I was going to take a break from buying tea for awhile, as I have way too much and my kitchen cupboard is overflowing into my room. I’ve been curious about this tea for awhile though, so I ordered some, haha.
In the bag it smells like dark chocolate. Also, the scent is roasty/toasty, and kind of reminds me of laoshan black, but the taste is a bit different.
Steeped western style- 195F at about 30 seconds to a minute. No sweetener.
On taste it reminds me a bit of dark roasted coffee, classic tea flavor, toast, and there also is a nice hint of sweetness that comes through on the aftertaste.
2nd steep – boiling water for a couple of minutes, 1 teaspoon of sugar -
The first steep was good, but this is even better. I don’t know if it was the higher water temp., the sugar, or the longer steeping time, but the flavors are more pronounced this time. Caramel notes peek their way out. Usually I prefer to use lower water temps when brewing, but this tea seems to be an exception.
Finishing the bag (about 200f at 3 minutes), I like a somewhat long steep with pretty high temps, it brings out the natural sweetness in there, and doesn’t seem to get too harsh.
LOL, you need an intervention.
Hopefully someone will bring tea if said intervention happens!