Steepster! I miss you, steepster. I am just insanely busy and, in fact, the only reason I have a few moments this morning is that I’m packing to go on a trip. But I do miss you, and all of your wonderful tea discoveries!
This isn’t one of them, sadly. I’m slowly beginning to come to terms with the fact that I’m running out of Jackee Muntz, and I’m in need of a really solid Keemun to replace it, so I’ve begun the hunt. When Teas Etc. shot me an email about a crazy keyword deal, I decided that the time was nigh. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be the staple replacement I’d hoped for, but it’s a pretty good tea — it just doesn’t knock my socks off the way that Muntz does.
Reading the scant notes about this I can see that one person thought it was weaker than usual (Auggy) and another person thought it was stronger (someone I don’t recognize). I’m leaning in Auggy’s direction. I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but there isn’t much punch to this one. In the interests of full disclosure I should say that I’m slightly stuffed up from allergies, so part of this is probably not the tea’s fault, but I did steep longer than my standard for new blacks of three minutes, in the hopes that my water would continue to turn amber, which took quite some time.
On the plus side, the flavor is clean, there is a pleasing sweetness present, and even if the cup is slightly watery compared to the Keemun I’m searching for, there isn’t a hint of astringency to be found, which might make it a pretty swell afternoon cup.
And that’s it for me! One brief and inadequate half-asleep cameo before I dash off to shower and throw a few more things into a suitcase so that I can wing my way south for a family reunion I am not even a little bit prepared for. Whee!
Hope all of you marvelous steepsterites are beating the heat with endless pitchers of iced tea.