orthodox_caveman select Send Message

First Steep (160F, 1 min): Mostly floral with some cocoa. No astringency or bitterness associated with black teas.

Second Steep (160F, 1 min 15 s): Mostly floral, hints of cocoa and cinnamon.

Third steep (160F, 1 min 30 s): Nearly entirely floral with a cinnamon aftertaste.

Great caffeine/theanine buzz. Great flavor, but three steeps is probably sufficient for this tea. Possibly due to the low temperature suggested, this tea had no signs of astringency or bitterness. I wasn’t completely sold on the Keemun grand, but it’s suggested temperature was boiling. I will try that one again at this temperature. In any case, this tea is a great example of Chinese black teas.

First infusion (1 minute, 160): Nice malty and caramel flavors, no detectable bitterness or astringency. I highly recommend this temperature.

Second Infusion (1 minute 15 seconds, 160): Lighter malt but resilient caramel flavors.

Third Infusion (1 minute 30 seconds, 160): Weak flavor, two infusions are probably sufficient.

Overall, a decent tea with light but obvious flavors. The leaf isn’t very resilient but this is forgivable for a black tea. This tea could be considered the sweeter version of the NM Tea Co Royal Yunnan. This tea has less of a smoky profile and much more caramel and malts.

First Infusion (212, 4 minutes): Decent dark liquor, smoked malty taste. Not very complex or interesting. Very astringent and bitter.

New first infusion (200, 4 minutes): Nearly the same as the 212F, 4 minute infusion. Still very astringent and bitter.

New first infusion (190, 4 minutes): Nearly the same as the previous infusions. Astringency was toned down but still very bitter.

Second infusion (190, 4 minutes 15 seconds): Previous malty flavors barely noticeable with the bitterness.

I will update this with more temperatures. For now, I cannot recommend this tea. Not enjoyable.

Tried at a much lower temperature with long steep 4-5 minutes. Lower temperatures reduced astringency but not the flavors and I was able to get 2 great steeps. As mentioned before the smoky flavor is most prominent. This tea was very enjoyable but nothing too amazing. I think I prefer Keemums more, but I would drink this again.

First infusion: Incredibly flavorful. Light woody taste combined with a very strong honey. I also included “wet earth” which sounds unappetizing but this is mostly due to the liquor’s scent. Together the scent and taste feels like eating fresh honey in a spring forest after a light rain storm. Probably the most intense scent/taste combination.

Second infusion: Just as great as the first, less wet earth and more honey. Same amount of woody.

Third infusion: Once again excellent, muted earth and wood. Mostly honey left.

Fourth infusion: Very similar to the third infusion.

Fifth infusion: Slightly muted honey, I decided to call it quits after this infusion.

Probably my favorite oolong thus far. I am taking recommendations for anything similar to this since I can’t find any information on this specific tea.

First Steep 212, 4 mins: Tastes like a toned down chocolate stout. Excellent cocoa undertones and very rich feel.

Second Steep 212, 4 mins: Second steep is very different. Still very rich but chocolate stout is replaced by a sort of spicy, maybe cinnamon flavor

Third Steep 212, 4 mins:

This is my first Chinese black tea and I am excited to try more and may become a regular in my cup. 9/10

First steep (200, 5 min): Excellent upfront lemon taste. Probably my favorite black tea thus far. Slightly astringent but this is my fault since my kettle can’t reach the prescribed 194 degrees. Next time I would decrease the steep time/keep temperature at 200 or increase steep time slightly/decrease temperature to 190.

Second steep (200, 5 min): Toned down lemon, but still very flavorful. More vegetal in this cup. Astringency in first cup was nearly gone.

This tea was very interesting. First, it is a black tea that brews a green liquor, darker than usual green teas but definitely not close to a black tea. Secondly, the usual floral taste found in many blacks was not present. It is dominated by the lemon flavor. Although lighter than most blacks, it was just as flavorful. Highly recommended, kinda wish I hadn’t had this because this is going to be a hard find after this steepster package.

Interesting, but probably wouldn’t buy again.

First steep (165, 1:30 min): More grassy and fresh greens in this cup.

Second steep (165, 1:30 min): More seaweed taste in this cup. My favorite steep.

Third steep (165, 1:30 min): Still viable but very watery, two steeps is probably enough.