Thank you to my roommate for letting me try this! Every now and then I try a tea that I don't expect to like, both to expose myself to diifferent tastes, and because I'm open to being surprised. This was one such tea, and in this case, I was not surprised...even though it was okay for what it was, I didn't like it much.

The dry leaf smells very fruity, dominated by flavoring. It reminds me of passionfruit or guava, suggesting of a sweet, thick fruit juice.

The brewed cup smells very different; upon sipping I can taste the base tea much more than I could smell it before brewing, which I liked. The fruit flavoring no longer dominates the aroma, which also has notes of celery and a few pungent herbaceous notes, almost skunky. I notice the ingredient list contains shredded coconut, but I don't notice any in the aroma. I get the sense that I wouldn't be thrilled with the base tea, without the flavorings.

Heavenly Tea Leaves describes this tea as smooth, sweet, and velvety. I disagree. To me is seems tangy, crisp, bold-flavored, with considerable bitterness and just enough astringency to make it pleasantly full-bodied. I used low temperature water and steeped for 2 minutes, as recommended; I can see this tea being easily spoiled by oversteeping.

This tea seemed overpriced to me; it's about the same price as the English Breakfast from this same company, but I thought that was a top-notch tea and this one is kind of run-of-the-mill. It's perhaps above average for a flavored tea, but it's still a flavored tea, and not even one that wows me.

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