Dry: Pretty loose black tea blended with white and semi-sweet chocolate chips along with red and white sprinkles. Has a wonderfully rich, sweet, and decadent aroma right out of the bag- this is a dessert tea for sure!
Steeped: Dark red-brown cloudy liquor with slight film on top. Not the prettiest tea liquor, but I attribute that to the chocolate and sprinkles melting into the brew during steeping. Smells like caramel cupcakes to my nose straight from the teapot.
Taste: After drinking primarily unflavored teas for a while before this one, I was a bit taken aback by how rich and sweet it is. I made it a few more times though and each cup was more appealing than the last as I started to pay attention to the nuances of the flavor, tea, and wonderful cake-y aroma. I get maple, vanilla, caramel or brown sugar, and chocolate notes and they somehow work together beautifully. Now this is probably my favorite dessert tea and I enjoy it for breakfast on days I am craving something sweet as well. This blends nicely with other breakfast black teas if you want to dilute the red velvet cake sugary notes and holds up to at least two steeps pretty well. I prefer it with a dash of milk and my only complaint is the artificial ingredients, though I guess some are required to make a tea that really does taste like a bakery creation. Yum!
