I think Derk/White Antlers may have given me a sample of this tea, but I also bought a bag of the 2018 harvest, which is what I’m drinking. I steeped 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 5 and 8 minutes.
The dry aroma is of hay, chocolate, roses, and stonefruit. The aroma from the cup was so enticing that I sipped this while it was still really hot and now have a slightly burned tongue. The dark chocolate is very prominent, followed, in order of detection, by peach, apricot, nectarine, honey, tangy dried fruit, citrus, rose, cannabis, herbs, wood, smoke, orange blossom, hay, malt, minerals, tannin, cream, and roasted almond. As it cools, the muscatel, stonefruit, and citrus notes become more apparent in the tea and in the aftertaste. I also see how people are getting cherry from this. The second steep is almost as good, featuring fewer of the fruit and chocolate notes and more of the malt/tannins/hay. I get autumn leaves and more astringency.
I was blown away by this tea as soon as I tried it, burned tongue notwithstanding. I immediately tried to find it on the website, only to learn it was out of stock. This is one of the best Nepalese teas I’ve had and one of the highlights of 2020.
Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Autumn Leaf Pile, Cannabis, Cherry, Chocolate, Citrus, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Dried Fruit, Floral, Hay, Herbaceous, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Muscatel, Orange Blossom, Peach, Rose, Smoke, Stonefruit, Tangy, Tannin, Wood
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I hope you find some eventually! Fresh Jun Chiyabari is the best.
I can imagine that fresh Jun Chiyabari is fantastic if it’s this good two years after it was picked!
YES in my experience Jun Chiyabari loses flavor the fastest of any other tea, so this tea must have been impressive two years ago!
I’ll have to put buying fresh Jun Chiyabari on my list of tea goals for 2021—or maybe 2022 since I have a lot of tea to get through.
I’ve had this tea for a while and it didn’t get worse over time or lose pungency as far as I can tell. In fact, I probably liked it most when it was 1 to 1.5 years old. I think it’s mostly the teas that are processed similar to white teas or FF Darjeelings that tend to deteriorate fast and lose a lot of their complexity.
Togo, I’m glad to hear that. I think around two years is the maximum amount of time that Indian teas keep their freshness. My 2019 SF Rohini Gold Buds is starting to lose its oomph, although it’s still very good.
I hope you find some eventually! Fresh Jun Chiyabari is the best.
I can imagine that fresh Jun Chiyabari is fantastic if it’s this good two years after it was picked!
YES in my experience Jun Chiyabari loses flavor the fastest of any other tea, so this tea must have been impressive two years ago!
I’ll have to put buying fresh Jun Chiyabari on my list of tea goals for 2021—or maybe 2022 since I have a lot of tea to get through.
I’ve had this tea for a while and it didn’t get worse over time or lose pungency as far as I can tell. In fact, I probably liked it most when it was 1 to 1.5 years old. I think it’s mostly the teas that are processed similar to white teas or FF Darjeelings that tend to deteriorate fast and lose a lot of their complexity.
Togo, I’m glad to hear that. I think around two years is the maximum amount of time that Indian teas keep their freshness. My 2019 SF Rohini Gold Buds is starting to lose its oomph, although it’s still very good.