Next Design a Tea sample is Blueberry Chestnut with a black base. The black leaves are very small, and there are pieces of some kind of dried fruit-like thing along with decorative flower petals. Dry scent is very sweet and nutty, I don’t get much blueberry but it still smells really good! Once I poured the water over the leaves, I got a nice whiff of blueberry aroma. Steeped for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.
Brewed aroma is still very sweet and rich with lots of nutty scent. I do get a bit of blueberry jam, but it’s in the background. Hmm… I get a lot of the black base (malty, generic) with some nuttiness mixed in. The blueberry mostly shows up at the end of the sip. Tried it with a bit of sugar added, and while it definitely helped to bring out the blueberry flavor, I think I’m just not a fan of white sugar in my tea anymore. It adds a weird aftertaste that reminds me of artificial sweeteners… Maybe next time I’ll try brown sugar. Overall, a decent tea, and I imagine it would be good with milk. Rating would be mid-70s.
Flavors: Astringent, Blueberry, Chestnut, Jam, Malt, Nutty, Sweet
Preparation
Comments
Usually I find honey adds too much flavor, but it depends on the tea. I haven’t tried maple syrup because I don’t have any, but I have heard it’s nice in smoky teas. :)
Depends on the honey and depends on the tea, but yeah it works better in some teas than others. Trying to taste nuance and for delicate teas it doesn’t work so well. I drink my tea with unprocessed cane sugar crystals and I haven’t had an artificial taste problem and I’m pretty sensitive to artificial sweeteners. YMMV.
or honey? maple syrup?
Usually I find honey adds too much flavor, but it depends on the tea. I haven’t tried maple syrup because I don’t have any, but I have heard it’s nice in smoky teas. :)
Depends on the honey and depends on the tea, but yeah it works better in some teas than others. Trying to taste nuance and for delicate teas it doesn’t work so well. I drink my tea with unprocessed cane sugar crystals and I haven’t had an artificial taste problem and I’m pretty sensitive to artificial sweeteners. YMMV.
I’ll definitely pick up some raw sugar or German rock sugar to try next time I get a chance. :)