This is the April 2011 selection for Golden Moon’s Single Leaf club.
The idea of scenting teas is new to me. I will admit that I avoid scented products in my day to day life (e.g. unscented detergent, fabric softener, lotion, etc….) When it comes to tea, I love the scent of certain spices but scenting with fruits or flowers is not something I would seek out.
This tea has an obvious fruit scent for both the dry leaves and steeped leaves. The scent of the brewed tea itself is pretty subtle, so not objectionable for me. The tea itself seems to be a pretty basic black tea. Nothing special. Golden Moon recommends drinking the tea “neat” however, I found that a touch of milk smoothed the sharpness of the tea.
For my tastes, there is nothing really wrong with this tea, but nothing special either. I would prefer to drink other teas instead. I’m looking forward to trying some of the other teas that are mentioned as sample club items….a unique assam, first flush darjeeling, golden snail yunnan, etc….
I’m not sure if this is the same fruit the tea is supposed to taste like but there’s a fruit that translates to dragon eye from Chinese. This fruit is more popularly called longan or long an. They are similar to lychees only less floral and sweeter. The shell is also smooth and brown instead of rough and reddish. It’s called dragon eye because when peeled you can see the dark pit through the translucent white flesh. It looks like an eyeball. And dragon eyeballs are delicious. They’re in season late summer and very pricy. But so tasty! Again, I’m not sure if this is the fruit the tea is supposed to taste like. Just thought I’d share. :)
Interesting… Thanks! I may have to take a trip to an Asian supermarket to see if they have any!
They are usually sold with branches attached since plucking them tears the protective shell. Good luck finding them! It’s not that easy. A Chinatown might be a better bet later in the summer. :)