Keemun 1st Grade

Got this in a Tea Runners box, and the first time I tried it, something magical happened. I wasn’t really paying much attention because I was in the middle of making breakfast, so it was like: 1 tea spoon of tea in a basket in my mug, poured over boiling water, totally forgot to set a timer, got distracted by eggs, some unknown amount of time later remembered my tea (it was still hot, good drinking temperature). It had some really lovely honey and cocoa notes, and a lovely lingering aroma in the empty cup. Tried resteeping, but unsurprisingly, very bland. Ok, so next time I made it I did my typical 3g/300ml/3min/boiling water routine, and it just tasted like a pleasant but unremarkable black tea. Malty, maybe some mineral undertones and a bit of sweetness on the finish, but nothing like that first time. So this time I made it in the easy brew teapot (https://tearunners.com/products/tea-runners-easy-brew-glass-teapot) and went hard. 5g of leaf, 350ml, boiling water. At 5min I poured off maybe 25% to taste test – honey sweetness definitely there, no astringency or bitterness, no cocoa. Let the leaves steep with the rest of the water for another couple minutes and the liquor got DARK, I was a bit afraid. But actually still entirely drinkable! Malty, full-bodied, only a little bit of astringency on the finish. I could feel my English ancestors calling to me to add milk (unfortunately do not have any in the house). Interestingly, the earthy and cocoa notes only emerged once it started to cool down, but they were there. Now I just poured off the last 100ml or so that has been steeping with all those leaves the entire time I have been typing this. Again, lovely dark liquor. Not much has changed except that it’s stronger and finally starting to get a little bit bitter. I added a teeny tiny bit of coffee cream to this last little bit out of morbid curiousity and… nope, it’s strong but not strong enough to stand up to cream, lol. Anyway, fascinating tea. I’ll probably try the last bit of this sample gongfu, even though I suspect the teeny tiny leaves will be a pain in the gaiwan. Anyway, tell me your keemun-brewing secrets!