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Finishing this one off as part of trying to cut down my stash. The smell is fairly consistent with the maraschino cherries of the Shirley Temples of my youth, but the flavor is almost all hibiscus, maybe a bit of orange. I feel David’s overuses the red hibiscus for its color and ends up with half their herbals tasting the same. Not too sad to see this one go.

Strong tea, I have to be more careful not to over-steep in than with some other blacks. The smoke is the strongest flavor, but I can really smell the bergamot. I do not get the vanilla they mention but I like it just the same.

My roommate received this tea from a friend as a holiday gift. Looks like the tea is not available at the moment since the season is over. The description on the box said it combines “flavorful Ceylons, rich North Indian Assams, and high-grown Darjeeling teas with rosemary, black currant and a pinch of cassia”, which is a mix definitely different from most of the other things in our absurd tea cabinet. So, I gave it a try.

The version we have is in cloth sachets but based on the total weight I calculated each is about 2.3g. The sachets are a good size and the tea has plenty of room to expand, so no complaint here. I got to use one of our cute but oddly shaped mugs that the steep baskets don’t fit in.

The black tea is lovely and strong, fairly tannic. Of the additional flavors they list, I pretty much just get the rosemary which also hits strongly in the nose, but I absolutely love it. It’s like sitting right next to the Christmas tree and breathing deeply. I’m only docking a few points because reading the description I was expecting a hint of sour fruit from the currants.