If the very first word you read is caramel, you expect something to be sweet right? Perhaps if it follows salted you might expect it to still have some sweetness but have something to counteract it? Either way a tea, herbal or not (as this one is), with such a name sounds like something that needs no extra sweetness added to it.

Well in this case you would be wrong. Eventually the caramel comes through after fighting what seems to be an overwhelming amount of cinnamon or nutmeg or something. Heck, even the apple to add either bitterness or sweetness doesn’t make it through.

That’s not to say that this tea is ‘bad’ as such it just isn’t quite what you might expect from the name of it. Add a little caramel syrup into it or give it a spoonful of sugar and it gives it that little boost that you need. Mix it through with some hot cocoa as a bit of a blend, with some cream on top, and you have a spiced hot cocoa for a Autumnal evening. There are plenty of ways to make this tea good… if you want to go to the effort. But, whilst certainly not expensive, is going to that much effort for a cup of tea something that you really want to be doing? Probably not.

I honestly wouldn’t recommend this to somebody, though I will finish off the box of it that I have one way or the other, and it has made me reluctant to try any of the other teas by this company in general for fear of a similar disappointment over name vs actual flavor profile. If however you happen to have a particular love of one of their brews it would be great to hear about it in the comments below!