This one took me a few sessions to realize how great it really is; these beautiful fuzzy golden buds brew up this wonderful combination of sweet coffee/cocoa mixed with these light floral tones and dark rugged earth notes, it’s really quite a flavourful tea but it’s never overwhelming, and it’s not a difficult tea despite its obvious complexity. I’ve quite often forgotten about the tea brewing in my Gaiwan for a few minutes, (I do this way too often, it’s a problem) but when I do with this tea, it just becomes a bit darker and has more coffee-like notes, which isn’t even bad it just makes me a little sadder cause I’ll get a bit less flavour in the subsequent steeps. The first few steeps had a bit of fruity notes, though I’m not sure I could identify which fruit unless I started a new session. The darkness fades with each subsequent steep, revealing a lighter floral, even a little bit grassy (I’ve never called a black tea grassy before..) there’s no astringency or bitterness present.. Maybe the teeniest bit of astringency but you have to really want to notice it. A nice thing about this one is that the flavour lasts really well. it doesn’t really fade at all, you just need to know how long to steep it for; the 7th or 8th steep is just as flavourful as the 2nd or 3rd, unlike many teas which fade, at least in part, by then.
Oh, it’s also delicious western style; it doesn’t need milk or sweetener at all, cause it’s beautiful just the way it is :)
Flavors: Cocoa, Coffee, Earth, Floral, Fruity, Grass, Sweet
