Teavivre is currently having a giveaway in exchange for reviews. I chose to review their entire “5 Featured Black Tea Sampler”, not realizing I could only have one entry. I will include my reviews for all five teas in this entry, and I’ll divide out the individual teas in a few days. <edit: after 4 years, I have finally divided out these entries…>
Leaf: Dry, I see slim twists of black tea with golden tips. It smells rich and smoky and a little acrid, as if someone briefly uncapped a permanent marker. The acrid scent could be from the masking tape I was handling a few minutes previously, though. Wet, it smells like the damp, dewy remains of a a campfire after a night of camping.
Water: I don’t have a temperature control kettle, so I just have to estimate water temperatures. My kettle is glass, though, so I can get a pretty good idea of what is going on. The temperature I used was below boiling, at the point when small bubbles are formed on the bottom of the kettle and the first bubbles begin to be released.
Amount: I used approximately 2 tsp of tea for 8 oz of water, brewing western style.
First Steeping:
1 minute: The tea is a light gold. It doesn’t taste like much on the tongue, but the after taste when I swallow is slightly smoky and malty. I will let this steep for another minute.
At 2 minutes total steeping time, the tea is now a darker, honeyed orange. It smells much more smoky. It has a very thin mouthfeel, much different from the usual lapsang souchongs I am used to. The smoke flavor is fairly light and subtle.
Second steeping:
3 minutes: I used slightly hotter water this time, because the water seemed a little too cool to properly brew the tea last time. I can immediately see the difference when I remove my steeper. The tea is a dark, rich amber. I can smell some of the underlying tea base beneath the smell of smoke. For all of the smoke scent, there is not much smoke flavor. It is surprisingly light for a lapsang souchong. With this steeping, it is very subtly sweet.
