So now that I’m under 100 teas, I seem to be going on a Butiki rampage without even noticing it… This is a much-beloved tea that I hadn’t tried yet so I figured I should get it over with and see whether it lives up to the hype! The leaves are the lovely creepy tree branch variety – large, long, and twisty, and jet black. The dry scent is sweet in an almost caramel way with some honey and a bit of stonefruit or something similar. I wish there was a weight parameter for this tea, as it’s extremely hard to measure in teaspoons. I think I may have overleafed but it’s hard to tell having never tried it before…
The brewed aroma still has those strong sugary caramel notes, along with sweet potato and a bit of dark fruitiness. Happily for me, I can also taste caramelized brown sugar and a bit of caramel, especially in the end of the sip and aftertaste. Yums! This is a very rich tea, with nice dark dried fruit flavor along with some molasses-like richness. There is a point in the sip where it’s almost bitter but not quite, I’m not sure if this is from overleafing or just part of the dark cocoa flavor that’s also present.
Overall, this is tasty but I’m not convinced that it warrants its high rating. I definitely enjoyed the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black much more. Ah well, to each her own. :)
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Cocoa, Dried Fruit, Malt, Molasses, Raisins
I liked this too, but wasn’t blown away. I prefer assam #8 by Tealux