Nepal Moonlight 2nd Flush, 2015

This was from a tea swap with Whiteantlers.

Today I’ve been busy with rearranging the house for new furniture and our home study in three-four weeks. So, to start the day with a solid cup of tea was a necessity. I must admit that I’ve been slacking on drinking more than Sencha lately, but that’s mostly due the fact that I’ve got nearly 2 pounds of it in the cupboard, and that it’s quick to make in the morning….

Now, to the tea:

I figured it was overdue to have a cup of this Nepal Moonlight from Whiteantlers, considering that it has been a while since I’ve received it. I have a tendency to be distracted from sampling teas, since there are oftentimes moments when I either choose something else, join group buys, or buy more tea.

Anyway, this was pretty good. I’d compare it to a Darjeeling. It has that malty quality, but it’s lighter. I get a little nutty flavors in the back of the mouth, but it’s mostly that malt taste. I’d compare it to dark chocolate, or perhaps a weak dark beer—however that works. After a few steeps in the gaiwan, it becomes slightly astringent. I hadn’t changed the temperature or the amount of seconds steeped (I gave it a 15s steep each time, with one 5s rinse to open the leaf a little bit; therefore, with the rinse, there were 4 steeps total).

The liquid has a nice orange hue to it; which was surprising since the tea leaves appear to be green-ish.

All in all, this was pretty good. I’m picky about WHAT type of black tea I drink. I usually steer clear of the malty flavors, or if I drink them, I usually add sugar/cream. However, I drank this without any added ingredients.

P.S. The soundtrack for this session was Electric Light Orchestra’s “Eldorado.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze3p-WeLCGk&list=PLB-99rPb6xnpLp9QgW_YtUE9EYsX93Hjw&index=2