Lena was lovely and sent me an entire sample tin full of this. I was really excited to give it a try, so I steeped some today.
I’m going to preface this by saying a couple of things. One, I am still adjusting to the fact that Jackee Muntz completely morphed on me from tasting like caramel sauce to tasting like what I guess keemun tastes like. Two, I’m not sure that keemun is a type of tea that is ever going to make my favorite black teas list. Three, this rating is completely liable to change.
Right. Now that that’s out of the way, this tea was decent. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great for me either. It tasted weaker to me than Jackee Muntz, which made me think that maybe I didn’t steep it for long enough, because the water was definitely at a rolling boil when I took it off the stove. Adagio recommends 5 minutes, but I was a little scared to let it sit that long, so next time I’ll try it at the full five.
I didn’t get any caramel notes from this, it was mainly lightly smoky with pine notes, maybe with some very subtle notes of cocoa. Reading the description now, I think I definitely need to let this steep longer. I didn’t get rich or sumptuous from it at all, and the supposed biscuit and fruity notes weren’t available to me on this cup.
I’m eager to try this again, because it looks like a relatively high quality tea, so I’ll probably give it another go tomorrow. Fingers are crossed! Good brain waves are being sent! C’mon, keemun!
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Oh well! Better luck with a longer steep then! I think Keemun is a tea that just isn’t for everyone – the husband isn’t a fan at all and my mom’s made a face at it before. But I luf it lots.
Yeah, I’d do it tonight, but I’m not in the mood for a heavy tea right now and I want to give it a fair shot. I think that I also really need to work on shifting my keemun expectations leftward [or something – just away from caramel] and then I can be happier about it.
I’ve been sampling a slew of Keemuns lately (haven’t had time to log them all yet) and there’s a lot of variety from one Keemun to the next. Some are like unsweetened chocolate, but I’ve found too many of them to be too smoky, tarry, or tobacco-like.
I haven’t tasted tobacco, thankfully, but the smokiness I’m can definitely taste. I don’t mind it, really [I’m one of the weirdos who likes Lapsang Souchong], but I’m hoping this becomes stronger tomorrow.
ok, well I’m glad you kind of liked it. keep tinkering. :)
The good news is, it really won’t get bitter so it’s a hard one to oversteep.
@LENA Will do! Gonna make some in a few minutes!
@Auggy Oh phew, thanks for that. I can steep easy now.
groan
I’M SORRY. IT COULD NOT BE HELPED.
Oh well! Better luck with a longer steep then! I think Keemun is a tea that just isn’t for everyone – the husband isn’t a fan at all and my mom’s made a face at it before. But I luf it lots.
Yeah, I’d do it tonight, but I’m not in the mood for a heavy tea right now and I want to give it a fair shot. I think that I also really need to work on shifting my keemun expectations leftward [or something – just away from caramel] and then I can be happier about it.
I’ve been sampling a slew of Keemuns lately (haven’t had time to log them all yet) and there’s a lot of variety from one Keemun to the next. Some are like unsweetened chocolate, but I’ve found too many of them to be too smoky, tarry, or tobacco-like.
I haven’t tasted tobacco, thankfully, but the smokiness I’m can definitely taste. I don’t mind it, really [I’m one of the weirdos who likes Lapsang Souchong], but I’m hoping this becomes stronger tomorrow.
ok, well I’m glad you kind of liked it. keep tinkering. :)
The good news is, it really won’t get bitter so it’s a hard one to oversteep.
@LENA Will do! Gonna make some in a few minutes!
@Auggy Oh phew, thanks for that. I can steep easy now.
groan
I’M SORRY. IT COULD NOT BE HELPED.