After reading the description, I’m not sure why I chose this tea. I do like ginger. Maybe it was the combo of different types of teas? Maybe I’ll never know what I was thinking. I ended up steeping it at a low temp for a short period to avoid bitterness from the green and white tea, but not all of the leaves uncurled.
The ginger is odd here! Usually I find ginger to be a very bright high flavor, but it has a lot of depth to it here. My brain first thinks smokey and then I realize there is no smoke flavor. Adding sugar makes the ginger a little more crisp, but doesn’t do anything other than that. Cream really doesn’t add to it either. I get a hint of a hearty black tea that I didn’t taste before. It isn’t a bad tea, it just isn’t meeting my ever rising bar of expectations. I might try it cold steeped before I totally give up on it.
Overall, Istanbul is kind of boring. I think I might spend my weekends elsewhere.
edit * Second steeping at 195 for 3min is better. Ginger seems a little perkier. Still not wowing me.