I had a 2 hour break yesterday from classes in the afternoon so I went to Chinatown to poke around. I really wanted to go to RedBlossom Tea even though I am broke and of course I couldn’t leave without buying something. Honestly I only go to their store probably twice a year and I just refuse to buy the top shelf teas because they are too expensive for me.
Quite a few other vendors carry this type of tea so I wouldn’t say it’s rare, it’s one of their every day kind of teas. The Golden Monkey by RB is one of my favorite morning teas so I thought I’d get this to compare.
I steeped the tea for two minutes and this may have been overkill because the resulting brew is quite strong. The tea liquor is very smooth and sweet, however. I am definitely getting sweet potato notes, raisin, malt and cocoa but at the longer steep it almost seems roasted.
I tried a second steep for one minute and it’s a lot nicer, very smooth and lighter. I can’t say I am getting maple syrup but I do see how you get orange out of this, especially at the shorter steep. I love Chinese black teas because they’re so easy to drink straight, although sometimes an assam with milk and sugar hits the spot too…
Happy with this brew, I don’t have a lot of other teas like this in my stash at the moment. If you don’t live near Red Blossom I don’t see any reason to purchase this tea especially from them, but it is a nice yunnan, in my opinion.
