I got a sample of this (and a few other teas) from Rachel (RachanaC) from her teatra.de site. Thank you so much Rachel – they got here so quickly and I’ll be going through them in the next few days, I’m sure. :)
This smelled almost coffee-like when I pulled it out – and since I’m doing some studying for end of the semester finals I figured I could use this to keep me awake for the night! The smell actually seems reminiscent of the Javavana Mate from Teavana. That is strange to me, because the ingredients are quite different. I see some coconut and chocolate shavings (yum!) in the dry leaf.
I used 3 tsp. of leaf to 500 ml. water in my Breville, per steeping instructions. Once steeped the aroma turns more to the chocolate side of things – a dark chocolate smell to be specific. After the cup has cooled a little, I taste the black base and get the coconut and chocolate more on the swallow/aftertaste. I think there’s a faint hint of coconut but it’s not too strong considering the huge shavings that were in the sample. The black tea is strong but not bitter, which is always a plus for me.
This is a pleasant tea. There isn’t anything that stands out about it, so I probably won’t be buying more when there are so many other teas out there to try, but it is nice to sip on while trying to cram a semester’s worth of information (back) into my brain…
