I bought this tea on my last trip to London in F&M’s shop in Piccadilly. They have rearranged all of their tea selections, redesigning the boxes (I preferred the old ones, in general. They were more subdued), and taking a lot of their old and good staples off the shelves. My favourite blend, Piccadilly Blend, is no longer, as are the Afternoon tea, Fountain blend and many others. They were replaced not by new and interesting blends, but by… nothing. They just cut down the number of tea blends that they offer.
Anyway, I got this tea from behind the counter, and they now allow you to buy only 100g or more in weight, which is infuriating, since they WEIGH the tea anyway, so why should they mind if I want only 50g? This only meant that I bought less kinds of tea.
On to the tea: the leaves are long and dark and twisted when dry, with a faint fruity scent to them. They vastly expand and turn a dark green in the pot. I brewed them Gongfu style in a relatively new Yixing teapot (which may have stolen some of the tea’s flavour) for three brewings: 20, 30, 40 seconds each.The soup is a very pale golden green, and the tea has tangy, only slightly floral notes. It had something of a lemon tart in it, and something elusive that I haven’t quite nailed down, but was quite pleasant. It’s a gentle tea, that looks unassuming, but unfolds charmingly once you take the time to get to know it.
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Profile
Bio
An Israeli computer programmer with a passion for tea (mostly bought in yearly shopping sprees in the UK), particularly black, oolong and white. I don’t generally enjoy flavoured teas or herbal infusions, but if a tea sounds interesting and smells nice I’ll most definitely try it. I drink several cups of tea a day, usually one or two in the morning, another one after lunch and one or two in the evening. My favourite tea so far is Lao Cong Zi Ya from Norbu Tea, but I’m constantly trying new teas. Only in the past year have I branched into Pu’erh and non-roasted oolongs. Finding good tea in Israel is difficult, so I import most of my teas from yearly visits to London, or from online retailers. If you see something in my cupboard that sparks your interest and you would like to swap with me, then please message me. I’m almost always up for a swap.
Location
Tel Aviv, Israel
