Okay, here is another review out of the backlog. This one comes from very early 2021. I remember being surprised to discover a 50g pouch of this tea in one of my tea totes because I did not remember purchasing it. I loved the spring 2017 production of this tea, so I rushed to try this spring 2018 production almost immediately after discovering it in my stash. My reaction was disappointment and bewilderment. This tea was virtually nothing like the spring 2017 production that I so loved. As I worked my way through the pouch, however, it steadily grew on me. In the end, I determined that this was an okay black tea, but it was still very lacking compared to the previous year’s version.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of earth, dark chocolate, malt, cinnamon, black cherry, and blueberry. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and green wood. The first infusion added subtle grass and hay aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, earth, green wood, cream, oats, butter, baked bread, and roasted almond that were backed by hints of sugarcane, raisin, cooked green beans, dark chocolate, grass, hay, and cinnamon. The bulk of the subsequent infusions added aromas of sugarcane, orange zest, baked bread, violet, lemon zest, pine, and eucalyptus to the tea’s bouquet. Stronger and more immediately detectable impressions of cooked green beans, dark chocolate, grass, and sugarcane came out in the mouth with mineral, orange zest, roasted peanut, pine, lemon zest, and violet notes in tow. I was also able to pick up on hints of black cherry, eucalyptus, blueberry, blackberry, and green olive. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, cream, butter, baked bread, orange zest, pine, roasted almond, and lemon zest that were chased by fleeting hints of sugarcane, eucalyptus, black cherry, oats, violet, roasted peanut, blackberry, and cinnamon.
As much as this tea failed to display the brilliant fruit and flower aromas and flavors of the previous spring’s production, it still displayed respectable depth and complexity on the nose and in the mouth. The tea liquor also managed to showcase solid body and nice texture. Were some of the aroma and flavor components a little unfocused and unbalanced? Yes. Did all of the aroma and flavor components always work well together? No, not quite. Overall, this tea displayed very apparent strengths and equally apparent weaknesses. It was a mixed bag, but it was far from the worst tea I have ever consumed.
Flavors: Almond, Blackberry, Blueberry, Bread, Butter, Cherry, Cinnamon, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Eucalyptus, Grass, Green Beans, Green Wood, Hay, Lemon Zest, Malt, Mineral, Oats, Olives, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Raisins, Sugarcane, Violet
