Black Tea from Nearai, Karabeni 1st Flush

May 2021 harvest

The leaf is clearly thin and delicate and when dry, has a soft, high scent of butterfat with an even softer ‘dark’ undertone. The cut is small and uniform, about the size of sea salt flakes, which allows for quick infusion. Despite this, there is very little astringency and no bitterness. It is best prepared as a one-steep tea with long infusion time. Probably well suited for a European-style large teapot brew.

A doughy aroma gently stimulates the senses. I think of it less like yeast, which gmathis aptly noted, and maybe more like a fresh, doughy and warm soft pretzel.

As far as the taste, this tea is all about the tones and lacks distinct flavor notes. Low tones of well worn soft leather, old dark wood, dark bread and forest soil earthiness with some red currant brightness are so soft and rounded. Tinges of astringency and acidity. When prepared with higher leaf:water ratio, I do notice some of the vanilla sugar Thés du Japon suggests.

This profile is a bit of a mystery to me. If I am to categorize its character, it’s maybe like an African black tea with a leathery Assam but without the typical assamica punch of either. The velvety and full body is more like a high-quality Chinese Qimen and does not match what the leaf visual brings to mind.

Interesting tea and worth a try for the curious. Read more here: https://japaneseteasommelier.wordpress.com/2017/12/24/karabeni-cultivar-black-tea/

Uh-oh. No notes on this one yet so I’m going to have to figure out the flavor without any help from fancier palates than mine. The cup was a little like a sensory jigsaw puzzle!

Plain old Missouri farm girl western-style steep; four minutes. The scent—-and I had to keep sniffing and thinking about it—reminded me of yeast that had been left to rise in the sun just a little too long, but in a good way. (Fermented a little, I guess.) The flavor doesn’t quite fit my usual favorite toasty or bready adjectives; it was more like a heavy Christmas fruitcake or plum cake—definitely a dark, heavy fruit thing going on.

I’ll add an amendment when I try the second steep, but in the meantime, thank you, derk—this is one I would never have stumbled across without you! It is unlike any straight black tea I’ve ever tried.