Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea

Well, hello Steepster, ol’ buddy ol’ pal,

How ya been?

In my effort to be more active with the various social media outlets at my disposal, I completely forgot about the one that is directly tea-related. Leave it to a day off to allow me to make steep-related reparations.

I actually received this sample a few months back, but with my major tea backlog, I didn’t get to it until – well – now. I hate that about myself.

This is…whoah.

As far as Keemuns go, it is perhaps the cleanest sipping experience. Floral, wood-sweet, but with a Keemun kick toward the end. It’s more medium-bodied than robust – unlike Mao Feng or Gong Fu…or even Hao Ya grades of Keemun that I’ve had. That said, still a mighty fine experience.

I haven’t had many Keemun’s one I had was quite smokey and another was bright, fruity and almost menthol. This one is quite nice, it reminds me of a slightly more savoury and less sharp tasting version of another favourite tea of mine. Many thanks to Angel at Teavivre for selecting this sample for me to try. I quite enjoyed it and can easily see why it is a staple for many.

I steeped 1tsp in 200ml at @90°C for 4 steeps (1, 1.3, 2, and 4 min).

The dry leaf smelled of rye bread dusted with icing sugar and a hint of cocoa. The leaves were tightly twisted with occasional reddish golden brown tips.

After, the first steep the scent of the tea was lightly smokey roasted notes, citrus/longan, sweet potato, a bright citrousy floral, hint of cocoa, a peppery nasturtium note, and the upper notes of malt. Overall the effect was quite savoury.

The flavour of early steeps had a sharp longan top note settling into a grainy note that instantly develops into a honeyed floral cocoa note over roasted sweet potato, quite lovely and light, yet rich, smooth and creamy in the mouth. The floral note is a combination of spicy clover and carnation.

Later steeps were slightly sweeter and deeper with grainy notes becoming dominant, with lovely peppery, cocoa, grain notes, mixed with floral notes. Eventually the sweetness subsides in later steeps leaving prominent grain notes.

I really enjoyed this tea and am glad it is regularly available as I could see it being a nice replacement for one of my favourite aliexpress teas which I may not be able to buy again. Thanks again Angel!

Taking a break from my lovely white tea gaiwan session for a cup of this. Fruity and grainy, I like this tea quite a lot. It fits the bill as a perfect afternoon (well, late afternoon) tea. This is an easily drinkable tea as well, I might have to dabble in a few more Keemuns to see how they compare. When I get around to making a Teavivre order, this is a strong contender for a black tea to have in my cupboard, as it’s a refreshing change from all my honey dripping Yunnan black teas haha. See previous notes :)

“What’s in your cup?”
This morning I brewed Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea by TeaVivre:
6.5 g / 7.5 oz / 194*F / 1, 2, & 3 min. without sweeteners, milk, or cream.
The Western method directions call for 7 g & 8 oz. Since the sample package contained 6.5 g, I used 7.5 oz. In my eagerness to taste TeaVivre’s top Keemun I forgot the recommended rise before brewing.

Note: To TeaVivre’s credit, I understand their brewing recommendations are determined and optimized through tastings of each new batch and thus may vary from year to year. This sample was from the previous year. Thus, I followed the previous Western brewing recommendations: 8 oz. / 7 g / 194*F / Rinse 1, 2, 3 min.

The Western brewing recommendations for the current year are: 17oz / 6 g / 176℉ / 2-5 min.

– Leaf: dark chocolate brown, short, & uniform
– Fragrance: subtle Keemun & fine pipe tobacco
– Liquor: clear Medium-dark copper
– Aroma: Mild Keemun
– Flavor:
A rich, full-bodied, refined Keemun with notes of cocoa & caramel that is warm, mellow and relaxing especially as the cup cooled to ~150*F. I truly enjoy both this Keemun as well as their Premium Keemun Hao Ya. I would very much welcome samples of this year’s Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant and Premium Keemun Hao Ya to brew with both the current Western & Gong Fu recommendations as I am completely out of Keemun and need to order more. Typically I stock 500g to 1kg as Keemun is my favorite breakfast tea.

Re-steep 6.5 g / 7.5 oz / 194*F / 2 min.: This cup is nearly identical to the first one.

2nd Re-steep 6.5 g / 7.5 oz /194*F / 3 min.: This cup is a little less rich than the previous one.

A truly elegant and refined Keemun.

Thanks to KittyLovesTea for providing this free sample.

Method:
RO water re-mineralized with an Aptera filter http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/39532-puregen-aptera-alkamag-water-filter
http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/37731-my-weigh-durascale-d2-660-digital-scale
Brewed western-style conveniently in a tea mug with a Finum brew basket http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/29177-finum-brewing-basket.
http://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/36677-thermometer-and-timer

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – July 2023 Tea #3 – A breakfast tea

One sample down, one more to go (but it’s from a different harvest year, so this one counts as a REAL sipdown.)  Keemun is certainly a breakfast tea, imo.   This sample is I-don’t-even-know HOW many years older that 2018 (when I started writing the years on my Teavivre samples) but the flavor is still very much there.   This is definitely a quality keemun.  Plenty of flavor, and not very subtle, which is usually what I might expect from an ancient “superfine” sample.
2023 sipdowns: 55

So after drinking some Caramel Vanilla Assam all day I wanted something different and new. So this is the 4th tea I got as a free sample from Teavivre’s very generous sample offer.
Opening the package I get woodsy, malty, grain-esque smells. It actually made me think of really good iced tea. Lol. Or the first time I had black dragon pearls, which is strange because they’re totally different teas. Lol.
I used 2 tsp in 195* water for 2:30min (I write this down because it is nigh impossible to use the slider selector bars while on an ipad).
Smells the same brewed as dry. First sip is …..oh man. I think this is the sort of tea I’ve been craving without actually knowing what I was looking for. It’s slightly woodsy, and fruity and sweet. I get almost a gentle smokeyness from the sip too.
I get a touch of bitterness and a medium strong astringency from the end of the sip, but it might just be because I overleafed my cup. Next time I might just try 1 1/2 tsp just to see.
Otherwise this tea is absolutely delicious. It might even become a staple in my cupboard after I’ve given it a few more tries….and pared down dome of my cupboard. It’s certainly not going into the swap bin. Lol!
I’m also going to have to give this a shot iced, though I haven’t decided if I want to straight up cold brew it or brew it hot then chill.

This keemun had a potently sweet aroma, but only a faint sweetness to the flavor, a delicate floral (my wife described it as hibiscus) taste. It left a satisfying mouthfeel that I’ve found missing from some of the teas I’ve had lately.

Sweet potato and earthy aroma with the pleasant taste of fruit, dark cocoa and tobacco coming through in the sip. I really do like this sweet and mellow tea – always reliable and always delicious! No bitterness or astringency. Can’t wait to try the new harvest.

This tea has a strong malty taste with slight hints of chocolate and brown sugar. It is quite sweet and not too rich.