“This tea smells really good, you know?”
Ah, the innocent words of a not-so-innocent 5 year old who just knocked over my cup of tea.
Ruby Black is indeed a nice-smelling tea. It smells like tea. I really do like the way it smells. When I opened the package, as usual, I held it to my nose and sniffed. Very nice. It’s a nice toasty scent. The tea’s color… beautiful! Like a reddish-black. Love it! I appreciate the aesthetics of tea, the whole experience.
I followed the instructions and used the Breville at 200 degrees for two minutes.
The scent when brewed changed, but it’s still very nice. It has developed into a more vegetal scent, but still with that hint at toastiness.
Now, for the taste. It’s definitely a black tea and I’m not (in general) a black tea lover. I don’t add milk or sweetener to tea. It’s bold, but an understated, not so in-your-face bold. It’s like an underlying strength. It tastes very vegetal. So much so that I almost feel like it could be something on my plate. (That’s not a plus in my book.) Still, it’s a mysterious taste with a hint at spiciness, but not really. Just a tiny touch. It’s almost a thick taste, without the feeling of weight. There is a maltiness to it.
Overall, it’s nice. I do like it, but it hasn’t converted me to black tea. (I’ll keep trying them all, though!)
