Strawberry

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Have just flea treated the cats. Am therefore currently the World’s Evilest Evah! Obviously I had to pick a tea that reflected my cruelty. Uh, or something. (A fruit flavoured black just can’t in anyway be made to reflect evilness at all, can it?)

Okay, so it may not be all that evil, but on the other hand, I’ve managed to make it quite good and flavourful today. I took a leaf out of Kusmi’s book, really, because Kusmi bases their flavoured black teas on a Chinese black and recommend a lower than boiling steeping temperature. This one, I discovered when looking into it for Ssajami yesterday, is on a Keemun base and that made me wonder if, like Kusmi’s blends, it might benefit from a lower temperature than boiling.

And guess what. It DID! At least I think that’s the reason. This cup is all sweet and fruity, and with a pleasant berry-y aftertaste.

And this is where I look for previous rating and discover that I haven’t actually posted about it before. Better make it from the top then.

The leaves and the aroma of it is quite spot on the strawberry, but initially I found the flavour a little lacking in that department. I was expecting something with a little more emphasis on the strawberry, but in hindsight I suspect it’s the unusual base (Keemun) that is messing with my perception.

The lower temperature seems to have tamed the Keemun a bit and allowed more of the flavouring to come out so it feels more fruity this time around than it did before. Previously I would have given it maybe the high end of the 70s, but I’m going to give it a tad more based on this experience.

Still though. It’s not my perfect strawberry tea. I don’t think the base and the flavouring are really the best combination here, in spite of the fact that Keemun is a tea I normally rather enjoy. I should have liked to see this flavouring on a slightly less grainy tasting base. I think that would help a lot.

I got this the from a recent swap with Angrboda. This is a wonderful example of why swaps are so much fun, because I get to sample teas that I would never purchase on my own.

I never purchase fruity teas, because chances are I won’t like them. Maybe because so often the blenders can’t resist putting hibiscus into fruity teas, and I can’t stand hibiscus. Or maybe it’s just the cloying over-sweetness of them.

At any rate, I found this tea surprisingly good (and it doesn’t have hibiscus in it). I usually drink my tea with no sweeteners, so for me the first infusion was a slightly too sweet. The second infusion was perfect. The black (not sure which black) held up very nicely for a the second infusion, which I don’t usually find with black teas, and the strawberry was sweet, but not overly.

I’m thinking this would probably be very good iced too. Maybe I’ll put the rest of the sample in a little pot, iced, for tomorrow.