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It’s time to get one of my few remaining August reviews out of the way. I think I finished my pouch of this tea either shortly before my injury or at the end of the month when I was about done recovering. I recall it taking awhile for me to get used to this tea. I was expecting something a lot more boisterous and powerful, but instead got something that was very layered and sophisticated with tremendous depth and complexity.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of honey, plum, raisin, and cinnamon. After the rinse, I detected aromas of malt, toast, caramel, roasted almond, and blackberry. The first infusion allowed hints of cream and butter to shine through on the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of malt, cream, honey, raisin, plum, blackberry, roasted almond, date, and black grape that were accented by hints of butter. Subsequent infusions saw cocoa, pear, sweet cherry, date, vanilla, and black grape aromas emerge. In the mouth, I found belatedly emerging impressions of cinnamon, toast, and caramel accompanied by notes of minerals, wood, cocoa, pear, vanilla, sweet cherry, red apple, and powdered sugar. The final few infusions emphasized lingering notes of minerals, malt, wood, and cream that were underscored by delicate impressions of roasted almond, blackberry, raisin, and honey.

This was an incredibly nice Taiwanese black tea. There is not much more I can say about it. If you are looking for a black tea that offers wonderful aromatics as well as tremendous flavor, body, and texture, then this is your tea.