Black Metallic

I’m beyond excited to try this violet tea, a generous gift from amandastory516. I don’t remember ever having had violet before, so Amanda also sent some violet candies for me to try so that I can distinguish the flavor. The candies are delicious, immensely floral with an almost licorice sweetness in the aftertaste that I actually enjoyed. I’m generally not a fan of licorice, but it worked so well with the other flavors.

I waited for the weekend so I could take the time to enjoy this tea fully. I can taste the same flavors here that I noticed in the candies. Not quite as floral but I can tell that the primary flavor is the same. I don’t taste the blackberry or the smoke (would have liked more smoke maybe), but if I hadn’t know it was supposed to be there I wouldn’t have missed it. A unique and delicious tea, one I think I’ll keep around. Thanks, Amanda!

One of the main reasons for placing my most recent August Uncommon order (aside from not being able to sleep at 2am), was to try this tea. I absolutely love violet. I grew up enjoying C.Howard’s violet gum and candies, so violet is a flavor/fragrance that I gravitate towards. The dry leaf and brewed aroma is like walking through a field of violets and blackberry bushes. Sticky sweet floral berry divinity. There’s an almost lychee quality to it. The mouthfeel is like silk. The flavor is unreal. I did add 1 raw sugar cube, but it didn’t need it. It’s sticky sweet, and packed full of violet flavor. The berry flavoring combines perfectly with the floral, and the lapsang is barely there, but present enough to tie everything together. This blend is a stunner.

August Uncommon recently released a bunch of new tea blends, and it motivated me to place an order to restock my beloved Dots & Loops as well as try the new flavours – which included this tea. I actually ended up just grabbing samples of every single tea on their website that I hadn’t tried before, so now I’m flush with new AU blends…

This was an intriguing tea for me – I tried a lot of violet blends in 2019, and for the most part I really liked them. It’s a flavour that I definitely feel really familiar with now; but this concept – a smoked violet – is very different from everything else I’ve had. Not to mention that AU does “concept teas” (versus “flavour recreation” blends) really well, so I was excited to see if the smoked violet profile seemed fitting for a name like ‘Black Metallic’.

Surprisingly, especially because AU has a serious penchant for using Lapsang Souchong in their black tea blends, this actually isn’t really that smoky!? It’s a little bit there, but I’d describe the flavour as much, much more of a sweet floral vibe with really distinct and juicy notes of violet. It’s sort of coating in the mouth as well, which is pleasant.

However, I feel like the name just seems strange given the overall sweet, floral nature of this tea!? But that said, I liked it a lot!