The Spice and Tea Exchange in Mystic, CT sells something they call "Bohea Tea," which they describe as a smokey orange tea that replicates as closely as possible Colonial-era tea of the type dumped into Boston Harbor. It's a blend of Assam black tea, lapsang souchong, cinnamon chips, orange peel, cloves and unspecific "cinnamon" and "orange" flavoring.
Obviously, given my love for both history and tea I *had* to try this.
When I say it is very good for what it is, I'm trying not to damn this tea with faint praise. Imagine if Constant Comment, that bane of my existence, were actually good tea. Bohea Tea is far more smokey than orange-y. The cinnamon and the smokiness work very nicely together. The orange sneaks up to tap you on the shoulder in the aftertaste.
Unfortunately, this tea is not to my personal taste. I want more tea flavor elements than smoke. I want a stronger orange element. There are people who read this blog who are going to *adore* this tea. I'm just not one of them.
I'm going to fiddle a bit with adding honey and Sugar in the Raw to see what sweetener does to the flavor blend. If any of my readers are fans of milk in tea, I'm willing to donate a bit of my sample to flavor-test that (I can't stand milk in tea). If I have any revelations of note, I'll update this entry.
While I can enjoy Bohea Tea as an intellectual exercise, I won't be ordering more after I finish my sample package.
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