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Another snow storm about to hit so I am sitting on the couch, with a cat in my lap, drinking tea and reading a book. This tea is an excellent evening pre-snow-storm tea.

TeaEqualsBliss was very kind and sent me a sample of this. I was then kind and let my husband drink it. :) We were making tea today and he really loves black tea so I let him have it. He really loves the Teavana Black Dragon Pearls so I thought this was right up his alley. It looks identical so it could be the same tea. I did have a taste of it and liked it well enough. It has a lot of depth and earthiness but had a touch of bitterness to it. I think I like the Teavana Dragon Pearls better (but its been a long time since I’ve had that one, so hard to tell).

Yep, definitely going to order this soon.

OMG. I think I freaking love this. This sample was the last one I tried. I was a bit skeptical that I wanted to drink red hot flavored tea. I opened the package tonight and it smelled amazing! And it tastes just as good as it smells. I don’t know how it tastes just like a red hot candy, but it does.

I did add too much sweetener to it and I’ll have to watch that next time. I only added a small amount of agave nectar, but apparently it only needs a smidge.

I think I love Harneys! Already planning another order as soon as I can afford it.

I ordered a sample of this with my order from Harney & Sons and I’ve been dying to try it. I was worried that the tea flavor would overpower the chocolate and hazelnut flavors that I really wanted to taste but I shouldn’t have worried. This tea is magically awesome. Like Tagoti said, I don’t think I’d want to drink it every day, as it is pretty rich, but it is a great treat.

The chocolate and the hazelnut flavors are clearly present as well as a smidge of a coffee-like flavor. The chocolate and hazelnut flavors take turns leading the show which makes for a fun and complex cup of tea. There is no bitterness at all. It’s a very smooth cup.

Tried JacquelineM’s suggestion of less water per teabag tonight. I used a smaller 8oz teacup with one teabag. I think it was much better. The aroma and taste now match! I could now see this one becoming a favorite.

I love this tea. I ordered a sample size of it and now I am thinking I’ll have to order a tin. It’s dark oolong, if that’s your thing (and it happens to be the kind of oolong that I like). It has a nice mellow ginger flavor in the background; more of a candied ginger flavor than a fresh ginger. It’s cold and dreary here today and this tea is perfect for the day. It reminds me of something…

I finally ordered some of this. I am surprised it took me so long. I made this last night, so I am backlogging. I have to say that this might be the best smelling thing ever. I opened the tin and smelled it and then thought about it until later that evening when I could make tea.

It tastes pretty good, but sadly not as amazing as it smells. Even brewed, the tea smells better than it tastes. I smell the caramelly goodness, but mostly taste a mild black tea. It’s still fantastic, but I really really wish it tasted like it smelled. Perhaps a smidge more sugar next time?

Kristen sent me a sample of this! And, I was so excited to get to try it. Red Velvet Cake might be my favorite thing on the planet (damn… now I might have to make cupcakes just from thinking about it). I tried this last night so I am backlogging.

It does taste like red velvet cake which really surprised me. I even feel like I get a taste of cream cheese frosting.

BUT… as much as I want to love this tea, there is something weird about it. I had to drink almost the whole cup before I figured out what the strange flavor was. It’s almost like the chocolate is artificial, but then it occurred to me that it’s actually akin to the flavor that low-calorie sweeteners give off. It’s more of an aftertaste that you can’t get out of your mouth, kind of like saccharin (for those of you old enough to remember what sweet and low tastes like).

So, it’s definitely worth a try, but I don’t think I’d want to buy a whole tin.

I had a pot of this today at our new local tea shop (Yay, we finally got a tea shop here). All of the teas at the shop looked to be from SpecialTeas so I checked when I got home and sure enough, they are (but the prices are almost double at the tea shop, so I’ll still order from SpecialTeas).

This tea is new at SpecialTeas and I remember reading about it a few days ago when I was ordering tea. I was thinking that I wasn’t in the mood for chocolate and the rose petals in the ingredients really scared me off. But, in the tea shop today, they had a smelling station to smell all of the teas and this one smelled great. It also tasted pretty yummy. The chocolate is not very strong, the mint is there just enough to provide cooling on the finish, and it has an excellent nuttiness to it. I think I’ll be ordering some of this at some point in the near future.

*Update – lowered rating after I got some of this at home and the rose petals took over *