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This tea is interesting—it’s minty with a twist. I got my friend to try it, and she liked it too. The citrus notes are fun.

A lovely, pure peppermint that tastes exactly how it’s supposed to. Never disappoints.

For some reason, when I picked this up I had “black” and “licorice” in mind, but I didn’t put the two together to make “black licorice.” Thus, I was expecting a black tea with sweet licorice flavor… and instead got the more specific flavor of black licorice, which I dislike. Bad surprise, and entirely my fault.

Received this as a gift. I can smell the fruit strongly when the tea is dry, but I can’t identify whether that fruit is peach or apricot. I didn’t expect to like it because I don’t like ginger, but if I did like ginger, I think this would be a good tea.

I’ve noticed that when the leaves unfurl, there are long stalks attached to them. I don’t know if this makes a difference in the quality or taste. Anyway, I give up. That’s $20 wasted.

175 degrees, 1/2 tsp, 2 minute steep. I’m thinking that there’s no way to make this tea taste good. I did, however, get better results using lower temperatures. For whatever reason, forcing the leaves to open with higher temperatures makes it release all the bitterness at once.

More leaves, boiling water, 10-12 second steep… nope.

195-200 degrees, 3-5 minute steep, and still not liking it. On occasions when I manage to brew the floral smell correctly, there’s still a very bitter aftertaste. It’s like a sting at the end of the tea.

This tea helped me figure out that I like first flush Darjeeling teas: young, green, astringent, woody, and yummy. Delicious, solid, not outstanding. Good for a rainy day or a quiet moment when I have the time and attention to brew and enjoy this cup of tea.

An employee at Lupicia told me that this was a popular Darjeeling because it was a compromise between the first flush and the third flush. It’s marketed as having a lot of muscatel flavor, which is what I might be tasting and not liking. However, my tea vocabulary is small, and it’s quite possible that the flavor I’m not enjoying is something else. It just tastes kind of muddy and generic to me.