The dried tea is very pretty thinly rolled leaves with whole Camilla blossoms. It smells very much like a black tea without a noticeable floral aroma. It brewed to a lovely clear red orange color and the leaves opened up a bit into entire young thin leaves.
One of the most noticeable things about this is a spicy, almost peppery, note from the flowers which I’m guessing might be from the pollen. It’s delightful and rather surprising since I was expecting a up front floral perfume flavor like with rose or jasmine. The tea itself is mellow, a little tannic, and leaves a cooling feeling at the end of the sip. It’s good for a few infusions but after the first the spicy flavor fades away and your left with just the good base. I’m thinking I could have got three if I hadn’t bungled my strainer and dumped all the leaves behind the couch :(
I can definitely see why the description urges you to avoid putting milk in it at first. I imagine it would wreck the delicate flavors and that would be nothing less than a crime. However, I think it’s probably a bit too refined for my tastes as I can see myself coming back to this occasionally as something refreshingly different but not something I want to keep ahold of all the time.