Crimson

2025 TTB #10

I really enjoyed the Umber I tried earlier in the week, so I had to give Crimson a try as well! Based on the name, I would have expected something a bit…flashier, I guess? But this is actually an exceptionally smooth, mellow blend. If I didn’t know it was a blend of a bunch of different kinds of teas, I think I would have pegged it as just a roasted oolong. The flavor is mostly mineral with a touch of nuttiness and a super smooth, lightly sweet finish. Nothing really stands out in a good way, but there are no jarring notes either…no bitterness or astringency or funkiness from the puerh. I honestly can’t decide if it’s perfectly balanced or just a bit boring, but I’m glad I tried it!

I recently purchased several Chroma teas after sampling one and really liking it. So far most of them are falling flat for me. This is a nice roasted tea with a little nuttiness in there and a touch of grass, but it feels like there is room for more pizzazz. I don’t believe I’ve ever used the word pizzazz when describing a tea, but there you go. I keep waiting for there to be something that stands out and makes this cup spectacular, but it’s just it’s mellow well rounded modest self. There is nothing offensive about it at all, but I was hoping for more.

Okay, back to Chroma teas!

Sipping on this one as my first cuppa this morning. This tea is a blend of Laoshan black, Yunnan black, roasted oolong, white tea, and shou puerh. On paper, that sounds a bit busy to me.

In practice, it doesn’t taste busy. But at the same time, I’m not sure I’m really tasting all of the components. The Laoshan black and roasted oolong are sort of melding together, and I don’t think I taste the Yunnan black? Although according to the description, they added it for texture and body, so maybe I’m not meant to. The white tea mostly shows itself at the end of the sip for me, adding a light and airy oat-y finish. I don’t get a lot of the puerh either, there is a gentle earthiness though.

It’s pleasant but I feel like I would rather just have each component individually rather than mixed together? But we’ll see if it grows on me as I sip through the packet.

Sipped on this in the fresh, warm glow following a spontaneous midday downpour! This is Chroma Tea’s take on a traditional Breakfast tea and, with four different straight tea types blended to create it, it’s a very interesting one! Initially I found the taste fairly “whelming” but it really grew on me; there’s a fresh, vegetal and kind of crisp quality to the flavour that’s balanced by a really nice level of tannin and astringency. I was skeptical whether the white tea would be noticeable at all, but I have to think that the almost sugar snap top note MUST be coming from it, so it’s not buried by other stronger tasting tea types. From there, the malty sweetness of the black tea and gentle sweet earthiness and minerality of the shou & oolong are present in the mid sip and shockingly non competitive. It’s certainly not as bold and brisk as your standard breakfast teas and I wouldn’t probably add milk to it, but I can see this growing on me as a reliable daily drinker!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci0e0cVu6jd/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQZ5KtIZNoY