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Made another cup of this. For some reason, this time around I was able to detect stronger notes of chocolate. Added some half and half to it, which really brought out the chocolate, but dulled the malty flavour a bit. I’m going to increase the rating on this.

Resteeped. More cinnamon-y this time. Still also rather malty and chocolatey.

Sorry for the brevity/curtness of my latest notes— some are backlogs and I’m running on about two hours’ sleep at the moment.

Dry leaf smells like cranberries and vanilla to me, but I occasionally thought it smelled almost cherry-like, too. Asked a suitemate about it and she could also pick up on something that seemed similar to cherries.

Aroma while steeping became much more cranberry-like with something vanilla or almond-y in the background. Taste was very similar, too, and left a slightly tart feeling on my tongue, though that may have been my imagination.

Light, floral, and I think I detected something that could almost be described as buttery.

My first shipment from Verdant Tea! I ordered this (autumn pick), the Yanxin Reserve ‘04 Shu nuggets, and the Autumn Tieguanyin. As I’m waiting for the water to boil, I’m clearing out a new section in my comfort drawer (filled with teas, chocolates, and coffees) for somewhere to put these new teas.

The dry leaf aroma really, really reminds me of hot chocolate. After steeping, the tea has more of a toasty/woods-y(? I don’t know where that thought came from, but it reminded me of walking in the woods on my high school campus just as spring was beginning to dry out into summer), malty aroma. I also want to say that I can sort of detect a hint of something cinnamon-y, but not as strong. I don’t know if it’s my mind playing tricks on me, though.

On first sip… tastebuds stunned, mind blown. Be back later.

Backlog from two days ago. Shared some with a suitemate, who enjoyed it after adding a lot of honey to it. Still couldn’t taste a lot of the chocolate, unfortunately.

Backlogging from a few mornings ago.

Backlogging from last night.

Backlogging from yesterday. Shared some of this with a suitemate who doesn’t usually drink tea, but seems to enjoy the citrus-y/bergamot-y teas I’ve offered before. She smelled the leaves from the sampler pouch and seemed to have been just as in love with this as I was with smelling the Florence tea (also a H&S tea).

Unfortunately, I don’t have much else to offer in this note. The aroma after brewing was very fruity. It’s a very light, clean, palate-cleaning tea with a berrylike flavour that’s followed by a hint of citrus near the end. I don’t recall picking up on vanilla or caramel like what others have mentioned, but I admittedly wasn’t paying very much attention to the tea as I was drinking it at the time (aforementioned suitemate and I were venting about having a second fire alarm going off in less than a week while sipping this tea).

Had another cup of this earlier today. I can’t wait for my order from Harney & Sons to arrive! I have the feeling that this sampler will be gone well before the package gets here, haha.