Keemun Send Message

…that’s a tricky one as it is quite a challenge to get it right. I went to a tea shop in Zuhai, China and was asking for a white tea. The shop owner pre-paired his tasting utensils and gave me the first brew to drink. Well, that was quite something. The color of the tea was a very pale yellow. Not much fragrance…mmmh, first sip. Bitter, almost unpleasant and rough. Second sip…unpleasant on the tongue but then it hit me…the aftertaste is from a intense sweetness that one gets from a ginseng Oolong. This sweetness gives plenty of warmth to the throat and left me with astonishment as I did not expect that.
As more brews were done with this single tasting portion as stronger the sweetness got.
I bought 500g…went home and failed big time. I only produced bitterness.
I took me a couple of trials until I got it right. Never on the first infusion though. This particular aftertaste that one wants to achieve only develops during the 3rd and fourth steeping…very hot water, long infusion (longer then the big master in China did it). Worth to try if one gets his hands on it.

…bought that tea in the famous food halls of Harrods during a short trip to London.
Actually my wife picked it. Well, I was quite sceptical in the beginning. I could not help but to keep thinking of the old “Queen Mother”…seeing her in one of her pink dresses. A grandma-tea. Anyways, let’s keep it professional, shall we?
The dried leafs do look very appealing and those big, colorful rose pedals in the blend look good. Although I assume that additional to the use of rose pedals some rose oil was applied.
Still…the smell is vague. Not very strong. But as soon the tea gets in touch with water its flavors start to play with one’s mind. The rose scent is of such profoundness that it feels almost like standing in the middle of the Chelsea Flower Show on a bright and very English summer day. The idea occurs that the brew not necessarily has to be drunk to get pleasure out of it. Why not just let the tea cup stand on the table and fill the room with its scent? I made it a habit to let teas cool down a bit before I take my first sip, especially if I am ‘working’ my blacks. Reasons therefore are plenty and to my big amusement all listed and agreed upon by fellow-steepsters. Well, anyways…first sip. Second sip…magical. The rose flavor is there. But in a very fragile kind of way. One has to stay focused here as the rose is fading quickly from the tongue. The Ceylon dominates at first. But in a very smooth and sort of ‘royal’ way. Actually the whole tea experience on the taste palate could be rounded up with the word ‘royal’…not to hasty, very discret, lots of dignity. The flavors are not strong. Not rough. Impressively smooth and pleasant. The Chinese teas that were used for this blend, no doubt, are for catching and balancing the aftertaste…
Great blend.

A friend brought it from her trip to London…my first Earl that I have ever tasted. If I remember properly than I added milk the first couple of times…silly me.
Winter 1992…Bergamot, something that I never smelled before, spread its wings and took me for a ride.
I remember those shiny, moist looking leafs sleeping in the tin.
I always saved that one for breakfast on the weekends…
I should soon buy another tin of this, in particular as my wife is a big Earl-fan.

Only to grap a handful of those curled leafs and smell at them is getting close to the word ‘sensational’. The leafs look very appealing.Dark green, moist…can I use the word furtile? I mean there is deffinetley something in the air…something great will happen.
…as far the brew goes…great, earthy, slight smokey tea taste. But the smokeyness is slowly fading during thoses 6-8 brews that one gets out of it. The tea is heading in a more fruity, slight sweet direction. Extremely smooth texture. Beautiful color.
Clay pot/cup only supports those magnificent flavors and aromas that try to play with your mind…

…in the beginning it seems to take a strong grip on one’s tongue and fills the body with heat.The cigar notes that go hand in hand with those subtile mandarin flavors are overwhelming…by the time one has reached its 3rd brew the roughness seems to be tamed and the whole story gets a more silky, female side. But still:
The cigar note, very masculine, clearly dominates the surprisingly shy mandarin
scent…but in a good way.
If it’s a fresh harvest it will last for 4-5 brews.
If it happens to be older then one year…2 brews max.
Damn strong tobacco that is. I recomment to stay away from it after 4.00pm.
Makes one go mental while trying to find some sleep…which most probably will not arrive sooner on your doorstep then midnight….

…expect a bag of leafs soon.

Great blend which is very common in Germany. One of my first teas/herbal infusions that I started my collection with a couple of years ago. Great in winter time.
Lovely flavors…you just have to find the right tea shop as some tend to overdo the hibiscus part a bit.
There are no big brands of the industrie involved in producing this. But is available in every German tea shop ( including Swiss & Austria)!

My favorite blend in the ‘flavored’ departmant of blacks.
The leafs look very moist and juicy. The odor of this blend is fascinating from the moment of opening the tin until putting the tea cup to one’s lips.
Obviously very warm spices were used for this fine blend. Very comforting in winter time and rather cooling during summer. Suppose one might get a excellent ice tea out of it (although I never did and probably never will).
By the way, a handful of dried plums go great with that tea.
None of the spicy chai blends I tried before got close to the excitement of drinking this BOH blend…my palate gets confused with all this ginger, sandalwood, cinnamon and endless other notes that get thrown in common chai blends nowadays. Therfore: two thumbs up for BOH.

The leafs look very appealing. The odor is very enchanting…lots of citrus, very fruity, very promising.
However after my first brew done with water on boiling point I had to hold on to myself to not spit it out immediately.
The tea takes an immense grasp on one’s tongue and as soon as the tea has reached the stormach a nauseous feeling is on approach. I went on in reducing the portion of leafs for the next brew and kept going with boiling water…same result.
Then I started to reduce the water temperature and came to the conclusion that this blend only is drinkable below 70degrees Celcius. It mildens the tea a lot and even gets a bit of sweet, charming aftertaste out of it.
Now, during writing this, I secretly hope someone from Dilmah gets to read this…lol…
Anyways, the moral of this, my dear folks is: never give up and take up with the challenge!

…favorite Oolong.
Never disappoints. Always chears me up…
And it better does because this is somehow the national drink of the province that I am in…Guangdong. Breakfast (dim-sum), lunch and dinner…one always gets accompanied with ‘the goddess of mercy’. Astonishing here is how robust its leafs are as in busy restaurants there is not much time for waiters to correct steeping time. Leafs may sit three or eight minutes in a tea pot until it gets poured out into cups. An early poured tea one feels tempted to give feminin characteristics while the later poured tea has a more rough, still pleasant masculine note.