Bohea

Co-worker and I split this sample today. We both quite liked it. Neither of us got any smoke at all, but that’s not a bad thing for me. :) Definitely got the dark fruit flavors. This was a much lighter cup than either of us expected, given the description. There was something in the background – co-worker suggested maybe a flavor like a green tea – I’m not sure what I think it was but there was an unexpected note for sure.

I will say that this is pretty forgiving. I started steeping, forgot about it, went off to have a short meeting with someone and came back about 8 minutes later. Not a bit of bitterness.

Neither of us thinks we’d keep it around on a regular basis, but if there was a super sale… maybe. :)

I decided to get a sample of this tea from Harney and Sons with my last order and it wasn’t in the database yet so I added it this morning.

I confess the only other Bohea I have tried is the Bohea Imperial from Upton Tea which I loved. I was expecting the same love from this as well. :P

The dry leaf smells incredible, I am getting chocolate covered cherries. I steeped this for 4 minutes per H & S suggestion.

This is a very elegant tea, in terms of flavor it is very reminiscent of a wuyi oolong and I adore most of those. It has a definite cherry/plum flavor with a bit of malt and buckwheat. As the cup cools and the flavors become more prominent I am reminded a bit of a red wine. Unfortunately as the cup cools I am getting some bitterness that I’m not really enjoying.

I confess I liked the Upton version better because of the smoky quality… I’m not getting much smoke in this particular Bohea, but I wonder if someone else might perceive it differently? I’d like to try steeping the remainder of the sample I have using the gong fu method. The picture of the tea on their website looks lighter than what I have in my cup so I may have needed to adjust my leaf to water ratio.

I don’t think I will be buying a full size of this but in any case, I look forward to the reviews of others as they come in.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.

In a sample. A pale liquor for a black tea, a light bronze. Some honey and dark fruit notes that remind of me the Nepal black from the Jun Chiyabi estate. A slight astringency that’s like a very, very subtle bergamot. Light body. Lovely, but I’m not paying $45.00 for 50 grams of it.

Tea #5 from the (Mostly) Unflavored TTB

There was just a tsp left and the desc here sounded pretty good, so why not.
Malty, fruity-ish scent to the brew. Taste wise I get very slight smoke (nothing near the amount that I’ve gotten from the Keemuns I’ve been drinking lately), a bit of fruit and malt. I don’t get any bitterness from it and there’s really no astringency that I can really tell. Maybe I’ll just need to sit with it a bit, but at the moment, it’s pretty tasty. I want to add a bit of Truvia to it (since I do to practically all my teas), but I actually like it just as is. Maybe when I get halfway done I’ll add some anyway. Dunno.
I’d consider adding this to my cupboard…until I saw the price tag and nearly choked on the tea I was sipping at. Holy cats! I’d probably consider tossing a sample in my cart if/when I ever get around to ordering from them, but I sure as heck am not gonna pay that much for 2 oz. Yeesh. I can get a nice yixing for that price, right? XD

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #11
The leaves here are dusty, dark and twisty and have a fruity fragrance. It’s always a surprise when the brew turns out so light. The flavor does have hints of fruit: I want to say blueberry but there is also a tiny hint of a bakey flavor and also tangy. Very sweet and juicy. I noticed the syrupy texture first and foremost. It’s very funny that this reminds me of 52Teas Blueberry Danish. The leaves are similar too… at least with my older pouch. It’s almost like most of the flavor of that tea could be in the leaf itself: sweet, blueberry and bakey. The second steep was almost the same as the first. No muting of flavors on that one. I’m not sure if I steeped this one correctly, but I wish I could experiment more. But it’s another tea from the teabox with one teaspoon left!
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Edited to add: Oh my gosh, I just checked the price of this one on Harney’s site and now I’m wishing I didn’t dump out the last half inch of this from my second steep!

This is nice! There’s a lot of frutiness going on. The first taste I get is dates and then something plum-y. There’s also a note of crusty bread. I’m not tasting the smoke which is sad. I think it would go well with the fruity notes and give the tea a bit more oomph. There’s no astrigency. In fact, this is a very smooth and mellow cup.

Not what I was expecting but definitely nice. I’m glad I picked up a sample with my last order.

this is a sample with my recent purchase.
205F 3g 8oz 3.5min
the brew is light golden brown. its malty rye bread,some stone fruits, cherry, but its not over the top. dont get me wrong, its very flavorful but delicate at the same time. has some muscatel notes, some sips had sour note. No smoke detected.
in a blind test i probably wouldn’t recognize this tea as Chinese, more Darj/Nepal type. Very pleasant. i love it. but its soo expensive. $45 for 2oz. i’m glad I picked this sample. i would buy it only if some crazy BF sale 40% off would happen on H&S which i doubt.