While the dry tea is nearly odorless, the brewed tea smells much more like tea than many of its decaf competitors. The aroma is faint, but is of a tannic oakiness and light maltiness rather than just wet leaves.

I'll start by saying that the flavor of this tea is very weak and there's no comparison between this tea and even mediocre caffeinated teas. Compared to other unflavored decaffeinated black teas, though, this tea shines. There are detectable bitter and astringent flavors. There's also a hint of something that I'm tempted to call medicinal. According to the Twinings website, carbon dioxide is used for decaffeination, though, so at least it's not solvent I'm tasting.

When this tea cools, as with most teas, some of the flavors begin to intensify. It's still weak, but the bitterness and astringency play on the tongue and, along with the slightly malty aroma, are quite tasty.

Of the unflavored decaf blacks, this is my favorite. Keep in mind, though, just what a low hurdle that is; my praise for this tea is based on the fact that it does, in fact, taste recognizably like tea. Even Twinings' more expensive competitors, however, apparently have trouble with this seemingly minimal requirement.

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