Well, I’ve just come back from my yearly vacation to Boise for Anime Oasis! This is one of the few times a year I get to meet up with my best friend Todd who lives in the Bay Area of California, and we had a most harmoneous tea exchange; my last order from 52Teas was a combo order with some things he wanted so I was able to give him his things, and since I don’t have a DAVIDsTEA anywhere in my area and he does, he picked up a few things for me and brought them along. I also was able to clear out a few of my leftover samplers and some of my chamomile-heavy teas on him, as he likes those. My cupboard was doing pretty well before the trip… but then I visited Snake River Tea, and now it’s about where it was before… heheheheh…
Since the convention takes place at a hotel that is right next door to a tea shop, every day it is custom for us to stop in and share a pot of tea! The first day we stepped in to Snake River Tea, the barista saw me and proclaimed, “Hey, you’re the person who bought all that tea last year!” I answered, “I don’t mean to add to your retail PTSD, but I plan to buy more this year! Don’t worry though, it won’t be as bad as last year, my cupboard is getting a bit out of hand at home!” I did keep my word though, and restrained myself to only ten teas this year, not including the pots I sampled in-shop. And the barista was so nice, he even added a free pu-erh stuffed tangerine because I’m such a good customer.
So this pot was from my first visit, and I ordered the Yunnan Noir, which I am fairly certain is sourced from Adagio. I’ve been on a Chinese black kick, and I needed a lot of caffeine for the first day of the convention! I really enjoyed the tea; it was a hardy black, reminding me of the sort of tea suitable for breakfast time (even though I was having it as a late afternoon pick-up!), but it was very smooth with no bitterness or astringency (which is part of the reason why I tend to find I prefer Chinese blacks in general over Indian blacks). This was a very malty tea, and had a very smoky taste on the finish, and I picked up just the slightest touch of a stonefruit note at the back of the tongue. The tea had a very subtle sweetness, but mostly the tea comes off with a smooth robustness void of bitter or astringent notes.
Flavors: Malt, Smoke, Smooth, Stonefruit
I can’t wait to read your reviews on the Davids Tea’s. It’s definitely one of my favorite companies.