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I have decided to join in the festivities and have a sale in my Storenvy shop. It seems like every business that I get emails from is having a Fourth of July sale, and I thought it was a good idea. For all that I have spent years selling my creations, I am still pretty bad at promoting and marketing, especially now that it is not my focus. So thank you all those awesome companies who gave me the idea!

Today we are having another visit to Shan Valley, this time we are going to the black teas, specifically Kyaukme Black Tea-CTC. This first flush black tea comes Kyaukme Northern Shan State in Myanmar. The CTC (Crush Tear Curl) refers to the type of processing, long story short, the tea passed through a series of rollers lined with sharp little teeth that crush, tear, and curl the tea into neat little uniform balls. This tea smells really good! There are strong notes of malt, molasses, peanuts, honey and a touch of cherries at the finish. It is so rich and intense, this is a tea I would describe as heavy and bold, not so much light and brisk, it is not a ‘wake you up’ aroma, but more of a ‘sensual lounge in a comfy chair’ aroma.

Into the basket and hot water the little balls of tea go! This tea can probably take boiling temp, but since the website stated that temperature is to your taste and my taste is a little lower than boiling, I went with 200 degree water. I do not think this is always the case, but I find with CTC teas that boiling water can bring out unpleasant levels of bitterness, just a personal preference thing. The aroma if the wet leaves has a bit of that ‘wake you up’ briskness now, there are strong notes of malt and dried cherries with a bit of honey at the finish. The liquid retains the richness of the dry leaves, with notes of sweet cherries, roasted peanuts, molasses, and a finish of woodiness.

The taste is an interesting blend of brisk and bold. At first there is an initial zing that wakes you up, and then you can melt into your comfy arm chair. Starting with a bit of oak wood and malt at the opening, this very quickly fades to roasted peanuts, a touch of honey, stewed cherries and a touch of stewed plums (a general stone fruit kinda taste) with a finish of cocoa that lingers. Usually with CTCs I take them with cream and sugar (in fact I found that if you brew Shan Valley’s Black Tea from their 2013 Collection really long and hot, it makes a great base for Ostfriesen tea!) this one, I think is quite perfect straight.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/07/shan-valley-kyaukme-black-tea-ctc-tea.html

Flavors: Cherry, Malt, Molasses, Peanut

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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I am a nerdy, obsessive, crafty, tea blogging, gaming nut. Yeah, that about sums me up! Ok, you want something more informative….

I am a Geek, hardcore fan-girl Geek. It shapes my life. I spend a large chunk of my life painting miniatures and contemplating my various army layouts. I hoard dice, get obsessed with games, and will talk about whatever fandom, game, etc that I am obsessed over until I am blue in the face. I am not just a gamer girl type Geek, I also fit in the collecting knowledge and spending way too much time reading and researching category of Geek.

But there is more to me than just being a giant nerd. I love tea, always have and have just gotten more and more obsessed as I get older. I love trying new teas and then writing lengthy descriptions about them on my blog, I love reading and researching the history and culture of tea, I love collecting tea pots and fancy tea tools.

When the weather allows it, I love to go mushroom hunting. I don’t eat them, instead I use them for photography and spore prints. I love nature and worked as a Naturalist in the Northwoods one summer, it might have been the best job ever.

I have Fibromyalgia, it sucks, but I feel people who are going to interact with me should know since I tend to vanish because of it so fair warning! I do tend to not vanish very long though. Also I have some ‘social disorders’ which basically translates to I am really awkward and bad at socializing, so forgive any lack of social graces.

I also have cats, love the ocean and all aquatic life, have teal hair, love cheese, and collect hats.

My favorite tea is definitely Oolong, but I also love Japanese greens and…ok I just love tea actually :P I am not a huge fan of lemony black teas or tart fruit teas. I also loathe hibiscus (usually)

This is my actual tea wishlist, you know that I actually update and keep track of…I tend to forget Steepster’s https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-wilson/tea-wishlishtshopping-list-perpetually-in-progress/10152336515414411 I use my steepster WL to keep track of teas I have had and really want more of :P

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Kansas City, MO

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http://ramblingbutterflythoug...

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