Mi Xian Black

I should probably stop picking this tea up. Not because it’s a bad tea but when you’ve got a stupidly long list of amazing teas from Stacy, at some point, SOME of them need to fall off the list. IE. it’s a fantastic tea! but there are 10 more amazing, incredible teas that i love EVEN MORE from stacy, that this one is just not amazing enough haha. or at least only enough to get every few months. I enjoyed the sweetness of this cup compared to the other 2 teas i drank at work today. It was a good contrast to them and made me enjoy this even more today. Sadly, it’s almost gone…but that means room for more stacy teas! woot woot!

Ok…. I swear I’m reviewing this tea, brewing up a mate and making a matcha latte and going to work for at least a few hours, if not an all-nighter. Being a grad student sucks, especially when you promised your advisor you’d have all your samples ground by the end of September, only to realize that you still have 116 hours of grinding (at least!) left…. :(

Anyways! Enough whining. This sample was given to me by the lovely Sil during our awesome tea & pizza meetup a few weeks ago!

I honestly am not sure what to be expecting here, as I can’t recall reading anything about this tea. The aroma is a bit chocolatey, a bit “generic black”-y. Wow, is this ever smooth! Definite chocolate notes and… woah, there’s a sort of sweetness in here that I completely wasn’t expecting! A dark sort of sweetness, like with dark oolongs… intriguing. So chocolatey, kind of almost a… buckwheat honey sort of sweetness, and no astringency. This is my sort of black! I do wish there was a bit more chocolate (only because I love that flavour in black teas), but the sweetness more than makes up for it! Delicious! I’d definitely buy this one to drink again, this is pretty good! Thanks Sil!

Sad sip-down! I really like this one.

I drank this at work, so I didn’t steep it at boiling and I got a whole new flavor profile. This time it seemed even smoother and I swear there were mushroom notes and this time I actually am picking up some lychee. I didn’t taste that when I steeped it at boiling.

I have a guilty little confession about this tea. I love it! I love it so much that I really acquired it more for myself rather than because it filled a hole in our tea selection. This is my reward tea. Whenever I am feeling down or when I accomplish something big, I allow myself to indulge in a few cups of this wonderful tea.

The dried leaf aroma is strong with honey and plums and the leaves are thin, long, and wiry with a rich charcoal and mahogany color. The steeped leaves are more mahogany in color and range from a medium to dark brown. The wet leaves smell woody and sweet with a honey scent and now a peach aroma as well. As I open the leaves, I can see some little ridges from where the leafhoppers were allowed to nibble. This nibbling causes the plant to initiate its healing process making the leaves taste sweet like honey. The liquor is a dark amber color and produces an aroma of honey and wet wood. When I take my first sip, peach and honey notes first hit my tongue and mingle and linger. Then citrus notes and lychee notes become prominent and linger. A smooth and creamy mouth feel make this cup very enjoyable for me. I used 2 teaspoons of tea this time; however, I think I enjoy this a little more with just 1 ½ teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water. Either way, this is a delicious cup of tea.

I see that the last time I drank this I didn’t really write a tasting note because I was distracted. Well, I guess I better remedy that!

This is quite a lovely tea. It is kind of one of those black teas that reminds me of a honeyed dan cong oolong, but better because it’s a black tea (not the biggest fan of dan congs here). Anyway, this is definitely on the fruitier side for a black tea, and I do get a sense of stone fruit (peach, apricot) and a hint of lychee. There is almost a floral quality as well. I’m usually not the biggest fan of fruity (unflavored) black teas for some reason, but this one I quite enjoy. I think I like it best when it is toward the hot side versus once it really cools down… as it gets just warm it starts reminding me of a darjeeling (fruity florals, I guess). Quite tasty overall.

Heading out the door to let the chiropractor work his magic.
I’ve enjoyed this tasty tea! Sil’s post about it reminded me that I was still hoarding the final cup.
First Sipdown of the day!

Note to self: Drinking a whole pot of tea before walking into an exam may not be the best idea in the future. Probably should have double checked that scantron.

Today this tea was as amazing as I remember it being- juicy, smooth, and totally worth it.

1 heaping tbsp in 16 oz

Yummy as always. Today, I felt a little extra sensitive to astringency, though. There is a slight hint of astringency in this tea… barely any at all, really, but today I was feeling it a little more pronounced than usual. So, I did the unthinkable and added a 1/2 tsp of sugar to the 16 oz of tea. That just smoothed it out for me without changing the flavor.

I’ve decided not to beat myself up over adding just a tiny bit of sugar to my tea if I feel like it. I know that a gorgeous tea like this one doesn’t need it, but sometimes I just want my tea a little extra sweet and juicy. Not always, just now and then.

I am cold-steeping the used leaves overnight for what I know will be a delicious iced tea I can drink with my lunch tomorrow. Yay!

Wow. All I can say is wow. After drinking the aged tea I wanted something sweet to end my taiwainese tasting day and debated between wild mountain black and this one. I ended up with this one only because I haven’t had it in a while. I brewed it gongfu for the first time ever. The first steep seriously took my breath away. Smells and tastes like butter, honey, and peaches. So sweet and juicy. Oh my. Taiwan… you have truly won me over today. I was a pretty die hard china fan, but I can open up my heart for you.

Side note… I’ve been using this tiny little strainer that Meiqin from Yezi sent me as a free gift to pour my gongfu teas through and I am in love with it. Before I was using just a basic tea strainer or kitchen strainer. This thing is so fine that absolutely no particles get through so the cup is clear liquid. Thanks again Meiqin!

I’m not sure exactly what I’m tasting but it’s good. I’m drinking it without sweetners of any kind (milk,splenda, etc..)