I find this tea to be a really exceptional black. Most black tea taste pretty much the same to me, lots of honey and some savory notes, this one is really different.
On the nose I get berries, yes some honey too, vanilla, and some really nice herbal notes that I just can’t quite name. Palate there is definite strawberry, honey, creme brule, lemon, cassis, and a ncie mineral note, almost like a wulong.
Flavors: Herbaceous, Honey, Lemon, Strawberry, Vanilla
Drinking tea is fairly new, but have had good wines for many years, so that is my perspective…
I generally brew in small ( under 200 cc and often under 100 cc ) pots either Japanese Tokoname or Chinese Yixing. I vary my steeping times a lot before I decide on tasting notes — I take a sort of experimental approach, gong fu one time, western short steeping another, vary the water temp, etc. to see what the tea will offer. Also, I will take notes on different days since what one brings to a cup one day will not be the same the next. I rate teas somewhat the same way as I rate wines, with over 90 being excellent, and over 95 being truly remarkable — even once in a lifetime. Over 85 very good, over 80 good.
USA
