Anhui Keemun

I’m in awe of this tea. It’s smells like dark leather, horses, tobacco. It’s buttery smooth, sexy, strong. The difference between this tea and cheaper teas in my opinion is that you need just a tiny bit for a strong cup of tea and you can do multiple infusions and every time it will taste good.

Auggy sent me this one, and I’ve been putting off trying it. I was warned that it was a pretty expensive tea and I then made the mistake of looking up the price. NEVER DO THAT! Following that I’ve spent a lot of time being scared of it. What if I oversteeped it like mad and ruined the leaves?! O.O At that price you’d think they were made of diamonds!

I would like to say that I was feeling brave today and decided to make it but that’s not true. I just wanted something I hadn’t tried before, really, while also being something that might kickstart my aching brain. (Slept in too long, slight headache) So here we are. With a cup of tea comparable, in price, to liquid platinum… Oh dear.

The aroma isn’t as strong as I had initially expected. Full, but not very loud. I’m getting a lot of that grain-y note and some dark cocoa. Also, weirdly, something creamy. It’s not cream, but it’s got sort of like that quality a smell can have when a bit of cream is added to it. Slightly sweet and smooth and a little fat. It really does have a very sweet aroma over all which I think have to do with the grain note primarily.

At the first sip I got a bit of a surprise. The aroma had led me to believe I was about to encounter something unbelievably smooth and creamy and I had completely forgotten about the semi-smoky aspect of Keemun. Probably because there aren’t any smoky notes in the aroma. So at first I went O.o and then I went ‘aaaaah…!’

So yes, there is the mild smokyness up front and underneath that there it is. The creamy smoothness. And it really is creamy! It feels all thick in the mouth and everything.

First I’m getting the mild smoke and then the thickness and finally the grain. There’s a sort of earthy, dusty aftertaste building up here that kind of reminds me of floral scented teas. That seems a bit out of place to me, completely unexpected.

I can’t find any of the cocoa that the aroma had, but I’m getting tons and tons of the creamyness. I haven’t added milk to the cup but I could have sworn, in a blind tasting, that there was milk in it.

It seems that Auggy was really getting a lot more out of it than I am, and I blame our differences in steeping. I tend to go for a much shorter steep with more leaf (although I still don’t think I use enough leaf to call it gong fu) and I’m thinking I’ll try and do a longer steep the second time around on these leaves. See what else comes out.

I’ve got lots and lots of new teas to try (my cupboard went from 87 to 123 in just two days – I might have made a few tea orders… just maybe) and I’ve set aside today to do nothing but relax, rest and make a slight dent in my new teas (and watch Project Runway). This is the first tea up today, mostly because Chicago Tea Garden’s Keemun has made me rediscover my massive Keemun love and inguna’s logs make this one sound delicious, so I have been stupidly excited about trying this one.

First off, it smells awesome. Like the softest leather coated in super-dark chocolate. Brewed up, the smell gets a bit stronger on the chocolate/earthy/dark/damp but sweet notes show up, too and it just smells so rich and thick and smooth. I could smell this all day.

I was pretty tempted to follow CTG’s steeping time for this one (they give 1-2mintues for their Keemun while Adagio gives 3-5minutes) because these dry leaves smell just as complex as CTG’s and so I want to treat them the same. But I went ahead and follow Adagio’s suggestion this time and maybe I’ll play a shorter steep next time, mostly because I think this will have enough complexity going on to be interesting, not simply weak, with a shorter steep time.

Anyway, sipping time. OMG, so good. The taste is strong and bold with a sweet earthy, syrupy richness with a hint of smoke in the end of the sip. It’s very smooth and silky feeling and leaves the loveliest aftertaste, something almost floral? As I sip, I keep thinking of two different teas – one CTG’s Keemun because, hello, both really good, complex, flavorful Keemuns and two – Makai Black. Yeah, okay, I know that one sounds like a bit of a stretch but Makai Black (either version) gives a good, thick, sweet-but-not-sugary rye-syrup or barley-syrup type note and this one has something similar going on – not exactly the same, but a great, rich syrupy feel/taste of something dark and tasty. Uhm, and I just looked at Adagio’s tasting notes and it says ‘molasses’ so okay, maybe I’m not that crazy then. It feels a bit richer/darker than molasses to me but whatever, we’ll say molasses.

This is really good. This one and CTG’s Keemun (which I love and adore so) are neck and neck as far as delicious and much loved Keemun tastes. This one tastes stronger, but then it was steeped longer than what CTG suggests for their version. This one also might be a little heavier/smoother/richer by a little but that might be the longer steep time again. Considering the price difference, CTG’s version is a must-have daily-drinker where this one would have to be a bit more special occasion but taste-wise, I’m thinking they are not too far off.

This is one seriously tasty Keemun. I’m really tempted to give it a perfect score right now, but I have to wait to make sure the tastiness is easily repeatable (I have a feeling it will be) because picky teas piss me off. But this is a must-try tea for any Keemun lover.

(Screw it. I just did a second steep (also at 3:00) and it’s so delicious. Full points right now.)
3.8g/10oz

HAPPY NANOWRIMO, WRIMOS!

Are any of you participating, this year? Are any of you ALREADY pulling your hair out?

I am!

Seriously, why did I wait until the last second to come up with a premise? Whooo! Today is going to be interesting!

I apologize in advance. I’m totally more interested in making this a steepster shout-out to NaNoWriMo participants than an actual tasting note, which is a flagrant abuse of the steepster system of tasting notes. However, let me make a token effort:

This is a delicious Keemun, but weak the way I steeped it. It got dark so fast that I worried and yanked the basket out of the cup early…but reading Auggy’s note, I think I ought to have let it sit bravely for some further period of time. Smoky and leathery, not astringent in the least, with depth. It lacks the fruity peachy flavors of CTG’s Keemun, which is the one I’m most inclined to compare it to, and I’m not sure whether or not I prefer the other to this — this one seems just slightly less complex. Again, could be a result of understeeping, and likely is.

Now, with that out of the way…

If anybody is doing NaNo, they ought to get at me in PMs or comments! I’m collecting writing buddies, of course, to cheer me on, and be cheered on. ;)

MY 500th TASTING NOTE! I saw the Maestro Collection in SS today so I thought I better get going and give people some tasting notes to read! I nearly fell over when I saw that these teas are valued at $58 and I am even more greatful for them as I’m not able to afford them right now. Even for not being a black tea person, Yunnan Curls were pretty good so I decided to continue w/ that set and try the other black tea. I’ve never had a Keemun tea before.

Maestro Collection: Set 2, tea #2

I’m suprised at the tiny, wirey shape of the raw leaf. The aroma has faints notes of smokyness, but is also very smooth and slightly sweet.

Prepared as directed.

The liquor is coffeish like the Yunnan Curls with reddish tones. Too bad I don’t like blacks more, they sure are pretty. The aroma is lighter than I expected, but echo that of the raw leaf.

The flavor is almost exactly that of the aroma. While the flavor is substantial, it’s definitely not harsh. Slightly smoky, sweet, and smooth. It doesn’t taste like coffee, but it does have some of the same qualities so I can see why people would drink this in the morning. Not a bad tea.

My sense of taste is mostly back to normal so I figured this was as good a time as any to crack open my Adagio order. I sort of expected bigger leaves out of something touted as a high-quality tea, but I suppose size isn’t everything, lol. :D Dry, the leaves were black with flecks of gold but when they brewed they turned a light brown shade.

The flavours are bold and dramatic – bitter cocoa with a little bite that actual does resemble pepper a bit. There’s also a hints of tanins and smoke, something I’ve come to recognize as a characterstic of most Chinese black tea to one degree or another. The tea has a substantial, almost thick feel in the mouth and it lingers on the tongue, not letting you forget it.

Since we’re all about changes to Steepster the last day or so, I really wish there was a way for me to sort my Tealog by tea type. So that I could, for example, key in “Keemun” and get everything containing Keemun I’ve logged so I can compare how I rated them, rather than having to remember which ones I’ve had, what they were called, etc. Please please please put this at the top of the list for new changes, O Steepster gods. As my log gets longer and longer it gets harder and harder to sort through stuff and it would be great not to have to read each blend’s description to know whether it includes Keemun.

I know I’ve had Keemuns before in blends, but the only thing I can find in my log that is called “Keemun” is another Adagio, the Keemun Rhapsody, and a Life In Teacup Keemun Black Tea Grade II. It has been a while but judging by my ratings, I liked both. This one appears to be a crowd favorite so I was psyched to try it as my last black tea of the day.

The dry leaves are quite pretty, very small and delicate looking. They remind me of seeds. Dark green and tippy. They smell like smoke to me on first sniff, but as I sit with the smell I get a definite cocoa note and a bit of leather underneath the smoke.

Steeped, the aroma is not very smoky and richer, with a baked bread quality at the surface and saddles underneath. The liquor is lighter than I expected, a sort of chestnut color.

What is fascinating to me about this tea is that on first sip, I’m not seeing what the fuss is about. But as I follow the flavor from the sip through to the aftertaste, the complexity of this becomes apparent. It reminds me of how a really nice wine becomes even nicer as it breathes.

The beginning is mellow leather, the midsip is sweet, smoky bread, and the finish is buttery sweet wood with a tiny dash of salt and spice. The mouthfeel is soft, and thick without being too clingy. The aftertaste goes on and on. A bit of smoke, a bit of sweetness that isn’t quite cocoa but could be and isn’t quite malt but could be.

This deserves some attention to see whether I’ve steeped it as well as it can be steeped. I suspect there is even more to this that I’m not yet getting. I’m more in the Angrboda camp on this one than the Inguna and Auggy camp at this point. It’s lovely, but to me it isn’t perfect. Of course I’m entirely willing to attribute that to user error.

ETA: The wet leaves have a sort of spicy, salty smell that reminds me of olives!

This is one of the smokier Keemun teas that I’ve tried, but it isn’t too smoky. It has a delicious peppery/spicy note that is veiled by the smoke, so once my palate gets past the smoke, I taste the pepper. A strong tea, quite masculine.

Recommended time is 3-5 minutes, but 3 minutes was too long.

The leaf is small to begin with, and then broken up a bit, so the tea is very fine-grained. The aroma is tobacco shop, or maybe barber shop strop, which i find enticing. Brewed up, the liquor is red jewel tones and winey in the manner of a beaujolais, but not quite as fruity. The smoky finish adds a bit of welcome pungency to a tea which hovers steadfastly balanced between dry and sweet. The only hint of bitterness presents itself as if it’s the very darkest cacao or black pepper. Halfway through the cup, I added soy milk, but it muted the flavors more than I liked. The second steep was almost as good as the first, and I experimented with just a drop of agave nectar in that cup. The slight sweetness elevated the rose and brown sugar notes, and gave a nice variation, I think, on the plain brew. To share the experience of this wonderful Keemun tea, I’m adding this sample tin to the Steepster TTB. Everyone should get to try this at least once!