No. 901 Summer Moon

I was on the fence about reviewing this tea. I bought it almost 3 years ago, the company doesn’t even carry it anymore, it’s a sipdown for me, and it’s not like any of the other Steepsters have this one. But, for the sake of completeness, I’ll write some notes.

This is a Nepalese black. It’s a bit old, but I’ve stored it well and I think the flavor has held up pretty well. As for the flavor profile, the label says: “honey, geranium, peach, sweet corn” Um, OK. I get the corn, a little of peach sweetness, a tiny bit of honey. No floral notes. I found it a bit tricky – too little leaf and the flavor is meh. Too much and it turns tannic. I know I went nuts for it in the store, but since that store is in Berlin, it’s entirely possible I had “vacation mind” and got all carried away with it. I mean, the store is fabulous (see my review in the Places section), filled with beautiful teaware and paper goods. It was really quite the experience.

Anyway, I made this mostly for iced tea, after wrestling with the idea: wouldn’t it be kind of a waste for such a nice tea to be made iced? Shouldn’t I just sit down and do a gongfu session to at least appreciate a resteep? But then the tea languished in the cupboard and I decided that it should at least be drunk, even if not in the optimal way. It makes a nice iced tea, but the exact leaf to water ratio, as I’ve said before, I found troublesome. Mostly too tannic, as I tend to overleaf and oversteep, especially with iced tea.

Well, Summer Moon, you deserved better, but at least you’ve been consumed. And you were a pretty good tea, although I think with more deft preparation, you could’ve been great.