I drink a lot of tea throughout the day. In the morning, afternoon and before going to bed. At home, at work, in the car, on the train. With food and without, paying attention to each sip and waft and mindlessly sipping while absorbed in something else.
And I prefer pricier Chinese teas, which inevitably creates a financial problem. So, I devised aclever plan: drink expensive teas only on occasions when I can give them my full and undivided attention (practically meditate over their fragrance, taste and feel) while at any other time be content with consuming pleasant, interesting but less complex and certainly less expensive kinds. Incidentally, doing that would free up some money to buy even more expensive tea for special sessions…well, maybe this plan is not so clever after all but whatever.
As a result, I stocked my cupboard with a lot of teas from Harney and Sons: they are of decent quality but really inexpensive – plus H&S have the unlimited US free shipping and there is always some kind of a coupon floating around .
Their Panyang Congou falls firmly in my targeted category of cheap and pleasant teas. There is not much of a fragrance in both dry and wet leaves (some hay and apricot) although the leaves look quite reassuring: large, unbroken, with quite a bit of golden tips.
The taste is clear and pleasant if not very complex: smooth malt, hay, floral sweetness, and some roast. The first impression is reminiscent of Mao Feng Keemuns – only without their requisite bite. It is important to steep it for shorter periods of time as its flavor easily becomes generic and unbalanced with oversteeping. In the subsequent infusions the nuttiness appears and takes the front stage.
So, in short, this tea gave me exactly what I looked for – a smooth, pleasant and inexpensive Chinese red for mindless sipping while doing something else. Good stuff.
Flavors: Apricot, Floral, Hay, Malt, Nuts, Roasted, Smooth
