Sipdown, 141. Thanks to Yunomi.us for this free sample of a Japanese black tea.
As with my other sample from Yunomi, this sample was composed largely of tiny tea pieces and a lot of dust. I filtered out a lot of the dust before brewing. I also was cautious with my steeping parameters out of fear of it going bitter on me.
Steeped, it smells remarkably like the Taiwanese black tea I had recently. Very fruity, sweet, with a honeyed mead-like note. It smells pretty good considering I am not usually one for fruity black teas. However, I took a sip and you should have seen the horrific face I made. This is perhaps the most bitter tea I have ever had the displeasure of putting in my mouth. The extreme of bitter. It may be the most bitter thing I have ever tried. The bitterness is still lingering in the recesses of my mouth, coating my tongue. As it’s fading it kind of reminds me of grapefruit rind, but worse. I will not be taking another sip. I do think this may be more to do with the low quality of the sample rather than the tea itself, but I will never know.
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eww, bummer
Yeah I think it was exacerbated by the huge difference in smell versus taste. I feel like I can often “smell” bitterness in a tea, but not in this one!
I bought a 1.41 oz tin of this same tea and found the same flavors, but no bitterness. It wasn’t that flavorful to me. I liked it well enough, but won’t order again. I think you’re right that the sample was the issue.
eww, bummer
Yeah I think it was exacerbated by the huge difference in smell versus taste. I feel like I can often “smell” bitterness in a tea, but not in this one!
I bought a 1.41 oz tin of this same tea and found the same flavors, but no bitterness. It wasn’t that flavorful to me. I liked it well enough, but won’t order again. I think you’re right that the sample was the issue.