I don’t know why it took me so darn long to try this tea, which is named after my stomping grounds, but I finally got around to it. I got this in a care package ages back from LiberTeas. It’d been sitting in a tea case for months, unopened. This morning I was desperate for a pick-me-up, so I turned to it. It was black, it was there, and it was new. Done.
As far as black blends go, it was surprisingly even. The Chinese blacks certainly dominate the profile, in my opinion. There may have been a little bit of Darjeeling muscatel on the forefront, but it was nigh on subtle. The rest of the tea’s character was bold, smooth, woody, middling-to-malty, and astringent at the end. A decent enough blend.