Gurman's

I grabbed this one for this afternoon to share with a coworker. I knew he would get it. Sadly, you cannot keep this in a plastic bag and expect it to still have a lot of heat after several months :(

It was still good, just not face melting. Lesson learned knucklehead. Put your stuff in better storage containers. Doh.

This combination just sounds so wrong especially for a tea. It is amazingly good. It starts out sweet and gentle on the tongue and ends with a mild but wonderful pepper attack on the throat (ok maybe medium attack at times). The cup is empty long before you are ready. I can drink this without sweetener but using a little really enhances my enjoyment factor. It intensifies the flavors from beginning to end.

The dry leaf is very interesting. The tea looks like dried grass clippings. There are tan flakes that I am guessing are peels or zest. Then there are tiny red balls that are probably peppers. Finally, I notice some larger dried pieces almost an inch long that again I presume to be peppers. These could be the dragon tooth peppers that are commonly used in Chinese food. What have I gotten myself into?

The tea is rather large pieces so I used a healthy portion. I used my usual parameters for green tea. I brought the water up to a light steam but well below boiling and steeped for 2 minutes in my press. I thought this was brewing rather dark until I picked it up for a better look and realized the leaf was floating near the top and blocking the light. The liquor is light green/amber. The wet leaf smells lightly peppery. Here goes…

The sip – Wow! This is really interesting and different. There is a moderate citrus rush followed by peppery goodness. The pepper doesn’t seem as hot as I expected. Only a tiny bit of heat in the aftertaste. A very mild jalapeno maybe. You catch a hint of the green tea in the aftertaste. These three flavors combine in the most unexpected way and result in a sweet pickle taste. At least that is the best I can do to describe it.

Ok, as it cools it does get a lot more peppery tasting. I can see if you aren’t a spicy fan this could be too much. It grabs the throat a bit and charges up your nose but never in an overwhelming manner to my tastes. There is also another bit of flavor I can’t quite place.

I brewed a cup for a friend who mostly drinks Lipton but I thought he would appreciate this from a grill master perspective (His pulled pork is literally the best I have ever tasted). His words, “This is good, it has a butterscotch element to it.” Yeah, I can see that. It’s the flavor I couldn’t identify. I steeped three cups from the same leaf. The flavor of the third was still going strong. This is Cool! It is like an extremophile, bizarre and magical all at the same time.

Thank you, thank you ashmanra for sharing this!

Ankščiau nesu ragavęs raudonosios arbatos, tai paragavus likau nustebintas. Tokia skani man ji…

Labai skani arbata. Tokia gaivi ir aromatas toks rūgštus, bet ji pati nėra rūgšti visai. Patiko :)

tuoj užsikaisim šitos arbatėlės :)

Quite a strong bergamot infusion, which is great with a slice of lemon – you get all the lovely citrusy tastes with a clean, but slightly oily (in a good way), aftertaste. Unlike many earl greys, the tea leaves used are of a fine quality so the tea has a fairly good flavour besides the citrus.