Black Tea

Thanks to skysamurai for visiting the Farihope plantation and sending the tea along. This one does need a long steep time, and its not a bold tea, but there is something comforting in the piney undertones and lack of bitterness. For an American grown tea I had low expectations and this earthy, mossy tea exceeded them. I would stop for a tour and I would get some of this tea if I were passing by.

Finally getting around to trying the teas that skysamurai kindly picked up during a visit to Fairhope!

I love seeing the little twiggy stems along with the leaves; it makes me smile. I followed the directions and steeped this cup for a whopping six minutes, yet it’s still pretty mild! I’m mostly getting wet metal in the scent and taste, followed by minerally fallen leaves. It’s quite light overall! Just a teensy bit drying toward the end, but overall very smooth. A pretty easy drinker and very fun to try. Thanks, skysamurai!

Look at those stems! So thick. This produces a nice clear liquor of orangish amber. With a yellow rim that reminds me of Indian and Nepalese teas. I frowned at the steep time of 6 minutes but realized after tasting it at 3 that it really does need at least 5. With all the tea bush (basically) in the cup, you need more time to draw everything out. The flavor these bushes produce are a bit creamy, fresh green wood, a bit citric, a bit of compost, and slightly bready. I like it much more than I do the green.

Plantation Tour Part 3: After showing you around the tea bushes he’ll take you back to sit at the front of his house where you started. Then you can shop at his store. Which consists of a 12-inch x 12-inch box that contains loose leaf, bagged tea, and pamphlets. Really wish I could have convinced him to part with some of the yellow tea he messed up. We said thank you and got in our car. But the engine wouldn’t turn over. I had to pee so badly but luckily his wife let me use their bathroom. He said if it took too long for the Roadside assistance to come that he would make us another cup of tea but then he realized it would be faster to just jump our car. I kinda wanted to extra cup of tea >.>

Here is another US tea that was featured in the library presentation, and it was kindly donated by Derk! (Thank you so much, Derk!)

This tea has a strong hay-like aroma, and that is the main flavor note I get, as well. I also taste a grain note (oats, perhaps?), with a touch of honey sweetness and a dash of woodiness and autumn leaves. This is a light and smooth black tea, which I think is what surprised the attendees at the library presentation the most, who are used to black teas being strong and astringent breakfast fare. The taste somehow makes me think of a cross between a white tea and a darjeeling.

I plan to try this as a cold brew at some point during this unending 90F+ weather. I think it’ll be very sweet, clean, and refreshing!

Thanks again for sharing, Derk!

I can’t believe I haven’t left a note for this yet. This was a gift from the delightful derk. Many thanks, derk!

I concur with gmathis and would have to say that this tea really does taste like a copper kettle in liquid form. It is sweet, thin bodied, not bitter, not astringent, a little woody, but I didn’t get malty as Martin did. Perhaps it was the way I steeped.

It reminds me a bit of an autumnal Darjeeling and I notice it has stems in like a Taiwanese tea.

I agree with gmathis that I don’t think this tea would be a candidate for milk, but sweet tea? I think it will be. I have a carafe chilling now.

TASTING NOTE 1200

Oh well. Feeling slightly better than during the weekend, but it is still not top-notch. And moreover today job tasks were hard, stressful and tiring.

So, decided for a proper and hopefully enjoyable cup of tea. In my Paper & Tea Advent Calendar I have Sweet Lullaby which I am keeping for the evening.

So, this, Alabama grown tea. I used 4 grams and steeped for more than 5 minutes, because 4 seemed too short for me.

I got a cup of nice and smooth tea, surprinsingly malty for me, with sweet wood flavours and as gmathis noticed, sweet note on the tip of the tongue.

Somehow, and I guess it is rather the “easyness” to brew, it reminds me Guria Likhauri. It’s simple, but highly enjoyable tea. Great daily drinker in my opinion. Thank you a lot derk.

Derk, was this one of your stops when you traveled east? I had no idea there was a plantation in Alabama. For those of you who are curious: https://fairhopeteaplantation.com/plantation-history/

I’ll try to do this initial review justice, then. Derk shared some 2021 leaves with me—the big, fresh, fluffy kind that are hard to balance on a spoon. At a four minute Monday-morning steep, it wasn’t especially strong, so I let it go past five minutes.

The result was very light and clean with just a little hint of sweetness on the tip of your tongue. Grandma Schubert had an old copper teakettle—the real thing that had developed patina and personality over the decades, and this is its liquid version. I think milk would overpower it; it was very drinkable on its own. I can envision this as a base for good ol’ Alabama sweettea (when I’m in Tennessee, I hear that said as one word) with simple syrup and lemon.