Honey Scented Black Tea

TTB Review #22: Oh no, I don’t like this one at all. Tastes like stale, burnt popcorn. I guess that unpleasant thick buttery taste is supposed to be the honey? In any case, I actually couldn’t finish this, such was my level of disgust with the taste. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Sipdown Theme: January 2023: A tea you love

I found this taiwanese company on etsy at first(now they have their own english translated website) after becoming fascinated with Alishan Oolong at Verdant tea’s since closed cafe back in mid-early 2010s. They sell few different Taiwanese oolongs and black teas and some cute wolf teaware (My favorite animal is a wolf so this was a big sell for me). This tea caught me really off guard as I was testing more straight black teas and none really sparked me as something i would try again. This one was uniquely sweet, floral and had a medium body. In short I was hooked. I haved shopped from them in awhile as I am flooded with tea but I reccommend them, especially if you are interested in getting started gong fuing oolongs.

Prep: Western (could also gongfu but im lazy)
Tasting Note: Before I cross referenced the website, I get very silky notes and medium body to the liquid texture. Not super drying in mouthfeel. The wet scent is sweet and floral. The taste is naturally lightly sweet, has an alpine rose floral quality and has a white wine fruitness. The website’s thumbnail briefly describes the tea to have lychee notes and tropical qualities and I only agree with this in part. I do think there wine like qualities are similar in taste to lychee. I don’t think the tea is very tropical otherwise but that could be a region disconnect. For me tropical is pineapple, mango, coconut notes and this reminds me more of sweet alpine roses and lychee notes. My current stash is 2 years old or more at this point so it is 5elling to me that it still has good texture and flavor. Would restock once all my current wolf teas are sipped down and more manageable.

This tea was so good, as I continue my tea journey I found that I love straight black teas, especially honey-scented ones. It was rich, malty, and cozy.

There is so much going on with this tea. In the aroma, in the liquid, a bit of buttered popcorn from the movie theatre along with some interesting woody notes. Very slight mahogany notes. But the wet leaf is very different, somewhat mineral at first. Then it changes to an almost sugary-sweet with a refreshing feeling in your nostrils after. Kind of reminds me of lychee. My first steep was probably a better amount of time. More fruity, stone fruit and lychee notes shined through. But steeped longer you find rich wood notes with the fruit tones subdued in the background. Very minimal astringency. It is a good tea but I think it bounces aroudn in flavor too much. My brain can’t handle it. ^^;