Initial thoughts: smells like must, dirt, and rosemary. I tried to portion about half of the bag into my teapot, so 0.5 oz, which I hope will be enough? Trying to find info on the ideal tea-to-water ratio is uhhh Inconclusive.
Brewing: 200°F; 5 min for the first cup, 15 min for the second
You can definitely smell the rosemary, though thankfully it's not overwhelming- I think it's mostly that that's the only smell I can really identify.
The rest of the scent is all musk and smoke, like wood that's been burned to char and then left in the rain
Also, I remembered why I don't like brewing things hotter than 180, which is because I have to actually wait for it to cool down to drink it T-T
This tea tastes like;
Cup 2: Starting to get some of that back-of-the-mouth bitterness from over brewing, so note to self: 15 minutes is too damn long for black tea lmao
Getting a lot more rosemary in this cup; the smoke is somehow even more intense.
If the previous cup was dousing a campfire, this cup is a campfire burning itself out.
I dumped a bunch of sugar into this cup to try to balance out the bitterness, and it actually adds quite a lot! Now it's like eating the char off of a steak that was marinated in brown sugar :)
Final Review: 9/10. Every ingredient adds so much to the mix- they all work together to create a unified taste, but also have their own unique notes that get their turn in the spotlight.
Not quite an everyday drink for me- smoke is a pretty intense flavor- but this was an absolute delight to try, and with the amount of caffeine in it I feel ready as hell to start my day lol