Next! So I’ve heard tell that some feel that this tea is fairly similar to DT’s Sugar & Spice (Fall 2013 collection) so since I missed out on getting S&S prior to its discontinuation (though now that I look it’s seems like they might still have some left… hmmm…) I thought I would give this a shot.
Dry this tea is very… well if bling-y was a word that’s what this tea would be, visually anyways. Black tea with gold sugar balls and sugar crystals (plus the bits of lemon peel) make for a very eye catching tea. Scent wise the sweet sugar and vanilla are the main notes with some undertones from the cloves and lemon peel to help break things up. I don’t find much from the black tea though.
The slightly murky, orange-brown liquor has a similar scent profile, though the sugar has toned down and instead I get more from the cloves. There’s the odd citrus/lemon note but it’s not very prevalent. As for the flavor… I could sum it up in one “word” (I’m into making things up as I go today!) Meh. The clove melds nicely with the malty notes from the Chinese black base and the vanilla is the icing on the cake of that combo but aside from that it’s very one-note. I’ll get a hit every once and a while from the lemon but it almost comes through (for me anyways) like detergent lemon rather than the bright citrus that it “should” be. And it’s almost too sweet for my tastes, a bit cloying really.
In the end, I’m glad I tried it but I won’t get it again. Oh well, I can’t love them all!
