bit more at 2 min and 45. The cherry was natural and perfectly balanced. The chocolate could be a little bit stronger, and I am also pretty partial to cocoa nibs. I’ll have to see how they do in the Green Spumoni. I’m also glad that the coffee wasn’t too dominant and acted as a roasted background, but I wanted the oolong to shine a bit more since this type of yancha also normally has a roasted character.
I did taste more cherry and quilan after a 8-10 minute steep two, but it was still faint. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with this tea. Cream and rock sugar really bring out the other flavors and help balance them out, especially in steep one. I love the type of flavor, but again, I personally want more cocoa nibs and more Quilan to enjoy the tea at its purist. I also need to brew this a few more times to get a better balance of what I’m looking for.
Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Cocoa, Coffee, Roasted, Smoke
