Honey Black

Hm. Not sure why I don’t have a review of this one already. Oh, well. This isn’t gonna be a great one. I drank it without really thinking about it. I wanted some tea that I knew was good after getting back from vacation without any real opportunities for good tea. I did have a little travel gaiwan session one night with some of BTTC’s Sun Moon Lake and for breakfast one morning I had some of Butiki’s Crimson Horizon. Oh, and a really nice white tea at a friend’s house one morning. Then some okay tea at a tea room with same friend. :)

But otherwise, we ate at such odd times and got back to the room so late almost every night that there just wasn’t any time. Seems that’s how it always goes when I pack tea and travel stuff for trips. I never end up with time to use them.

Anyway, this tea was good. I need to compare with Green Terrace soon and actually pay attention.

I received this tea in last years Secret Pumpkin 2014 exchange. Thank you!

So, by the name I was really excited about this tea. The Taiwanese black teas that I have had have always been sweet and filled with a nice spiciness. I thought with a name like honey black, that this would be the same, but I am not finding this tea that naturally sweet. Like others have mentioned I get a lot of vegetable notes and i seems more similar in profile to nilgiri or Ceylon type of tea. Not my favorite cup, but not a bad cup either.

Even though I dislike black tea… I keep trying more and more of it until I find the right ones. This tea actually has a natural sweetness at the back end to it, but that is not what I enjoyed about this tea; the fact that it brews a dark amber color with no real subtle bitterness makes it something I drank for four days at work between 9am to 11am. Interestingly, I now have allotted tea breaks just as smokers have their smoke breaks. It’s kind of odd in a way… but hey, I get to brew tea :)

P.S. did I already mention that I dropped a full kamjove top at work and spilled pu’erh leaf all over the kitchen floor?

Time for a lovely black tea! This sample came from Nicole (she was sending me a sample of Earl Grey Polish and generously threw in a couple of other things I wanted to try). Her samples always make me smile, I love the way she labels them! Adorable. Anyway, I was particularly excited for this one because I love Taiwanese black teas, and I haven’t gotten to try a new one in a while now. The leaves have that gnarled tree branch thing going on, they’re jet black and surprisingly curly. The dry scent is very light, but I can smell bread and honey.

The steeped cup has a strong honey aroma with some malt and green bean notes. Wow, I’m very surprised by how vegetal this tea is! It straight-up tastes like green beans. It’s maybe even a little bit mushroom-y? The honey comes out mid-sip and has a strong presence until the end. The aftertaste is pure honey with cinnamon. I’m very glad I got to try this one, it’s so different from other Taiwanese blacks I’ve tried. Thanks Nicole! :D

Dry leaf aroma: Sweet and crisp with undertones of honey.
Dry leaf appearance: http://instagram.com/p/r58lC1lcAn/

Wet leaf aroma: Slightly vegetal with suggestions of hay.
Wet leaf appearance: http://instagram.com/p/r6CV2VFcG_/

Preparation: Brewed western style in an all-glass infuser mug.

First/only steeping: 5 minutes at 210 degrees. The aroma is predominately hay with subtle vegetal notes and the liquor is a medium golden brown. Honey Black tastes much like it smells, hay-vegetal-black tea, with an aftertaste of hay and a vegetal tinge.

Funny enough, while drinking this tea I kept thinking about spinach. I find it odd to experience this in a black tea, albeit I am still learning a lot about varietals.