Yawn. I find black teas are often pretty boring, and this is no exception. While I did get interesting wafts of orange, it was pretty much a run-of-the-mill nice black. Happy to drink it, but there’s nothing dazzling here.
Flavors: Malt, Orange
A pu’er from La Maison des Trois Thés is what got me into tea, about 5 years ago now. I not only had no idea tea could taste like that but that it could amplify the taste of food so incredibly.
Perhaps because pu’er hooked me, I actually find it less interesting, these days. Taiwanese high mountain oolongs are my newest fascination. Phoenix oolongs and Wuyi teas can be pretty great, as well. And I love Puttabong’s 1st flush Darjeeling, even if no one seems to care about Indian tea that much.
Although I’m a tea snob, I find a lot of the attention tea gets to be extremely pretentious. I genuinely believe if you’re routinely picking up 5 or 6 obvious notes that then shift with each steeping, you’re imagining things. I’ve had the good fortune to eat an inordinate variety of fine food, internationally, and I can usually only discern 2 or 3 notes in my teas; that’s more than enough to keep me fascinated.
MY RATING SCALE:
95-100: I want to make babies with this tea.
90-94: Everyone should try this.
80-89: Great tea that I could drink every day.
70-79: Ehh. It’s good. I’ll drink it again, although doing so might bore me.
60-69: I’m not into this.
50-59: Gross.
Below 50: What did I just put in my mouth?
Portland, OR
