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From the Here’s Hoping TTB, R5

I’m trying as many small samples/sipdowns as I can to make the box smaller, lol. (I’m also not doing very well at that task. Plotting how to make it smaller while wanting to add more tea is hard!) Unfortunately there’s not really much that I’m interested in that fits that description. This one I tried purely to compare to the GoldenTeaTips version I’ve tried.

Package instructions says 203F for 3 min. To my defense it was very early in the morning and I was half asleep, but I should have known better than to brew a darjeeling for that hot at that long. I did follow package instructions though, I have enough left to try it at my normal preference for a darjeeling (hopefully for more fragrant results, 195F @ 1.5min). Anyways, the result was surprising not as bad as it could have been, but I think it could have been better.

About medium darkness, but malty, with some honey and bread notes along with the usually floral sweet notes of darjeeling. BUT astringent, pretty astringent, which for now I’m blaming on the brew temperature. Compared to GTT’s version, it’s a teensy bit sweeter, and less floral, but that could be attributed to maybe the sample’s a little older? When I tried GTT’s it was with their subscription and it was pretty fresh. When this is cold (because I set it aside and forgot about it), the astringency isn’t too bad to deal with. If I didn’t know this was a tea I would say it’s my kind of beer with the malty and sweet notes with a little bit of bitterness.

I’ll probably try to brew it again to drink down the sample, but I’m probably not logging it again, there’s maybe 2-3 small cups left. If you’re behind me in this box and want some, drop a comment for me to leave it in the box. =). On the other hand I’m fairly bored with the box already (not many greens or oolongs in here…) and will probably be passing it along soon.