Oh, dear. I was hoping for something along the lines of my beloved Chaud Les Marrons, but this is not it. Hard to believe this is from Lupicia – I’ve never had a bad tea from them…until now. I was worried from the get-go since the dry leaf had a strong tangy smell, acrid, very unpleasant. Once steeped, this odd scent mellowed quite a bit, which was a little bit of relief. First I tried it with nothing added: burnt sugar. Like, not nice, but when you bake something sweet for too long or at too high a heat and it turns bitter. I added milk to even things out and it did help, but I was not getting ANY chestnut flavor. Maybe I overleafed, or it needs less time for the steep. I’ll try again with less leaf and a shorter steep time. But dang! this is not going to be easy to get through. I miss my Chaud Les Marrons.
Flavors: Acidic, Burnt, Burnt Sugar, Pungent
