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The dry of this one is strangely perfume-y and faintly caramel. But mostly I get that weird perfume sort of smell.
This translates slightly into the brew, but not as strongly as it was dry. The brew itself is also kinda funny looking. Scummy/murky with little dots of what I’d normally say was grease but know that can’t be true with a tea. I’m pretty certain that this is from the squares of caramel/toffee that was mixed in with the brew since I’ve seen similar effects from teas with sprinkles/candies/etc mixed with the blend.
I definitely get a caramel sort of taste from the brew. It’s also nicely creamy, but at the same time it’s got that watery sort of taste that I associate with watery hot cocoa/watery desserts. I’m sure this could be fixed with just upping the amount of leaf used to maybe 1.5 or even 2 tsp instead of the recommended 1 1/4 tsp. There’s also that odd perfume-y scent/taste in with the rest of the tea. But I don’t really get the ‘salted’ part of this tea at all. I could see this going well with some milk/cream or even mixed up as a latte is someone is adept at making such things. Lol.
Adding some truvia brings the caramel out a bit more but the overall wateryness of this particular cup kinda undermines the rest of it.
Not bad, certainly not as something I was able to get as such a small sample from Davids. But I probly would have been disappointed it I’d had to buy a larger amount from the website since this tea doesn’t really live up to its name.

I figured I should get into the samples I got from DavidsTea a few months ago, especially since I’m working on trying to get my cupboard under control.
Smells like fruity cranberry pear in the bag. Measuring it out wasn’t that bad either considering the big chunks of fruit mixed in.
Brewed I get a nice sweet cranberry sort of smell with something vaguely pear-like lurking about in the background.
Tastewise it’s, well, cranberry pear. More cranberry than pear and not curl your toes sort of tart. Unfortunately I’m apparently mildly allergic to (probly) the pear in this tea since I’m having a mild reaction to it. /sigh/ Well, I thought that might happen, but I figured it was worth taking the risk. Bummer since with a bit of sweetener, this might really be good, especially iced I have a feeling.

Second to last one from my Doctor Who sampler. I just have a retaste of Jack to do and I’ll have gotten through all of them. I’ll more than likely have to do a retaste of this one too since I made it and then got some depressing news/had an equally depressing realization about my job and just wasn’t in the right mindset for this tea anymore. I just needed something comforting right now instead of new.

But what I did taste of it before setting it aside was slightly lemony. And while the dry tea smell was a fairly strong bergamot with maybe a hint of coconut lurking in the background, but I don’t really get either of those tastes very strongly in the brew. The bergamot was there kind of as a perfume at the back of the sip, lingering with the coconut as more of a ‘hi there. just passing thorough.’ than a ‘HEY!’ sort of taste. Lol. Which I don’t mind that much since I don’t really care for bergamot in my tea. It got a bit more zingy lemony when I added a bit of truvia, but after that I couldn’t really give it the attention it should have.

So what I did have wasn’t as bad as I was fearing considering all three of the individual teas are ones that I would never consider drinking since they’re all teas that I rather dislike. I’d try it again.

(1.5tsp used)

Fourth tea today. Because I’ve come to the realization that I have too much tea in my stash now, I’m trying to try at least 4 teas a day. More if I start early enough or it’s something that I end up not being able to drink because of reasons. Lol.

Dry I get a cinnamon, spicy, vaguely reminds of french toast. But since I only put sugar and cinnamon on my french toast, I don’t associate maple with it. My Mom puts maple syrup on her’s though. Lol.

So maybe my palate is broken. Or just had it with all the tea I’ve had today because I don’t get french toast out of this at all. All I get is a cinnamon-y, maybe some other spice, tea. No bready/eggy/maple/whatever sort of flavors. I added some brown rock sugar since I felt it might’ve gone better than my usual Truvia and all it did was make it a bit sweeter cinnamon tea. Lol!
I don’t know what to think about this. /frowns/ I’ll probly end up tossing this in my swap/sell bin since I just don’t think this tea is for me.
Thanks Cavocorax for tossing this in for me to try.

(1.5tsp used)

I got this from Anna when she was selling some teas a few months ago and after having plain teas this morning, I figured a flavored one would be a good mix-up.
The dry leaf smells like a peachy, floral bouquet. Not an ‘OMG FLOWERS!’ in-your-face sort of bouquet, but just lightly floral.
I wish steepster would let me put the 1.5tsp I use instead of changing it to 1 tsp. (just noticed it happening and it kinda annoys me. XD)
Brewed this smells divinely peachy with a hint of floral.
Taste wise this doesn’t live up to the smell unfortunately. It’s kinda peachy/floral, but it’s also got a green taste that I wasn’t expecting at all. Very strange. No hint of the vanilla this is supposed to have either. Even adding some truvia just makes it a kinda sweet, green, peach/fruit-ish tasting tea. It’s more drinkable with sweetener, but if I wanted a green fruit tea, I’d drink the only green fruit tea I have stocked in my cupboard. Lol!
Such an unfortunate miss.

Swap from Cavocorax.
Another tea I couldn’t resist trying right now. Lol.
The leaves are so cute. Curly and bunchy looking. No scent that I could figure but that’s due to the bag and me not feeling like dumping this into a bowl to sniff it.
1.5tsp/12oz @ 210*/5min – I was afraid that brewing it so long would kill it since I’ve never really let first brews go this long (too many killed cups this way), but that’s what Cavo put as a recommendation on the package, so I figure I might as well try it. Lol.
Brewed this has a fruity, smoky, ‘something’ sort of smell. I’m not really sure what that ‘something’ is honestly. It’s not woody, or spicy, or earthy, or malty. It’s just…rrgh. Hard to describe, or rather I don’t know the right word. Lol.
Taste wise this is smooth and slightly fruity and just a hint smokey. And slightly sweet, which is a surprise. It’s not a sugar sort of sweet. Just a nice subtle gentle sort of sweet. I could totally drink this without having to add any sugar or anything.
Also very very little astringency, almost not enough to mention, but I figure I should since it is (vaguely) there.
It’s very good. Barring finding another (better) keemun I’d totally want to keep this in my cupboard. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive. /flops/ XD

Edit: Did a second steep 6min @ 210* – Not as good as the first. Kinda weak and has that woody/sharp sort of taste that I associate with leaves that have already given their best. It’s drinkable, but I’m still probly gonna dump it in favor of one of the other teas I set out to drink today. Lol.

Swap from Cavocorax.
So even though I have lots of other stuff I should be trying first, I’ve wanted to try this one too much to resist now that I have some in my stash.
Can’t comment on the dry smell since all I was getting was the scents that were clinging to the plastic bag.

I wasn’t sure how much I should use so I did my usual 1.5 tsp for my 12oz cup.
Sipping it I get an almost bitter-ish taste that’s not bitter persay, but similar. Sharp and woodsy. Maybe a bit spicy. With an astringency that’s there and vaguely unpleasant, but not enough to bother me overly much. Definitely tiger-ish. Lol!

Maybe my palate just isn’t appreciative of Assams since, well, I’m kinda not blown away by this. It’s a nice tea to be sure, but I’m thinking it’s just not my thing. I have a feeling that Assams are not my thing since I’ve never really fallen head over heels for any of the ones I’ve tried. They’re just alright, and I’d drink one if that’s all that was there, but I’d likely reach for something else given the option.

Thanks so much to Cavo for sending me this. I’m glad I was able to try it instead of having to buy a whole 4.4oz container of it then ending up not liking it as much. Though I’m sure there’s plenty of people here who would take it off my hands. XD

Edit: Did a second steep at 5min/approx 10oz water. It was alright. Generally more mellow than the first brew. Definitely not as bitey. I almost like this one better than the first brew. Lol!

So the first time I had this I thought it was amazing. Kinda spicy chai without being, well, spicy chai…if that makes any sense. Lol!
I’ve been entertaining getting the 250g that’s on sale at DavidsTea right now, but figured I’d make this again just to be sure. Now I’m even more on the fence before.
I remember it being amazing, but this cup is just so-so. I had originally steeped it for 4 min, but it tasted so watery that I dropped the basket back in for another 2 min.
I have a feeling that this was under leafed for the cup I used, since it was a pain to get an actual measure out of this what with the big chunks of star anise & coconut in the blend. I should’ve picked out at least the star anise, measured my cup, then added a few pieces after.
It smells the same as it should, but the cup itself is kinda weak and meh. Disappointing. Though at this point I’m not sure if it’s the measure’s fault, or that I was over-hyping the brew in my head. Lol.

Another swap from Keychange.
Wow. I must’ve done something wrong because this bordered on undrinkable for me. I took a sip and it was like drinking sand it was so astringent for me. So much so that I didn’t really take much note of the taste other than it could’ve been roasty? But after a second sip I couldn’t drink it and ended up dumping the cup. /sigh/ And after I’d read such good reviews about it.
I still have a tsp and a half left so maybe I’ll give it another shot. Or I might swap it away. Uncertain right now.
Not giving this a rating in case it was user error on this.