Finally, the last of my freebies from a BTTC order. Since I don’t care much for honey blacks, I kept 3g of this to sample before forwarding the remaining 25g to a friend who enjoyed it.
I’m not sure when this tea was produced. Gone gaiwan, 3g, 60mL, 205F, short rinse that I ended up drinking followed by 9 steeps at 10/15/15/20/25/35/45/60/90s.
Dry leaf smelled like faint beeswax, warmed had the addition of honey and wood. Rinsed leaf settled back to wood with faint honey. This was a very smooth red-orange liquor with gentle sweetness, complementary tannins and no bitterness to be found. It started off strong in taste with mostly honey and cinnamon (just like those cinnamon honey sticks) with a fruity backing and undertones of nutmeg, green beans and herbs. As the session progressed, the cinnamon, nutmeg and herbs faded and the wood in the wet leaf came forward with the addition of some minerality. The tea faded away gently. Spent leaves were very healthy looking.
I think this would be a great tea for people new to loose leaf, especially brewed western style and possibly in a thermos. It’s good but the rating reflects my rather non-existent preference for honey blacks.
