Tea Review: Jet Black by August Uncommon Tea

 August bills Jet Black as "A rich black tea with roasted mate and espresso bean".



Now, I've had tea with espresso beans before and I've really enjoyed the combination.  However, I was expecting far more coffee flavor than what I got from this.  Especially since on the back of the package, the very first taste they list is espresso beans.



August bills the taste profile as espresso beans, hazelnut, sugar cane, and steamed milk.  That listing sounded delicious to me, which is why I bought the blend to try in the first place.

My first confusion came when I scooped out the leaf blend into my strainer.

Where are the espresso beans???

Not seeing any espresso beans in the actual blend worried me.  All the other tea blends I've had from other companies that bill a blend of tea and espresso beans have actual espresso beans in the leaf blend!

Confused but still hopeful, I poured my water into the pot and was treated to something terribly special - within 10 seconds of the water hitting the leaf blend, it had developed a beautiful deep color!

This was the color in only 10 seconds!  I kid you not!

Things were looking up!

After a full 5 minute steep, I took out the strainer and the leaf and was left with a beautiful dark red/brown color to my tea.  This got me super excited to try the brew!




Alas, the color did not make up for the lack of espresso beans in the blend.  When I took that first sip, I tasted no espresso, no hazelnut, no sugar cane or steamed milk - all I tasted was MATE.  Hell, I couldn't even taste the tea through the mate flavor.  I had to add soooo much eggnog to drown out the mate taste that by the time I had subdued the mate, my cuppa tasted like any over creamed builder's tea that had been left to steep a bit too long.

No that apple fritter is not super small - my mug is GIGANTIC (it fits my entire pot of tea)

So, all in all, if you like the mate flavor, this might be the tea for you.  However, if you are like me and prefer tea and coffee to the mate flavor, than just skip this blend because it's not worth your coin.


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