Honey Black

Pitting this tea against 52 Teas’ Radioactive Marshmallow and both are lovely. Check out my tasting note for Radioactive Marshmallow here: https://steepster.com/teas/52teas/97295-radioactive-marshmallow?post=422987

Both teas are new to me and I started with Radioactive Marshmallow. I genuinely didn’t think this tea would be able to put up much of a fight but its holding its own. Like Radioactive marshmallow, this is simple – smooth honey and a medium-bodied black base. Where the marshmallow sits on top of the base, the honey sort of lingers underneath. That makes the start of the sip a little more earthy/woody. It ends on a sweet honey note that lingers on the tongue.

Both are solid options but I think Radioactive Marshmallow squeaks ahead just because I tend to reach for marshmallow teas more often than honey and that tea puts flavor first and base second. As someone who drinks flavored teas more often, that means I will likely reach for it more but both are really nice.

I have to admit, I’ve actually been on a bit of a search for a tea similar to Premium Taiwanese Assam from Whispering Pines. I have this horrible fear that it will one day disappear, leaving me bereft of the joy PTA brings me.

When I saw the description for Honey Black, I thought maybe this would be the one. I was wrong.

I don’t taste sweetness at all. Its a little bitter and a little astringent, but not majorly so. I don’t detect any sweetness at all.

As a hot tea, it felt nothing special. Not much different from something like a breakfast tea, the kind that could go well with milk and sugar if you are someone who is into that kind of thing. I am not. its not unpleasant. I’d take this over a tea bag any day of the week, but at the same time, there just doesn’t seem to be anything special about it, that makes it stand out one way or another.

And then i tried it iced. Woot! This makes a pretty good iced tea. I’m still getting a little astringency, but its not very strong. And I suspect some tweaking on the steeping parameters will help.

Its honestly the best at being iced that I have tried this summer. Maybe it will have a place. This might improve with a cold brew, but honestly I’m just too variable to be able to plan a head like that. Make a small amount and I want a pitcher. Make a pitcher and I want something else entirely.

I had a nice big pot this morning, and it really hit the spot. Pure honey, malt goodness. I enjoyed it with some raw sugar and oat milk- so good!

Sipdown! 302/365!

This tea is super old. Like possibly 2011 DT advent calendar old? It’s surprisingly still not too bad – not overly sweet, but a nice light, flavourful black tea. I’d expected it to taste more like a mi lan black, but the sweetness is usually a fair bit stronger in those teas. Nice enough, though.

Gongfu!

Dug out the hongcha yixing for this session, which was well worth it. I also had some perfectly soft boiled quail eggs to accompany. This was a super rich, indulgent afternoon pairing. The tea is thick, full bodied and sweet with dark honey, stewed red fruit, cacao, and mahogany wood notes. This was my first time making quail eggs & I was super nervous, but they came out perfectly!! I love that the fatty yolks added even more richness to the honey and cacao flavours!! I added a bit of black pepper on top, and I thought that also added something interesting to the pairing because it accented the underlying spice of the mahogany I was already tasting and made it pop a bit more!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBdda6ig9Vh/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoNETmEp7Uk

This song though! Can you say, “feel good music”!?

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Sample from omgsrsly I thought i’d tried this one from David’s before but it appears not. Brewed this one up today since i’m trying my best to get through a couple samples today while i work from home. This is relatively decent. there’s a sweetness here. It reminds me a little of a lesser version of some of the teas from TTC. I’d drink this one again :) thanks omgsrsly!

Thanks Evol! Brewing it up Gong Fu, and the first sip is mostly malty with a slight honey aftertaste. Nice body and texture with a little bit of a chocolate covered raisin thing going on, but I get malt, honey hints, and smooth texture more than anything else. Malty black tea overall. The same can be said for the later steeps. A little flat, but again thick and smooth in terms of texture. I did not enjoy this one as much as the other samples you gave me Evol, but it is not bad.

This tea is a good straight tea, another one to be careful with steeping. It has a little honey taste to it, perhaps it would be even better if I added honey or milk to it.

I got this as my frequent steeper reward. I was like mwahahaha, I’m getting a $17 tea for free! Still, I feel nervous about drinking a tea so expensive. And while it’s good and I can tell it’s good quality, I don’t think I’d buy it for the price. It’s not mind-blowingly amazing. I definitely get the sweet lingering taste at the end but I don’t actually taste it as honey, per se. Just a general sweet flavor.

Maybe fancy blacks aren’t my thing, and I’ll just stick to flavored teas.

Mostly getting a note of malt here. The honey note, maybe a little. This is reasonably nice but not spectacular.

Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 4 min.