Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea

I tasted sweetness of chinese white almond in this one, I also tasted a little bit of ginseng. Very interesting.

It was slightly smoky, less than grade 1, but more than premium hao ya.

I want to do a tasting session for all the keemun teas I ordered from Teavivre. Gotta order some tasting cup sets.

Sipdown!

I finished this off this morning before heading to work. It was somewhat savoury and a bit malty, but otherwise it didn’t make a big impression on me. Maybe I’m just not a Keemun kinda gal?

Water: 8oz

Leaves: small rolled leaves

Steep: 1m,2m,3m

Aroma: regular black tea

Color: Amber

Taste: One more tea to go in my collection! This is my second Keemun Fragrant Black Tea but this time with a different company. The first steep was light in flavor & aroma so decided to go for 2 more steeps to see if it would reveal any thing different. 2m slightly more flavor but still light. 3m revealed the same even though i slightly over boiled my water lol. Overall a nice light black tea no bitterness & great clarity!

For a while in my tea-drinking career, I was reluctant to give up bagged tea in favor of loose leaf tea. I thought that I’d be giving up strength of flavor for complexity of flavor – that loose leaf teas would always be weak compared to the full-bodied (albeit simple) flavors of a CTC tea. If I’d started with this tea, I wouldn’t have had to worry at all. This has all of the immediacy of a quick steeping bagged tea AND all of the levels and gradations in flavor found in a loose leaf. It would be a perfect transition tea for those used to their morning cup of Twinings English Breakfast or the like.

CHOCOLATE! MALT! RED BERRIES!

Today I love this tea.

That is all.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for the sample! I enjoyed this gongfu-style today while watching Wolf of Wall Street and Gideon’s Army. I was a little distracted, but I definitely noticed a dark honey flavor and a bit more astringency than I personally like. It must have lasted a good ten steeps or so. I used the entire sample packet in my little teapot/gaiwan hybrid and played around with temp and length of steep. The caffeine here is just the right amount for me; I felt quite good all afternoon but never jittery and I expect I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I think this would make for a good work tea – it’s tasty but not distractingly so.

I’m wondering if Keemun isn’t another kind of black I just don’t really adore plain. This tasted malty. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great.

It might have been my mood though. I will need to try it again. I woke up to a text from a guy I was seeing wanting to break things off just as I was starting to like him. It’s ok, he is a mess, as it turns out. Dating just sucks, and I think I’m going to be taking a rest from it for awhile!

May I just say that I adore this tea? It is malty and chocolatey and bready and not at all bitter or astringent, not even the way that chocolate can be bitter or astringent (which, in chocolate, is a yummy quality, but not always in tea). I really like a tea that I can sink my teeth into, that is perfect as is, and this tea is it. No frills, no complex flavorings (although those also have their place). Just a good black tea with hints of honey and yeast and chocolate. Yum. I’d have this for breakfast every morning if my budget would allow me. :)

Another wonderful sample generously provided by Angel and Teavivre! Thanks!

This is my least favourite of the three blacks that I received in my most recent package – it was still wonderfully smooth, but there was less chocolate, and more of the “regular black tea” profile, that I don’t really care for (which consists of primarily hay-y notes, I think). Still an excellent quality tea, just not a profile that was to my liking.

This is truly a lovely tea experience. I have enjoyed all Keemun teas from TeaVivre, but I especially like that this is organic. The dry leaf is small, very dark with a few light buds mixed in, and tightly twisted. They feel airy and light as they go into the infuser. The smell is fresh and malty. The liquor is clear mahogany- very attractive to look at. The smell of the steeped tea is something particularly enjoyable as it is an unusual combination of honeyed flowers with malty yams or sweet potatoes. I can see why some people would think of brown sugar or baked goods, though this completely lacks any nuances of yeast or baked breads found in some other teas.

The taste of this tea is a deepening of the fragrance- mild, smooth, malty on the tongue with the notes of sweet flowers, malt, a hint of fruit (apricots?), and sweet potatoes. The malt is fine and low on the flavor profile. This tea takes many common Western black tea flavors and replaces them with delicate sweetness that is difficult to describe other than what I’ve said above. Do I like this tea? YES! I just placed an order with this vendor for Dragonwell and I am already planning my next..

In other news, Steepster is breaking again! Last night I couldn’t get back to reply to a discussion and today I can barely load any other tasting notes or reviews. I am liking other posts and the likes are vanishing right before my eyes. I also went to look at some of my historical notes and the number is there, but the review is gone. Thank goodness for this delicious tea to keep me calm while trying to load pages over and over. :)