Tea Review: Outlaw by August Uncommon Tea

 It's been nearly two months since I was in the mood to try out one of my new blends from August Uncommon Tea.  When searching through my cupboard this morning for what I wanted to drink, however, this blend called out to me.

I've been in the mood for smoky teas of late - but I wanted something more complex in flavor than a Lapsang or a Russian Caravan, and the write up on this made it seem like it would fit the bill.

When I opened the bag and took a whiff of the blend, I immediately wondered if I had made the right choice and worried that after brewing I might have to throw the entire pot out.  Why you ask?  Because the nose on this blend before brewing is ALL CHERRY ALL THE TIME.  I feared from the scent that I was going to have a pot of tea that tasted like cough syrup.

As soon as the water hit the leaf, my fears didn't dissipate, but instead changed.  The initial hit of water sent up a scent something akin to the scent of pipe tobacco and turned my stomach.  Thankfully, that tobacco scent was only present for as long as it took for the leaf to become fully submerged.  After that, cherry, smoke, assam, and limestone were the notes I could find in the scent alone.

I was surprised at how much color the water had instantly.  Above is a shot of the color the pot had immediately after filling it with water.  You can see that the color didn't change much with the brewing as the picture below is the color after steeping for a full five minutes.  A little darker... but not much.

The fears I had from the leaf fragrance dissipated after my first sip.  It's a very pleasant cup of tea.  As in a Russian Caravan blend the assam mellows out the super smoke of the lapsang souchong.  In addition, the addition of the south indian black in the blend gives an additional layer - like adding a baritone in with the bass of the lapsang and the tenor of the assam. I can only taste the advertised pipe tobacco if I really look for it - I think what they call pipe tobacco, I registered as the south indian black sweetening the smoke of the lapsang souchong.  The cherry isn't a bing or tart - but does in fact remind me far more of morello cherries and thankfully, it's not an overpowering presence.  It's quite subtle in fact.  I get the cherry on the front note on the sides of my tongue and a touch in the aftertaste.  It's nice and complex, but not so complex that it's overwhelming as a first cup of the morning.

In the second half of the pot, I considered adding a touch of cream or sugar to soften it up, or just give it a new note as I had been sipping the pot for a few hours (something I can do with my heated mug that keeps my tea hot).  Instead, I made what turned out to be the BRILLIANT choice of dipping a toast-yay! girl scout cookie into the cup.  The tea is good on its own, but the flavor explosion that happens when you soak a toast-yay! with this blend is just ... magic.  For some reason the maple and spice flavors of the cookie soaked with this tea combine in amazing ways.  I highly recommend the pairing.