One of the six black teas included in the W2T May 2016 club package. I don’t normally enjoy black tea too much, but this one was quite good.
Dry leaves had a vibrant and fruity aroma. More tangy fruitiness once the leaves were wet, along with a bit of smoke. The smoke never showed up in the flavor however. I used 5g leaf in a 100mL gaiwan with boiled water and steep times of 12s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 1m.
The tea was a beautiful reddish orangey-brown color. Early steeps had floral sweet front with a nice and fruity finish that lingered in the mouth for a few minutes after the sip. If I had to describe the fruit, I’d probably say raisins or red grapes. A couple steeps in, a bit of a woody taste developed, which soon transitioned into a kind of malty sweetness, which replaced the floral notes. There was a small amount of bitterness in the first two steeps, but not a lot. The third steep had the most complete and deep feeling flavor to me. Mouth feel was not particularly strong, though it was slightly slick in the mouth. This tea dropped off after around 5 steeps, which was surprising, mostly because I’ve been drinking almost all puerh and oolong lately. The last couple steeps had malty sweetness with some faint, higher notes – remnants of the fruity, tangy, floral aspects – complementing it. One of the best black teas I’ve had, and looking forward to the others included in the package.
Tried it with 200 degree water as well, and it was much the same but a bit smoother with more pronounced fruity and tangy flavors. The bitterness I previously experienced was also gone, but that may have been because I was a bit more careful with the early steeps the second time around.
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Grapes, Malt, Raisins, Sweet, Wood
