Reviewer: Tchuggin' Okie
✓ 398 teas reviewed
✓ 76 of Black Tea
✓ 114 of Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis)
✓ 1 of Barry's Tea
✓ 200 of blends
Review of Decaf
February 17th, 2022
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 5 of 10 | 4 of 5 | 4 of 5 | 65 of 100 |
| Fair | Good | Good Value |
My samples of Barry's Decaf came from a motel where the "regular" tea was Lipton. As such, I haven't tried the normal, caffeinated breed of this tea yet for comparison's sake. Both there and at home, I tried it before bedtime, as the website advocated (but without knowing of said suggestion yet).
Dry-bag aroma was pretty much nonexistent, as I'd expect from most decaf black teas. Things change much when poured! The leaves in the pouch are very finely chopped—almost powdery, but not quite to the consistency of matcha, ground cinnamon, snuff, or other forms of truly powdered plant material. I'd say they're about the size of immature aphids. Still, this likely explains why the liquid turns dark fast, in addition to the probable use of a high-tannin tea to start. Drink this daily and your tooth fillings may turn brown rather soon. The tea swells up and fills out nicely in the rectangular pouch; Barry's isn't skimping on quantity here.
In-cup, the scent is faintly sweaty, but not as much as other decafs that can smell like an old locker room. The aroma mainly is rather moistly woody, reminiscent of the outer part of raw/fresh-cut oak or hickory. Still not ideal, but hey...if you haven't read some of my other reviews, trust me here, I've had far worse in decafs. The same general sentiment applies to flavor. Something still seems a bit "off" compared to most regular black teas, but I dare say this tasted closer to a tea not sabotaged by the decaffeination process than the vast majority of decafs I've had. And since the flavor isn't bad at all (clean, quite dry, tolerably astringent, mildly bitter, definitely tannic, and very faintly peppery), that element gets a higher mark than I've given most decafs too. The heavy tannins manifest more in the aftertaste than the actual sip or chug, so you might feel like taking a cue from The Cranberries and asking, "Do you have to let it linger?" when drinking this. Still, I'll recommend this product over probably 90% of decafs I've had, if you want to chug straight tea before bed.
