I drank this one yesterday while grading exams, but forgot to log it. Initially I was apprehensive about this blend because it has a lot of odd herbs and barks and stuff in it, but I wanted to give it a try. The dry leaf smelled pretty decent, like chocolatey black tea and yabao, which is to say slightly spiced and slightly resiny.
I actually really enjoyed this tea. It was sweet, chocolatey, and mildly spiced, with some added interest from the yabao. I will have to drink another cup when I’m paying attention more to really figure out what’s going on, but right now I’m digging it. And I’m glad that I didn’t remember that Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong was a smoked black tea. I tried a subtle roast version back in the reserve club days, and it was too smoky for me (which is to say, it was smoky at all), and yet I got no smoke at all from this blend. Hope I don’t taste it now that I know it’s supposed to be there.
This one got me doubting my withdrawl from the blends club, but I have a feeling that the next one (sitting next to me now, waiting to be drunk) will cure me of that.
