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“This is one of my favorite black teas ever, period. At $24 an ounce it better be good, when I first purchased it in 2008 it was $35/oz that year and I was skeptical. But after tasting, I understood...” Read full tasting note
Origin: Qimen County, Anhui Province, China
To create this stellar lot, tea leaves were picked right at the beginning of spring, during the traditional season Chun Fen (“Spring Equinox”). After rigorously selecting the best leaves, tea artisans crafted the leaves by hand in the traditional gong fu process, a skill that takes years to master. The leaves were withered, hand-rolled and pressed, oxidized, and finally slow fired several times. Revealing a sweet, malty flavor, its complex character makes this a prized tea. Follow the advice of Keemun connoisseurs, and brew with spring water.
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This is one of my favorite black teas ever, period. At $24 an ounce it better be good, when I first purchased it in 2008 it was $35/oz that year and I was skeptical. But after tasting, I understood why the high price.
Incredibly delicate, balanced, winey, not smokey like Hao Ya Keemun. Good for a splurge every now and then.
What a price! How many steepings will this last you, and how do you brew such a thing?
Same as normal tea, 6 to 10 brews per ounce depending on how much you make at once. I use glassware, a bodum or pyrex cup, 4 minutes with boiling water, then pour through a handheld strainer. You could do traditional gongfu as well, but one can never go wrong with neutral glassware.
Thanks for the info. When you steep this tea, do you get multiple steepings out of each session’s-worth of leaves? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a black tea at this price point, so I’m curious about how giving a session of leaves can be.
Notes of wine. I’d never think to look for that flavor.. I’ll have to keep my “eyes” out for it now.
Yes, well I am no expert but a delicate yet complex perhaps slightly fruity tannin structure often strikes me as wine-like. See the following, excerpt from James Norwood Pratt’s tea tasters lexicon:
“Winey: usually descriptive of a mellow quality fine Darjeelings or Keemuns acquire with six months to a year or more of age; more rarely used to describe overfermented tea”
And no I don’t do multiple steeps from this, but if you were doing it gongfu style perhaps you could. Again, even at $24 an ounce (and I too was skeptical at first, but you’ll see if you try it), that comes to maybe $3 a session, which is still less than one would pay for a beer at a bar, or a latte at starbucks, so to my reasoning it is not so terrible.
Speaking of wine, an ounce of tea for $24, vs a decent affordable bottle of wine for the same price, i’ll take the keemun spring dawn ;)