Tea Review: Breathless by August Uncommon Tea

 The front of the package bills this as a boozy black tea with white chocolate and prune. Well... I don't get the boozy bit at all.


 

The white chocolate is the dominant fragrance in the bouquet of the dry leaves and it adds a sweetness to the brew that means this does NOT need any sugar added to the cup for my palate. However, it is thankfully not TOO sweet.
 

 
Do I taste the prune?...... *sips again* ...... only when I'm really looking for it. Mostly, I think this tea reminds me a bit of a plum pudding..... which I guess means that it does have a sort of boozy prune profile after all....just... in a very specific combination.
 

 
The back says notes of armagnac which I maybe get? I think of armagnac being a plum and vanilla taste though I have had some armagnac that have more of a caramel and burnt orange taste and this tea has a bit of plum and maybe some burnt orange... so that could be their armagnac claim there. The back also says prune - which I've already addressed, dark cherry - I get more cherry in the nose than the taste but if I REALLY search for it, I can taste it on the end note and the aftertaste. The last claim on the back is whipped cream.... uh, no. I don't get that at all. Yes, the white chocolate adds a creaminess to the tea along with the sweetness... but it doesn't translate to a whipped cream taste for me.

 
Because of the sweetness, I have a hard time thinking of what this would pair well with. The flavors in this are bold and strong and I think would fight with a lot of foods. The one thing I could think to match it with is the Russian Gingerbread with Orange Filling that I got in my Russian Yum box a few months ago. Both the tea and the snack have really strong flavors - but they're complimentary and so they each break up the other and give a break to your palate without getting overpowered by the other. It's a nice pairing - but in all honesty, the tea doesn't NEED anything to pair with it. It's nice on it's own straight off the steep with no additions or sides.
 

 

 

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