This tea smelled fantastic, but it was disappointing when I actually brewed it. It also didn't seem to match the commercial description or my expectations for an English Breakfast blend.

The dry leaf has a fresh, light fruity aroma, smelling very sweet and bright. The fruitiness is more like fresh grapes than dried fruit. The leaf is quite finely broken.

When brewed, I was surprised at how light and somewhat thin-bodied this tea was. It's also very astringent...a sort of sharp, edgy astringency that reminded me a bit of Darjeeling first flush; I wonder if this blend contains first flush Darjeeling; The Tao of Tea doesn't list what types of teas go into it, so I can only guess. Flavor is lightly bitter and sweet. The aroma is a lot like that of the dry leaf, but not as strong as I'd like.

This tea was interesting, but it doesn't seem to fit the description very well at all, nor does it seem to fit the English Breakfast style. Tao of Tea describes this as "robust", "hearty", "full", and "heavy-bodied", and I am really getting none of this...to me it seems bright, fresh, a bit light.

Although I wasn't super impressed with this tea, it is relatively inexpensive, at $2 an ounce. We got it on sale and got 8 ounces for only $7 which is a steal...it may not be among my favorite teas but it was quite good for that price.

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