Tea & Absinthe's The Road So Far

 Tea & Absinthe does "geeky teas" and tea-related products, including many teas inspired by TV shows.  I've reviewed a few of their Dr. Who-themed teas before.  If you know anything about me and my guilty TV pleasures, you know I'm a huge fan of the show Supernatural and therefore had to try their The Road So Far blend, inspired by the show.  

Ingredients: Black tea, brittle pieces (sugar, hazelnuts, invert sugar), maple flavoring, blackberries, blackberry leaves

There are visible chunks of brittle as well as full dried blackberries in the tea blend which is always a good sign.  I went for a 3.5 minute steep, although Tea & Absinthe's website says it can be steeped up to 5 minutes. 

It's got a tiny bit of a smokey aroma to start, sort of like carmelizing maple syrup.  I'm not a huge fan of maple unless it's done exactly right, so I'm a little dubious, but willing to give it a try.   That slightly smokey quality carries over into the brewed tea.  It's nowhere near as smokey as a gunpowder or lapsang souchong - just the slightest hint of smoke, like a hint of burning leaves on an autumn night.

The maple flavoring comes out more strongly in the aroma than in the tea itself.  When brewed, the blackberry/maple/hazelnut flavors all blend together into a single unique whole.  It's not sweet at all.  Autumn is a good metaphor for this tea because that's the feeling it evokes - darkness, a hint of smoke, the crackle of fallen leaves, Halloween.  

I think it wants honey, so I'll update this post after I try another cup with honey in it.

Oh yes!  Honey makes it all work so much better.  I added a teaspoon of clover honey to my 12 oz cup of tea and steeped for 4.0 minutes.  I liked this tea without honey, but adding honey makes all the disparate flavor elements come together so much better.  The very light smokiness becomes more of an aftertaste than the front and center quality it was without the honey.  The blackberry notes are enhanced.  The honey makes the maple and brittle notes rounder.  

I'm going to call this a B+ tea without the honey, but an A- tea with.