Napoléon Tea conquered me, quickly. Of all the samplers I sniffed in TWG's Bangkok store, this was one of the strongest, and certainly the most attractive to me in terms of choosing a priority for which ones to buy. The dry and in-cup aromas weren't quite as intense as the sampler, but still quite mouth-watering.

As advertised on the website, vanilla and caramel are the dominant flavors and aromas for this tea, which tastes almost like candy upon a normal load of sweetening. By deduction, the "French spices" mentioned on the website, and the single flavor cube shown in the photo (incidentally, exactly one fell into my strainer too) apparently provide most of the caramel element. The caramel also tastes slightly toasted to me (not smoky, but toasted), and as such, even more different than other flavored black teas I've had. Its closest match in my experience is actually a strongly flavored rooibos from another blender: Murchie's "Cozy Caramel Rooibos", except with this having vanilla involved too.

The black tea almost gets lost in the intensity of the flavorings, but not quite; it appears to be a fairly robust tea (and needs to be). The sum of the parts is a pleasantly potent whole, with a savory element too. I enjoy the flavor of this blend so much that, despite the high price, I'm willing to assign a "value" rating greater than middle, and will recommend this tea gladly to anyone even remotely interested in the vanilla/caramel/black-tea flavor profile.

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