Joseph Wesley Black Tea

The scent of this tea isn’t as interesting as other black teas I’ve had in that I can’t really pick out layers. It does smell very comforting and brings back memories of having black tea and milk with friends. I pick up on something that resembles lemon, as if someone has placed a slice of it on the side of the cup.

Sipping… this is a very nice, crisp tea. It’s got a lovely citrus brightness to it, but also remains true to it’s “black tea” flavor. I can see this being a nice morning cup of tea. It’s brisk enough to wake you up, but not so heavy and alarming as some other teas can be. So far, not my favorite from Joseph Wesley, but definitely a lovely and bright tea.

A nice, well balanced tea. Dark bittersweet is a good descriptor. It was a little dry – perhaps I used too high a temperature water. It will be enjoyed! Thanks again, Teatiff! :)

Another tea from Boychik, I went with a lower temp on this one, & it was gentle & tasty. I know I should probably give a better description, but that’s all I’ve got right now, it was a few hours ago that I drank it.

Having my first cup of the day, from a trade with Boychik.
I’m sure I screwed this one up, either too much tea, or too hot of water, because it’s quite bitter. Luckily I have enough to experiment with, & I’ll make a note on the Baggie to do so.

I ordered a bunch of samples from Joseph Wesley. I ordered all but the Darjeeling. When the samples arrived they were in cute little tins, but the tins were only labeled with a tag, and half the tags has fallen off in shipping. Hopefully I was able to “guess” at what each sample was correctly.

Yesterday at work I was in a straight black tea mood so I gave this a try. I tried a cup of this after drinking Nahorhabi Assam from H&S. This tea is nice. It is bold, yet smooth. It is malty and packs a punch. This was good and I think with my next cup I will try a splash of milk. In comparison to the Nahorhabi, the Nahorhabi offers a bit of a fruity finish which I really enjoy. This was a nice simple straight up assam. I will definately enjoy the rest of the sample.

At one point last year I had a tea moment with this sample from an aliexpress dealer. The tea tasted like a chocolate caramel oolong and was incredibly smooth. Since then I’ve been on a search for that tea or a tea like it. It can be difficult because tea packaging is sometimes used regionally and may not be specific to a brand. Anyways after my last attempt boychik offered to send me some of this tea as part of my quest to find that tea, and you know, it comes quite close. This one is more malty, not quite as smooth and has much stronger caramel notes, but it is really good. It makes a nice dessert tea.

I steeped 1 TSP in 200ml and used a water temperature of around 92°C and did 4 steeps of this tea (60,90,120,210s).

This teas warm honey broth had a scent of light longan cocoa, butter caramel, and something slightly nutty.

The first sip was quite sweet with caramel coming to the forefront, with ccocoa, yam, and nutty tones with a hint of molasses. As it cools the longan becomes apparent between the butter caramel and other tones. The tea is buttery but slightly more astringent than my fantasy lapsang but really good and very close to the one I am looking for. This one has more caramel and longan and less cocoa, but it is a really nice flavour. As it cools the malt becomes apparent under the other flavours and the tea taste slightly less sweet. The aftertaste of hot chocolate with a little bit of longan.

In future steeps a malt tone became apparent and the caramel became more of a butter note with a mild sweetness. Longan was more apparent in the second steep and then faded. Whereas cocoa remain relatively constant.

Altogether a very good tea which I would consider buying once I get through some of my existing Lapsang Souchong collection. Thanks boychik It really is close!

Farewell tea! i finished off the last of this today – need to get cracking on some sidowns so i opted to finish these out. I’ll miss them, but they’re relatively close to toronto so i can likely pick some up on an excuse to go to detroit :)

JW snow day! woot woot! this one is hitting the spot this morning – slighty brisk but still a great cup to kick off!

my second pairing for this morning’s kick off of things! not a smokey LS for those curious and one that’s pretty tasty :)

another delicious cup of black before i start in on some of the wonderful samples from tea friends. Need to make sure i start the morning off with tea to wake me up and get me going. Really enjoying having this one around!

noms. tea for warming up after the dog adventure! We pooped the dog out a lot today – first time he’s been out off leash we figure and allowed to run around like a crazy dog in the valley. We were with another friend who had a dog, so we knew she’d keep ours in check. Now that we’re home, we have one tired out puppy. Here’s hoping we can do that a few more times :)

last tea from the past few days – still loving this one and happier still that i’ve now had enough of it to be able to close the lid again with my bag closure on the bag haha. I know i’ve said it before but this is a lovely tea and perfect for anyone who doesn’t like your smokey varietal of Lapsang. This is not a smokey tea. it’s just delicious. true story.

Final Count: 121

Another tea from this morning before my other half and I went out to run a bunch of much needed errands. This one hit the spot today like nobody’s business. So happy to be back with my teas..

yay for having teas i haven’t had in a while. I’d forgotten that this one is not a smokey lapsang. I’m ok with that though, as i enjoy both types. Another example of how JW is doing things right with tea.

i feel like i had a different tea than everyone else lol This one came my way from boychik and i had it yesterday (finishing my catch up). To me? this was barely smokey…instead what i was getting was a deliciously smooth tea with just a hint of something that might be smokey. Even after a couple resteeps it was just a pleasant cup of tea lol

Queued post, written May 4th 2014

The last of my JW teas to try! The safe bet too. I’ve already mentioned how LS is so well known to me at this point that I don’t need to sample before buying. If I need a fresh supply of LS, I get one wherever I’m shopping. Sometimes I get one close to my preferred balance of body and smoke and sometimes I don’t, but they’re all Close Enough.

And every once in a while you run into one that hasn’t actually been smoked. It’s the same tea, it’s still an LS. It just hasn’t gone through a smoking process. I’ve had very good experiences with that variety too although it is a somewhat rare beast. I mention this now because sniffing at this cup, I’m not actually finding much smoke at all. It’s grainy and sweet with perhaps a little bit of smoke at the periphery, but that’s it. There’s a thick and sticky sort of note to it as well that makes me think of caramel. That note is quite strong.

At this point I read the label on the tin. It doesn’t actually say anything about smoke anywhere at all on the label. At all! Could this be an unsmoked LS, I wonder? I does actually say caramel, though. HA! I totally called that.

Further reading on the website mentions smoky undertones. UNDERtones! That implies a naturally occuring note of smoke, doesn’t it, rather than something added to it. It’s a Fujian black, so a natural smoke note would not at all be unusual.

The smoke note is relatively strong on the flavour, but again not at all as strong as it would be if it had been smoked. At least not if it had been smoked to the degree of the LS I’m used to drinking. I suppose it coud have been smoked very lightly to enhance the natural note. I’m a little in doubt now about whether or not I think it’s gone through a smoking process. Interestingly, I was reading what other people wrote about it and a couple of people felt this one had heavy smoke notes. What have they been drinking? I’m finding it quite mild! Or am I simply too familiar with LS at this point that I can no longer view it objectively? (Not that tea tasting could ever be objective, but I think you know what I mean. I can’t find a better way to express it.)

It’s still quite grainy and sweet, just like it smells. The caramel note is not as strong in the flavour as it is in the aroma, though. I believe it’s the smoke note that tempers it somewhat. It’s a very dark sort of caramel, not a milky one. Caramel sweet as opposed to fruity sweet. That’s a new one. I’ve usually found LS quite fruity-sweet.

The more it cools, though, the stronger the smoky note gets. I take it back, this is definitely not unsmoked. It’s just… trying to pass itself off that way.

Smooth and strong. A good way to start the day.

Giving this one a try as my afternoon study tea. I’ve been drinking a lot of tea to keep me going the past few days. I have a big exam coming up at the beginning of July and need to study like crazy. I’m not getting a whole lot from the scent of this tea, it’s a bit soft. I do detect some sweetness, but otherwise it seems to want to hide its character from me until I sip!

Sipping… interesting.. not a very strong flavor from the tea. I wasn’t expecting the tea to mirror the scent as much as it is. I’m picking up on grapes, sugar and something a little bit metallic in the finish. It’s light, but satisfying at the same time.

It’s not as gutsy as some of the other black teas out there, but this is such a nice, light tea that it is perfect for the summer or spring. You know those teas that are darker, richer and sort of weigh you down? This tea is definitely one that can be had all day, no matter the occasion. What a lovely brew for this afternoon!

(From the UTTB.)

Having this tea for breakfast this morning! The tea liquor is a coppery red-amber and the aroma is smokey sweet. First sip was a little astringent, and I was worried that the entire cup would be that way. Not so. It has a bold, no-nonsense way about it—like an Assam. The more I sip the more the initial bitterness becomes a distant memory. It’s chocolatey, malty and caramel sweet at the end. There’s a drying fruity taste to it that’s like raisins or cranberries…maybe plums, with their slightly bitter skins. I like the briskness and the bittersweet qualities of this tea! It’s exactly what I needed this AM!

Drank straight, but could stand up to milk and sugar. I would recommend brewing at lower temps…MzPriss wrote 180F on the packet, but I brewed closer to 200. I couldn’t imagine using boiling water. It would be much too bitter for me.

i had this a long time ago in a galaxy far far away… another really nice cup from joseph wesley :)

another one from boychik and the mildest tea of t he bunch. I haven’t tried the lapsang, but i’m sure it will be a deeper tea than this one hahaha. I enjoyed this one prenap as well, which means it’s a distant memory for me. that being said, it was an enjoyable cup that i ended up gulping down while trying to refrain from talking too much on work calls.

noms. great start to the day. not much else to say on this one besides the fact that it’s a really nice straight black. everything else has been said before!

SNOW DAY! Ok so not really, because things are still open and what not but this is the first day of “real” snow we’ve had…some that might stick around and i’m SUPER EXCITED! totally stayed home to work so i could take a break and be able to play in the snow. yes i’m a child lol. kicked off the morning with some JW – here’s hoping they can come out to the toronto tea festival this year or next :)

Long day/days is going to be long. Start of a release weekend so i’m not sure if i’ll get to sleep tonight or if i’ll be enjoying my tea cupboard all night long. lol started the weekend off with some selections from Joseph W. since they’re tasty and will help me ease in to things before i start trying to knock back some puerh in between testing, cleaning and organising things :) i’ve had this one a ton, so not much more to say on it. I will likely pick this one up again once it’s finished and the dollar comes back up a bit :(