2020 Lot, but drinking the last of it now January 2021. Back in 2020 Silk Road Teas did a tea Zoom in which they featured three different teas. Dragonwell, Silver Needle, and this one. The Black Fragrance I am currently drinking is not labeled, nor does it say kung fu on the page anywhere, so I’m assuming they changed the name. I was going to make a page set aside from this one and label it, Black Fragrance – Hei Xiang – Rare Lot, but because they are the same farm, same nameish, and same processing I figured it would be better to compare notes here. This is one of those teas that you could rate simply based on the price. Price-based ratings are, in my opinion, not the true opinion though because you could really not like it but force yourself to say you do because of how expensive it is. That being said even without knowing the true price still thought this one was stellar and I am grateful to be able to taste something that is not exported out of China, generally, (I guess though now we can say it is? Albeit in tiny, tiny batches.)
Because I bought this in a Zoom package I didn’t see the original price so my opinion wasn’t influenced by it. My initial reaction was it was good but had way to many hay notes. Fresh hay is fine but I’m not really a fan of those hay in stable notes, though I did have a silver needle from Ceylon the other day that was very good with those notes.
This time around I’m smelling clean earth. The flavor still has those farm hay notes but I realized after a few sessions that I liked this one best within a minute of steeping. It then revealed light molasses and sometimes brown sugar. The mouthfeel is very soft with no astringency.
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Your review was interesting because it reminded me of my days as a rabid perfume collector. At that time, I was part of an online perfume community-the scent version of Steepster. Back in the late 90s, many European perfume rleases were nigh on impossible to get in the U.S. When someone would be able to source one, by hook or by crook, s/he would write up a glowing review, to the envy of everyone else who did not have the resources to obtain The Precious. Often the coveted scent was poorly blended or just so freakishly odd that it was not particularly wearable outside of ones own home. (A scent called ‘Dinner by BoBo’ comes to mind). So the fabulous reviews were invariably a mixture of guilt aka buyer’s remorse and a sort of childish ‘nyah nyah-I could afford this. I now have this and YOU don’t.’ Thanks for prompting me to walk down perfume memory lane.
@White Antlers. Thank you for sharing! That is fascinating!
Your review was interesting because it reminded me of my days as a rabid perfume collector. At that time, I was part of an online perfume community-the scent version of Steepster. Back in the late 90s, many European perfume rleases were nigh on impossible to get in the U.S. When someone would be able to source one, by hook or by crook, s/he would write up a glowing review, to the envy of everyone else who did not have the resources to obtain The Precious. Often the coveted scent was poorly blended or just so freakishly odd that it was not particularly wearable outside of ones own home. (A scent called ‘Dinner by BoBo’ comes to mind). So the fabulous reviews were invariably a mixture of guilt aka buyer’s remorse and a sort of childish ‘nyah nyah-I could afford this. I now have this and YOU don’t.’ Thanks for prompting me to walk down perfume memory lane.
@White Antlers. Thank you for sharing! That is fascinating!