Dry leaf – light to dark brown rolled leaves, wonderful chocolate aroma with hints of bourbon.
Wet leaf – Very fragrant dark cherry, chocolate
Liquor – Crystal clear light orange
Mouthfeel – Nothing too exciting
Taste – The roast is not overpowering yet it’s a high roast tea. The time between the actual roasting and now has probably helped. Very well balanced and a huge improvement over some others I have had that were too roast-heavy. This allows some nice fruit notes like black cherry and raisin to come through. Very sweet fruit notes, but balanced with a coffee-like roastiness.
Aftertaste – starts out chocolaty, then becomes coffee-like, and then finally a wonderful leafy tea perfume comes through— amazing that the tea perfume wasn’t lost in the roasting. The aftertaste in the third infusion is the nice apple peel flavor that I find in good roasted oolongs. Perhaps the aftertaste is the real highlight of this great tea.
Flavors: Black Currant, Cherry, Chocolate, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, Perfume, Raisins
