Thank you TeaTiff for sending some of this one! This tea basically inspired a swap. :D Well, the first cup of this was the last tea brewed by my old kettle, the second steep I had to heat the water with the microwave. Ick. Though I don’t have much money right now, I can’t go without my tea and I already knew which kettle I was buying possibly even years before this one broke. I’m getting a Bodum Bistro 34 ounce electric kettle. Hopefully this one works as long as the other one did!
On to the tea… I’m not sure if maybe the kettle died halfway through boiling because the first steep was pretty light. I used a teaspoon and a half and I DID wait eight minutes for the water to cool… maybe it was my fault. Though the flavor that was there is everything that I think a keemun is. Still so so light! With the second steep, I made sure to use boiled (microwave) water and I also added the teaspoon or so left of my sample to the leaves. It seemed like a ton of leaves but after a six minute steep, the flavor is great. It reminds me of an older harvest of Teavivre’s Premium Hao Ya which I thought of as my favorite keemun…. I just worry about the amount of leaves that must be used to get to that flavor. But I was actually surprised that there wasn’t an oversteeped flavor with six minutes. I think it is what the first steep should have been. Again, could have been the last death throes of my kettle. I certainly won’t be drinking my favorite or highest quality teas when I don’t know what I’m doing with this microwaved water! Sipdowns of some not-favorites will be happening! Hurry up and get here tea kettle!
Steep #1 // 8 min after boiling // 4 min steep (1 1/2 tsp of leaves)
Steep #2 // just boiled // 6 min (1 more tsp added)
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Wow! You liked this less than our Golden Sunrise? :O
Hmm.. I had to reread the tasting note for the Sunrise. Six months ago already! I guess I rated lower on how many teaspoons I needed to use to get the flavor of the second cup (among other factors) but again, my kettle could have very well died before getting to full boiling for the first steep or I waited too long for the water to cool (eight minutes). I don’t have any more leaves to retry!
Oh and I waited 8 min because the WP site didn’t say what the temp should be.
Woahh, it doesn’t say? o.O oh no! Will go check that out right now. I usually go 205ºF on this one and 1/2tbsp gives me a nice balance cup. A lot of people have been using a tablespoon though.
I prefer 1 TBSP
Wow! You liked this less than our Golden Sunrise? :O
Hmm.. I had to reread the tasting note for the Sunrise. Six months ago already! I guess I rated lower on how many teaspoons I needed to use to get the flavor of the second cup (among other factors) but again, my kettle could have very well died before getting to full boiling for the first steep or I waited too long for the water to cool (eight minutes). I don’t have any more leaves to retry!
Oh and I waited 8 min because the WP site didn’t say what the temp should be.
Woahh, it doesn’t say? o.O oh no! Will go check that out right now. I usually go 205ºF on this one and 1/2tbsp gives me a nice balance cup. A lot of people have been using a tablespoon though.
I prefer 1 TBSP