96

This is a really beautiful cup of tea. The smell from the pouch made me feel like I had made a horrible mistake in buying a sample, because it has the approximate aroma of a burnt forest floor and charred bone right off the bat. Decided to give it a try this afternoon, though, so I can stop fearfully side-eyeing the pouch whenever I open up my tea chest.
The whole leaves are easily pried apart from the compressed brick with the tips of your fingers, no pu’erh pick necessary to avoid breaking them into dusty pieces. They smell like burned oak leaves; or the first whiff of a freshly opened scotch with tarred rope, heavy smoke, and peat notes. The liquor is a much lighter hue than you’d expect. Dusty rose brown. A very smoky aroma, but not an off-putting one. The taste is spectacular to me. Not savory, but ever so gently sweet, with a clean pleasant smokiness. A touch of minerals, a hint of aged wood, and the oakiness of something aged in a barrel. Feels like something that would be served to you by a chivalrous sasquatch in a pacific northwestern pine forest. He could easily win you over with it and weasel his way into a second date.

Flavors: Molasses, Oak, Peat, Smoke

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more 4 g 14 OZ / 414 ML
gmathis

I would love to meet a tea-drinking sasquatch.

Eelong

Me too. Bet he’d know of some nice herbals.

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gmathis

I would love to meet a tea-drinking sasquatch.

Eelong

Me too. Bet he’d know of some nice herbals.

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Bio

Eel and tea lover. Big fan of dark oolongs, Nepal blacks, and fruity herbals. I occasionally make the terrible mistake of trying weird teas and then spend a good 5 minutes scrubbing my tongue with a toothbrush trying to get the taste out of my mouth.

Ratings:
100: Downright addictive.
95+: A definite favorite. This is something I’ll reach for again when I want something special.
90-95: I’d drink this again without question. There’s probably 4 ounces of it sitting by the tea kettle.
80-89: I’m glad I tried this and I’ll happily drink through the rest of the pouch. Might not be on the reorder list, though.
60-79: This is either mediocre and acceptable or I hate it and don’t want to skew the rating.
40-59: Uh, this is drinkable. Probably.
20-39: We’re entering the abyss. Here lies danger.
1-19: Please take me out if I ever try to brew this one again.

If I’ve recently reviewed something that you’d like to try, let me know! I usually buy teas in 25 gram samples and have extra to pass around.

Location

USA

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