Orange Pekoe China Black

I’ve been avoiding this one because its mushroomy earthiness hasn’t sounded appealing lately, but today I thought I’d see what else I could get from it. Compared to my first tasting note, increasing the amount of tea and brewing with boiling water resulted in a very citrusy tea with the earthiness pushed to the background. Not too bad, but the citrus is a bit too much.

For the next cup, I lowered the temperature. This brought out some sweet chocolate in exchange for some of the excess lemon, spice, and earthiness. It’s much more balanced now; however, that sheng-like weirdness that I mentioned in the first tasting note isn’t there at all when brewed this way. It’s just a nice, mellow black tea, more casually enjoyable yet somewhat less interesting. I’ll have to try gongfu again. My first attempt was nothing but mushrooms…

Every now and then, while out and about, I stumble upon a great tea at an incredible value when I least expect it. Such was the case when we were shopping at Earth Fare.

I don’t know why, but I don’t find their loose leaf tea displays very appealing, and I usually don’t peruse the tea aisle at all anymore. It could be because they store the loose teas in plain, clear, long plastic chutes that remind me of the containers jammed with candy that you buy per pound in the malls.

However, while my wife was searching for great deals on fairly interesting plant-based food items (our current diet of two months) during this trip, I thought looking at the teas might distract me from dreaming and reminiscing about the wonderful sweet treats of old in the candy and cookie aisles. So, I decided to wander down to the calorie-free tea aisle.

All aesthetics aside, I did find the PRICE of this Frontier China black tea irresistible. It was just $17.99 a pound! I thought risking a little over four bucks for four ounces wouldn’t break the bank as I opened the trap door in the chute and let about four ounces drop into the provided plain brown paper bag with Earth Fare’s logo on it.

When I got home and opened the brown bag to see if I should have bought $4 worth of lottery tickets instead, I was quite taken by the rich and sweet-smelling aroma of the long dark tea leaves. This smell was similar to some of my favorite black China teas costing considerably more.

Since neither the clear plastic candy chute nor the plain brown paper bag had brewing instructions, I opted for my standard black tea brewing method: five minutes at 212 degrees.

The steeped result had a deep brownish orange color. The aroma was rich and sweet with hints of chocolate.

As I swirled the liquid around my palate during the first sip, I quickly realized that the taste of this tea was…TERRIFIC! From the first sip to the bottom of my cup, it had to be the smoothest orange pekoe that I had ever sampled! There wasn’t even a RUMOR of astringency. The flavor was also peppered with softly sweet cocoa accents that perfectly accompanied the mild black tea flavor as if both elements were grown and harvested together in one hybrid tree.

If I have any complaint at all (which I don’t), it would be to make the flavor just a tad stronger. However, I say this about almost all teas (due to my sinus challenges) so ignore it.

I just can’t say enough (or maybe I already have) about the great value of this tea. I found it an absolute joy to sip, from the first moment when it hit my tongue to the last when it gently evaporated on my palate. I firmly recommend this tea for everyone, from yacht owners to those of us on budgets.

Scribbles shared a China black from Tao Tea Leaf that was so deep and rich I fell in love with it…was hoping that locally, I could at least make acquaintance with its peasant cousin.

So I picked this up last run to Fox Farm. It has hints of the toasty cocoa richness of the Tao gold standard, but just hints. All the same, an inexpensive (just over a buck an ounce) lightweight breakfast tea for the summer months.