Some mild tea experimentation happening with this one…
I wanted to brew Gong Fu on Thursday night when I got home from work, but I also was craving something more flavoured than a straight tea as well as lemon. At first I was just going to add a lemon wedge to a more full bodied and brisk straight black tea and do a sort of lemon/black type thing not super unlike the black tea and straight basil that I brewed Gong Fu not too long ago. However, while I was searching for the right straight black tea I ended up finding my tin of this tea – a whisky flavoured black tea.
Now, I already know that Whisky and Lemon go well together so as soon as I saw the tin I was convinced; this was what I was craving: a flavoured black tea that’s not too out there in terms of flavour and that would suit lemon. However, this is definitely not the type of tea that I would normally brew Gong Fu so I was just going to make it a Western mug with a squeeze of lemon. At the last minute, as the kettle had finished boiling and I was about to measure out the tea leaf, I decided “Fuck it; let’s just do it Gong Fu and see what the fuck happens!”.
It was a good call.
Obviously this is different than your standard Gong Fu session, for several reasons. It worked well though; the first infusion had a lot of the Whisky flavour from the tea and just a hint of lemon – it was full bodied and very strong/intense but didn’t come out bitter or harsh. Infusion two was still whisky note heavy but the lemon had steeped more into the cup so there was a stronger citrus note a bit of a bite of acidity. It was very much a “Hot Toddy” meets “Whisky Sour” kind of vibe that I was completely into. It was so extremely on point for what I had been craving taste wise, and I still got the physical sensation of brewing Gong Fu and that was equally satisfying. Infusions three and four were pretty similar, but four had a lot less Whisky notes and was more just a brisk, malty black base.
Infusion five the the turning point; it was just too soft a black tea taste with too much acidity from the lemon juice being steeped out – so that was where I stopped brewing. Even still, while it was a short session it was the kind of session that sort of “recharges” your soul and where you feel both at piece and also invigorated.
Loved this combo!
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwt-xaxHyIr/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Jt4wQr-so
