First Kiss

This one is no longer on the Renegade Tea site, but this was one of their earlier methods for making black tea from 2019 and was one of the company’s first. The closest you can get from them right now is their Burnished Beauty from what I remember reading from one of their blog posts, which I have yet to try.

I got it because it was a sweet mellow and has the elusive cocoa note, and it’s the easiest of the Renegade Teas I got to drink. Dryleaf, it’s chocolaty/breadsy and has an floral autumn leaf aroma and taste like high quality 2nd Flush Darjeelings; albeit much softer and less acidic or spicy. Like all of the Georgian Teas I’ve had, it’s very forgiving. Even though it technically expired last month, it’s held up pretty well and actually tastes better than when I first opened it and bears a lot of similarities in body to the Eco-Cha Alishan Black I have.

To compensate for the expiration. I’ve dumped between 7-10 grams in a French press for 12 oz of hot water. Western has been the best style, and while it’s decent Tumbler/Grandpa style after 10 minutes, the tea can get a weirdly drying fruity/leafpile sitting too long in water astringency that I’m not sure how to describe. I’ve only done 2 Gong Fu attempts, but the session requires hefty leaf or only lasts between 3-4 cups, first and second being the best of the session.

Since all of the teas I got from Renegade Tea were a little bit lighter than I expected, apart of me thinks I should have tried the more bolder teas to see how bold they actually were. I personally do not like intense Assams or Sri Lanka Teas, so a full bodied Georgian tea might have a little bit more nuance in comparison. I’m going to try to finish of the rest of this that I can today..unless someone can stop me. I am glad I am actually catching up my backlogs and inventory, and I think this company deserves more love because they have some very unique teas that are all very mellow and notable.