Day 57: Milk Caramel

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Houjicha
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Drab yellow-green broken-up leaves, with twigs and bits of almond
Color: Golden brown; clear
Smell: Sweet and milky; I can sort of smell the caramel along with a bit of saltiness, but for some reason, there isn't much of a roasted smell (which is characteristic of houjicha)
Recommended with/as: As is, sweetener, milk
Rating: 7.5/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, despite the name and what I expected, this houjicha is much lighter than I thought. Like most houjichas, I expected this to taste and smell very roasty, but it isn't; it's not bad per se, but it's just not what I was expecting. Rather, it tastes very much like caramel with a bit of nuttiness and a very little bit of roasty taste. It's creamy and smooth, but not very sweet or strong. There's little astringency, and with milk, it's pretty decent, but it's relatively the same.  It's good, but I actually prefer an unflavored houjicha more.


Other notes:
Wooo, we won second place in our category! No special awards though. I think we're set on continuing the project next year, but we might drop one of our teammates (since he hasn't really contributed much). I'll let you know tomorrow since I have an AP bio test and I'm too tired to keep writing/studying.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Honeybush