Okay, now we’re going from the first Australian tea I ever tried to the second. This was actually the first Australian tea I ever received, though I did not pay for it. It was provided as a free sample with one of my What-Cha orders from either late 2019 or early 2020, and I figured that I may was well order some of the other Australian teas What-Cha was stocking for comparison’s sake. I was impressed by how pleasant and smooth this tea was, though I also noted that it faded very quickly.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse (about 5 seconds), I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 fluid ounces of 203 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of honey, malt, baked bread, blueberry, black raspberry, plum, and red grape. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, butter, and sweet potato. The first infusion added aromas of chocolate and straw. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, straw, cream, butter, baked bread, honey, roasted peanut, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of sweet potato, pear, red grape, and plum. The bulk of the subsequent infusions introduced aromas of orange zest, moss, earth, minerals, and grass. Stronger and more immediately apparent notes of pear, plum, and red grape emerged in the mouth alongside impressions of blueberry, black raspberry, earth, minerals, orange zest, lemon zest, moss, grass, red apple, and brown sugar. As the tea faded, the liquor continued to emphasize notes of minerals, earth, malt, grass, straw, roasted peanut, and roasted almond that were chased by fleeting hints of red apple, red grape, baked bread, honey, and brown sugar.
Though this was not the most complex or most durable black tea I have ever tried, it was definitely one of the smoothest and most approachable. It was aromatic and flavorful but also very gentle and did not overwhelm with its energy. While it may have been a slight disappointment immediately after trying the highly unique and memorable Arakai Spring Premium Green Tea, this was still a very high quality offering that was tremendously likable. Had it been a little more complex and not faded quite as quickly, it would have been a true knockout.
Flavors: Almond, Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cream, Earth, Grapes, Grass, Honey, Lemon Zest, Malt, Mineral, Moss, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pear, Plum, Raspberry, Red Apple, Straw, Sweet Potatoes
