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In the last 6 months my tea palate has grown….and continues to grow. I last drank this tea at the beginning of my tea journey and had no place to place it in my experiences with teas… because my experience with teas was primarily assams and a few blends at that time. That was then…. this is now:

I am still surprised by the leaves…sooooooo big! Trying to measure a teaspoon full of leaves is quite hilarious, as the leaves stretch across the top of the spoon and don’t tuck themselves in. Thus, measuring is a bit of a crapshoot. The dry leaves smell like dark chocolate and dried raisins and prunes, which is a deep rich smell. In the cup, this is exactly as I remembered, but the wonder is in the fact that my palate has changed, as well as in the tea!
This is a complex tea that begins with bottom notes of prune, raisin and almost a chocolate molasses to midnotes of grain and baked bread to the wonderful top note of honey sweetness.
Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black seems to want to be kin to Bailin Gongfu or other Fujian teas, but is lighter, sweeter and more grainy. It doesn’t have the cannabis note that I get quite a bit from the Fujian teas, which for me is a breath of fresh air. (especially after the Motley Crue concert I was arm-twisted into going to last week.) I used to think this tea was too heavy for me and my palate. Now I am intrigued and pleased that I have this tea in my cupboard. It is a wonder-filled cup that all black tea drinkers should try.