Royal Black Tea

Came home from England a few days ago where we, among other things, spent a day in London, visited family and took the fast lane down the stairs. Again. I was told my undignified descent was marked by a certain amount of resignation, because having done it before, I know that once you slip, there’s no way you’re stopping before you reach the bottom. Fortunately for me the steps are carpeted, so in spite of a spectacular bruise to my rear, it wasn’t particularly painful. This visit was then followed up by a visit to the bank with regard of finding out whether or not they would be willing to let us borrow a LOT of money, which they were. Then this morning I finally remembered that I’ve actually got a handful of these pre-written posts and I ought to post one. And tomorrow it’s back to the grindstone.

Another one from Auggy. The leaf of this tea smells funny. It’s heavily chocolate-y and kind of… I want to say jam, really. Chocolate and jam. The steeped tea smells more keemun-y. Heavy, thick and grainy. Very much like Danish rye bread (which, people who have never been to a Scandinavian country, is not what you understand as rye bread I don’t think. It’s dark, dark brown, very grainy and eaten in thin slices.) and still with a strong note of something… jam-y. Rye bread with jam. A peculiar (but rather good, don’t tell my mother) combination.

So the aroma is just awesome. The flavour, however, is a little more controlled. I’m still getting all the same notes, but they don’t feel as full and heavy. There’s also a smidge of something nearly smoky in here, which may or may not turn totally floral when swallowing. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

This one is nice. I like it. It went well with breakfast.

So many new teas to try! I love getting in tea orders! Except, this isn’t from a tea order. In fact, I really didn’t mean to have this one today. Or ever, really. Because this is a tea I picked up at the grocery store for the husband. He tends to prefer stout things that can be sugared and milked for his morning commute and since I don’t go for that much anymore, I get some less fancy, more additive-appropriate teas at the store for most of his morning cups. This one is a new brand our grocery store just started carrying and I always like to try new things. Or, in this case, make the husband try new things. (Well, that and the brand name made me giggle.) But while I was making this for the husband this morning, it smelled so yummy, I decided to scrap my previous plans (of LPdT’s Yunnan d’Or) and try this one out.

I did cut this out of the bag and brew it loose (just in case the bag was corn-based) and the leaves were pretty long and leaf-like for a bagged tea. Only 1.9g, though, so I used a small cup. But this smells really unusual for a bagged black tea. Most smell like plain, slightly muddy tea. Or, at best Assam. This? Smells sweet and cuddly and fruity, like a really nice Chinese black. Actually, it smells like Fujian. And how unusual is it to find that in the grocery store?

The taste is a wee bit thin feeling (even with a 3min steeping) but what is there is really nice. Super smooth, a little fruity-tart, a bit of earthiness hiding underneath the cheerful hay-ish sweetness and cuddly notes of slight malt. It’s nicely complex with no astringency and it’s a very easy drinker. It doesn’t feel quite hefty enough to stand up to additives, which is fine for me but I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I make it for the husband. There’s a nice caffeine buzz to it, though, which does make it morning-appropriate.

I’m pretty sure this is a Fujian tea, but it has a little something that makes me feel I haven’t quite pegged it. I don’t know if it is the slight thinness that does it or the stronger note of fruit-sourness that I tend to get more in Keemuns or the just the fact that it’s a lower quality Fujian than I’m used to so it doesn’t 100% mesh with my prior experience. Regardless, this is a surprising grocery store acquisition. I wouldn’t go out of my way to order this or anything, but it’s nice to know that, if I am ever in a tea deficit, I can grab something this tasty at my local store.

This was the first black tea that I’ve ever tried that I really enjoyed. It is lighter than most black teas, which I prefer but I’d never drink more than a cup at a time. I would also never add milk or sugar to this. The subtle flavors in the leaves are excellent on their own, especially when steeped until the tea is a deep amber-brown (almost red) color.