Black King 2015

mmm thanks for this Nicole! I had another cup of this today and it’s delicious. This could for sure be an every day tea in my cupboard in future, especially if i ever make it to NY for tea shopping. :) it’s a long weekend here in canada (and for our us friends) so my goal this weekend is to try and get myself as far down with my cupboard as possible. stretch goal of 100 but “realistic goal” of 120 heh

Oh… This is a lovely tea all around. The leaves are beautiful mix of golden and black. The taste is malt, nut and that sweetness you get from buttery nuts like pecans and walnuts. A bit of hay note in the initial sip. Some cocoa and at the same time, savory overtones. I’m so glad I splurged on this tin. Hello, my precious. You will be… adored.

I reviewed this tea awhile ago for SororiTea Sisters but forgot to add the link on Steepster. Oops! Sorry about that LiberTeas!

But I’m happy to announce this is #10 on the ol sipdown journey! Woohoo! Not going to lie, when I finished this one up-I did a little dance. And of course, I was caught doing said little dance. I may have gotten a funny look from the ol fiance.

To the tea: This tea was good – but not for me. It had lovely notes of malty goodness but there was something I really didn’t care for. I’m not sure I would reach for this one all the time, but I do feel like my tastes are changing from green teas to these lovely black straight teas. I seem to be reaching for those more and more.

For the rest of my ramblings: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/07/25/black-king-2015-harney-sons/

Harney and Sons sent this as a generous sample to try. I didn’t know how generous until I looked it up just prior to steeping – $36 for two ounces! But all it took was opening the pouch to know that this was no ordinary black tea.

I am reminded of a tea that JacquelimeM and I fell in love with several years ago from them. I believe it was called Golden Snail and yes, I bought it because it was worth it. Sometimes you need to buy a really special tea. Just make sure that it IS really special and makes you feel magnificent when you drink it. You can have ordinary any old time.

There is a generous sprinkling of gold among the rich, black leaves. I followed their recommendation of four to five minutes with boiling water, going just over four.

The aroma is thick and full-bodied, as is the mouth feel of the tea. The nutty notes are high ones, they say pecan but I also am reminded of walnut. There is an incredible smoothness to this naturally sweet tea. (Remember all those golden tips!) It goes down so easily! My youngest daughter and I drank this at breakfast and she said, “Mom, I can tell this is really high quality tea.”

As I drink this, the thick body almost comes across as a creaminess, and the nut flavors lend a high note to the rich caramel smooth midtones. Think of the midtones of their Golden Monkey, specifically theirs because I have had Golden Monkey from places like Teavana that tasted nice enough but were more like a lower grade Keemun. The rich and creamy sweetness that I taste and feel is probably what they refer to as caramel, and I get that.

This may be going on the next shopping list, and I am pretty excited that my eldest and my youngest girls will be at the Soho Harney and Sons on Saturday! I can’t wait to try the other samples. Thank you, Russell and Harney and Sons!