I’ve had exactly one keemun. And it tasted like the earth under a dark forest….super….well, earthy. Like the dirt you accidentally get in your mouth when eating a just-picked tomato. So that’s what I was expecting from this keemun. I was flat-out corrected by this tea.
Congou keemun seems wonderfully complex to me. My mom is a wine drinker, and although I don’t drink alcohol (never have), I do taste what she’s drinking as I’m always eternally curious as to how a thing called “wine” can taste like so many different things….especially all at once! This keemun immediately made me think of wine. And that is good.
I had one sample from Butiki (oh oh), but I’ve finally figured out how to work the “sample size”….haphazardness does NOT work! So with the accuracy of an alchemist, I get out my pyrex beaker, pour 8 oz of water into it, and steep there. When I sniffed the beaker, I thought “where’s the dirt??” I checked the package…yep, keemun. Hmmmmm! There was some earthiness, but not MIDDLE earth earthiness. First taste brought a light earthiness with a strange sweet mushroomy kind of taste….then came flowers. Not bright summer flowers, but subtle flowers…a bit rose-ish, but subtle like a violet would be. Interesting. I hate herbal teas because they remind me of drinking vase water…. but the layering of the flavors in this tea were so mutually complimentary that it was impossible to focus on one note by itself for too long. Which is good, because really, who wants to say their tea smells and tastes like mushrooms and earth and grandma’s flowers?? :) Well, apparently I do, because this tea was wonderful. No astringency, no “hit you in the face” earthiness…. just balanced notes that lead to a wonderful simply complex cup of tea. Try this…. it’s a wonderful journey.
Flavors: Flowers, Mushrooms
