Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! Day 5 of teamas is here and today I’m going to be reviewing Ocharaka Tea Shops – Cinnamon & Spices flavoured Black Tea. This was of course sent to me by Yunomi and you can purchase it and a lot more of Ocharaka Tea Shops teas over on their website.

As you all know I love black tea and at this time of the year spiced black tea and chai blends are my go to so I was very happy to see that this had been included in the box of teas I was sent for this series. My favourite thing about spiced black teas like this is that they can be had on their own or as a latte and they are not only delicious but so heart-warming and perfect for the winter. I drink them all year round but I think the amount of them I drink probably doubles if not triples around this time of the year. Here’s what Yunomi have to say about this blend over on their website: “This flavoured black tea is using Japanese tea leaf and unique spices of cinnamon chips, cloves, cardamom seed, and pink pepper. Smell is like hot wine and it will help you relax. Drinking with milk is also good taste.“

Ingredients: black tea leaves, cinnamon chips, cloves, cardamom seeds, pink pepper.

Tea Tasting Note

So going to this tasting session having read the name and description of this blend I expected it to be a chai blend minus one of two spices and I expected to like it on it’s own but love it as a latte just like most chai blends I have but this one was different. I had one sip of this on its own with no added milk or honey and it was phenomenal, which surprised me, not that I didn’t think it was going to be great because everything from Yunomi is of such great quality but the fact that unlike almost all spiced tea blends I’ve tried I couldn’t drink it and enjoy it on it’s own.

Most chai blends are made to be prepared with milk so I can never normally drink them on their own as they need the milk to balance everything out. So being able to drink this spiced black tea on it’s own was great and a nice break from the heaviness of milk in tea as sometimes that can be too much for me.

The black tea base of this blend was the star of this show it is smooth, robust, malty, woody and strong and I couldn’t think of a better base for a blend like this. The spices were present and I was able to pick them all out separately but they weren’t so strong that you couldn’t taste the tea and I love that about this blend. It’s perfectly balanced so that you get the smoothest black tea base and a beautiful mix of heart-warming spices that pair perfectly together. Like I said I recommend drinking it on it’s own but I suppose you could add milk and honey if you really wanted to you would just have to use more tea that usual to make sure it still comes through and stands its ground against the milk.

I however really do prefer drinking this on it’s own it’s the perfect tea to drink first thing in the morning like I have been doing since I did this tasting session it’s a great way to start the day. Plus its a welcome break from breakfast blends that I would normally reach for first thing so kick start my day. All in all I really enjoyed this blend and I’m so thankful at Yunomi gave me the chance to try and include it in this series.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Yunomi Tea and purchase some of this tea for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley

*The tea featured in the post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*