Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea

I got a sample of this one on my Teavivre order a month or two back and am finally taking a moment to enjoy it. I am using the whole packet which is a bit much for my tastes but not nearly enough to split into two cups at work. Ho hum.

The dry aroma is light and sweet, seems floral and with some fruity notes but once steeped it comes across as astringent and bitter in aroma. Very reminiscent of standard bagged black tea. Darn you slightly too large sample!! I even decreased the temp and time to account for it. We’ll see how it tastes.

Luckily I don’t get any astringency in the sip, but neither am I getting a whole lot else. It’s black tea. Maybe some light floral behind it all, but nothing impressive. I am getting a lot of Red Rose associations here. It is drying my mouth a bit so I guess it is astringent, but at least it isn’t bitter.

I was hoping this might be a replacement for Keemun Mao Feng from Harneys which I loved but this didn’t do it for me at all. Oh well!

EDIT to add: Wow, am I the lone dissenter or what? I love black tea but this was a disappointment. I wonder if it was mislabelled or maybe a weird batch as there was no cocoa and nothing I typically associate with keemun. Weird. I know the sample wasn’t very old either.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre for this terrific sample!

What a thick and full black tea! I really like the maltiness. There is also some creamy notes that add to the deliciousness of this tea. It differs from other smoker Keemuns that I have tried. This one has a faint smokiness to it’s sweet liquid. It taste more of a charcoal seared or toasted leaf, than a smoldering embers enhancement (no gaming or adult story reference here – thought I should clarify)

I’m very pleased with this light medium bown colored tea. This is certainly not a medium quality tea. It matches what you would expect to get, from an excellent company as Teavivre – tasty!

And our last contender, Keemun number 4! Or maybe I should call it Neg One (-1). There’s Grade 2, then Grade 1, then Hao Ya must be Zero, and this would be -1. Anyway, Neg One was courteously provided by Angel and the Teavivre team as a free sample to Missy. Continuing with the Steepster’s Digest layout:

-Similar to the Grade 1 Keemun, I’m kind of thinking of it as 1’s cooler brother
-Sweeter than the other Ks
-More grainy than malty at this point, share’s some similarity with the Bailin Gongfu
-That sweet fruitiness has returned with a passion
-Smokiness has gone away (sad face)

It’s tough to decide between this one and the Grade 1 for third place. The flavors of this tea are probably the most complex out of the Ks I’ve tried today, but I really feel like it’s missing something without that smokiness that I so enjoyed out of the “lesser quality” Ks. I put lesser quality in little quotey bits because calling any of these teas anything but awesome quality is a disservice.

This would be the K from Teavivre I would recommend to someone that was appalled by the thought of smoke flavor in their tea, but still really wanted a K in the cupboard somewhere. I still stick by what I wrote under the K Hao Ya post: depending what you’re looking for, any of the four grades of Teavivre’s Keemun are excellent choices.

I seem to have flip-flopped back into a nocturnal sleep schedule again, and I am ok with that because it means I am super creative. Not sure why that goes hand in hand but I seem to be much more keen on spending hours on various craft projects when they are in the wee hours of the morning. Last night I discovered that mixing Perler Beads and embroidery makes for some awesome designs, of course these observations were made with the help of copious amounts of tea.

Today’s tea Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea by Teavivre is a beautiful Red tea (or Black tea to us Westerners) from Huangshan in Anhui, China. Fun fact, Keemun is one of China’s Ten Famous Teas and is one of the prominent ingredients in English Breakfast. The aroma of this tea is a wonderful blend of earthy, floral, and muscatel. It combines the rich, loamy aroma of the forest with freshly harvested grapes and a gentle hint of squash flowers. This tea has a very pleasant and gentle aroma, even though they are all very distinct it feels more like an olfactory caress than a bombardment.

While the leaves are steeping I notice a lovely muscatel aroma filling the room, it is honey sweet and reminds me of scupernongs. The leaves out of the water still retain their muscatel aroma with notes of honey and wildflowers. The earthy notes are less pronounced in the steeped leaves, and there is a mild yeasty note at the end. The liquid’s aroma is warm and sweet reminding me of honey, apple butter, and sun-warmed scupernongs. The aroma very much so reminds me of warm summer days in my Grandparent’s garden.

The first thing I notice about the taste is the strong muscatel note, it is sweet and rich, again reminding me of scupernongs. There are also notes of earthiness and a slight hint of oaky astringency at the mid-taste that adds a wonderful brightness to the flavor. There is a honey sweet aftertaste that becomes more prominent as it cools. I also noticed a very slight note of squash as well which was surprising but enjoyable. As the tea cools the earthy mid-taste fades to loam which compliments the oak notes. This tea is wonderfully complex and enjoyable! I certainly recommend drinking it straight as additives would not blend well with the flavors.

For Blog and Photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/12/teavivre-organic-superfine-keemun.html

Oh, this is delicious. I wanted a black tea with maple this morning, to go with my frozen berries and maple whipped cream.

This tea is just perfect for this application.

It is sweet and slightly smokey. In some ways it reminds me of Butiki’s PTA. Probably due to the maltiness (or what I’m interpreting as malt!) and the natural sweetness of the leaves. The touch of smoke makes Keemun teas go extremely well with maple. There is no astringency or bitterness. I steeped western style, but I think I could extend the 3 minutes I usually steep to 4 or even 5 minutes with just a richer flavour.

I purchased 100g of the premium keemun, and I don’t regret that at all. The price point makes it more of an everyday tea, and the flavours are not strikingly different. IIRC the premium is slightly less sweet, and slightly stronger.

Highly recommend this one. Even just picking up a sample with another order. Don’t be scared of the “smokey” comment above. It’s not a smoked tea, the flavour is extremely delicate.

This tea is growing on me. Finished off the 7g sample packet I brought to work with me.
Still very simple- Creamy greenbeans!

Edit:
Well maybe there is a little more going on than I first thought. As I keep drinking it, I’m picking up a dark, baked almost ashy taste- very smooth, so it blends well into the vegetal aspect of it. That’s probably why I didn’t pick up on it at first. Now I see why people mention cocoa or baked tones.

I don’t think this is my kind of tea. It’s really good quality and stuff I just wouldn’t buy it for myself. This was a sample from Teavivre and I’m glad I got to try it :D

Tea provided by Teavivre for review

The first through sixth steeps were actually pretty consistent in flavour. Sometimes Keemun black tea is a bit harsh or almost bitter, but this one was very nice and mellow. Just the right mixture of usual Keemun characteristics, earthy, malty, and hints of spices.

Overall this is one of the better Keemun black teas I’ve tried (which isn’t a whole lot, maybe about 6-7 now). Throughout the six steeps, it never became bitter or too strong. That being said, I’m not a big fan of this type of black tea but it still managed to exceed my expectations. I’ll have to try this western style sometime with the rest of my samples.

100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp (4g-ish), rinse and 6 short steeps (from their website: 15s, 30s, 45s, 1m10s, 1m40s, 2m10s)

This had the same dark chocolate, malty notes I expect. It did surprise me with the addition of a grainy flavor. I thought it was softer than the others. It ends well with a fruity flavor but very little smoke. In fact, I thought this one was the least smokey of them all.

While I believe all of these teas to be of equal quality, grade 2 is the one I shall keep. I like the robust qualities it shows. Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for the chance to try this one out. :D

My allergies have been particularly rough during the last several days. This morning I planned ahead. I steamed out my sinuses in the shower so I’d be ready to accurately review this tea from Teavivre without any blockages.

When I first opened the sample package of this tea, the aroma that burst forth from the fine dry leaves was almost a little pungent. I wasn’t sure I was going to like the brewed version if this aroma carried into the flavor.

I steeped the tea for three minutes at 195 degrees as recommended (actually, 194 degrees was recommended, but what’s one degree between friends?). The brew that resulted can be best described as a muddy honey color.

I was happy to learn that there was no pungent aroma to the brewed tea. The smell was light and rather nondescript.

I was pleased to find that the taste was sweet and amiable. There also was a flavor attribute present similar to oatmeal. Bitterness did not exist.

I enjoyed two cups of this tea very much. It is a tasty black brew with a full sweet but gentle flavor.

Shame on me for doubting Teavivre EVEN for one second! This selection is another winner in Teavivre’s constantly growing array of fine teas.