652 Tasting Notes
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @ 95C, steeped four minutes 30 seconds.
Hmm. I see on the package it recommends 4 to 7 minutes — odd, for a black tea. I’ll try the longer steep next time.
I got a sample of this, iced, in a DavidsTea store about an hour ago and loved it. My hot cup here at home is good, too: a better balance of tea and spices than usual from DavidsTea. I like the slight winey-note from the cloves. I adore cloves. And I can taste tea in this blend, too — some Ceylon, maybe. Not an everyday tea for me, as I prefer straight teas, but a winner for a flavoured tea.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @95C., steeped 6 minutes 30 seconds.
Ooops — got distracted again.
But that’s okay, because this tea yielded a deep grape note and a floral note, almost of wild roses, I’d not gotten before. There even seemed to be an echo of bergamot. And some molasses. Wow.
1 bag for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes.
A huge box of these teabags came to me from a friend in England. In North America, PG Tips is a pleasant, if dull, supermarket black tea, mostly Ceylon, I think. The English version is quite different.
The liquor is almost red, like a decent Keemun. I wonder of there’s some Keemun in the blend, as there’s a faint – very faint- smokiness and bitterness. Some Assam, I think, giving heft, and something lighter, giving some astringency to the finish. Delicious and full, without coating the mouth as some Assams and Kenyans might. A very pleasant surprise. It reminds me of how Twinings English Breakfast used to taste, many years ago, only much better.
1,5 tsp plus a punch for 300mL water @10C, steeped four minutes.
This is a second infusion, from leaves I steeped yesterday morning for three minutes. I meant to steep the leaves a a second time yesterday in a travel mug and take it to work, but, as usual, I got distracted. I was a but concerned this morning about re-steeping damp leaves left in a strainer 24 hours in some heat and humidity, but this tea is too good to waste. I added a pinch of fresh leaf and poured the water.
The second infusion was identical to the first. The pu-erh darkness mellowed slightly, but only slightly. A potent and nuanced blend, and a joy to drink.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped five minutes Western style.
Yeah, don’t do what I just did. I got distracted — damn it, I need a timer in my study for when I make tea — and my precious sample Laoshan Black is bitter. Cocoa-bitter. It’s still a lovely tea, and I can handle some bitterness, but this expensive error reminds me that good tea is often delicate tea and needed careful treatment.
As it cools, some of the sweeter notes are coming out. Still, it’s over-steeped, and it’s my own fault.
2 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped five minutes Western style, drunk bare.
I got distracted. I meant to steep this only four minutes.
Dark copper liquor. Lots of sweet potato, similar to Golden Fleece, but not as fuzzy in the mouth-feel, and with lots of deep cocoa notes. Roasty.
2 tsp for 300mL @100C, steeped four minutes Western style, drunk bare.
Oh, oh, oh.
Liquor is quite dark, letting me know there’s pu-erh in the blend. I can smell the pu-erh, too, and it’s a type of tea I generally don’t care for, but it’s giving heft and depth to this blend. Bready and toasty — roasted grains, and a winey finish that reminds me of some good Keemuns. Some faint Yunnan pepper, stronger in the aftertaste, and some honey notes. Florals in the finish, too. Deep notes of cocoa and sweet potato and minerals. Wow. I’ve never tasted a blend like this.
Oaky notes, too — like Keemun again, or some malt whiskies.
Second infusion, four minutes thirty seconds … more
flavour than some first infusions. Less oak and pu-erh, more Yunnan, honey, and fruit, with dark cocoa notes in the finish. Liquor is dark copper this time; the first infusion liquor was brown.
Can’t wait to write about this tea too but I have family visiting from California this week and writing is impossible! All I can say is hallelujah it’s back!
I must save this tea for weekend mornings. I have spent waaaayyyy too much money on Verdant Tea this summer. They sell such beautiful tea, and I think it’s fairly priced, but I must practice some restraint. I shall save this for mornings when I rise early, and I’m the only one awake in the house. It’s a peaceful tea.
Ooooh. I like it even more at a three-minute steep. It’s sweet!
Another reviewer mentions a burnt sugar note in the finish — I agree. It’s quite good.