Black Sunshine

Geek Steep S2E22 – Cloak & Dagger

Even though I wasn’t really able to find the “perfect pairing” for this week’s fandom I did feel fairly strongly that what I wanted was a black tea. After not being totally satisfied with my first pairing attempt, this was my second choice. I liked the kind of name pun that tied in with the light/dark themes and imagery explored. On top of just having such gorgeous downy golden buds and tips through the loose leaf, it’s also a completely rich and robust malty cocoa bomb with a backbone of warming spice, wood, and dark honey notes!

In the end, like my other pairing attempt, it was a delicious tea but not a great fit for the comic…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaPvDtQOIQs/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUqEtEET9yI&ab_channel=Superet

Thanks for deleting my note, Steepster. That was really awesome of you. Let’s see if I can recount what I was saying.

Didn’t drink any green this morning and rhinkle came in earlier than usual, so we opted for hong for our morning tea session together. I don’t usually feel well if I try drinking them in the same day.

This was a single 7g sample that I got from someone—I no longer remember who it was—and tossed it all into the gaiwan. First steep smelled immediately of cocoa and yielded a nice, deep red liquor. The taste was of rich, earthy cocoa with just a bit of a tannic bite and the slightest bit of acidity.

The flavor deepens in the second steep, and letting it cool results in a much smoother flavor and texture, almost as if it has a creaminess. I get hints of smoke, as well. Steeped and sipped on this one on and off over a few hours. It was enjoyable.

There was some malt, some black flavor. It was certainly better than the Drunk on Red, for which I was grateful, but there wasn’t much special about it.

The blend was very sticky, in that it contained a lot of sticks.

OMG….. this tea wasn’t even in my cupboard. That means I haven’t updated it in forever. Shouldn’t really be surprised, the last tasting note I wrote was when I was in San Francisco -sorry Steepster I’ve been ignoring you.

This isn’t my favourite A&D blend but it’s nice. It’s a little too light and bright for me. Normally prefer something a little darker and smoother. Not getting much of the smoke that others are mentioning. I do think there is some fruity, grape something in here. For my tastes this is good not great.

Group buy with Tea Tiff.

This is a very smooth and somewhat smokey black tea, with a bit of sweetness showing up as it cools. I don’t think I care for the smoke here. I like it better than Octoberfest, but not as well as Tiger Assam, or Red-Tailed Hawk

Okay. Revisiting this one. Still not exactly my thing. However, trying the Assam trick of letting it cool a bit before drinking makes it a cup more to my liking. The smoke is still there but blending nicely instead of shouting down everything else like the woodiness. Still not getting a lot of bread from this blend but it will be sufficient to ward off the Elder Gods this weekend.

Thanks for sending this as a sample, Lala!

I took the entire sample that she sent me and made a pot to drink this morning. This is rich and malty, and I can see why people like this blend, but I prefer to have blacks that are a bit sweeter/fruitier. This is definitely a good breakfast tea, though.

Mmm…

I steeped this with a little extra leaf in a travel mug, and it’s definitely more of a morning tea right now. I also didn’t add anything to it, because I had no milk. (~adds milk to list~) It’s a little honey/sweet potato. A little astringent in a good way. Maybe a tiny bit smoky? IDK. That might be my travel mug or my imagination.

Yum.

Still love this one. Pulled this out today in light of the free shipping coupon. On the upside, i can use it until June, so i can save it up for a purchase in the future where maybe i pick up a limited edition tea + black sunshine. AND i can work on drinking up some of my other teas from DFT (red tailed hawk, keemun, double knit, tiger, holiday, oktoberfest…..) heh

(oh yeah, thanks for putting this in my cupboard again nicole/omgsrsly…going to share some with cavocorax this weekend!)

My great tea friend Stephanie shared a sample with me.
Today was the day to try. Its cooled a little. I started drinking more new teas.

i made this cup western 3g 8oz 200F 3.5min

Its rich and tasty. While i was drinking i was keep wondering what teas could be in this blend. Its mix of some long and thin leaves, some short and some golden tips but not a lot. Golden tips give this sweet potato flavor which i grew tired of. Thankfully i didnt detected much of it.

This tea has some plum-cherry note which I associate with Ai Lao Mtn reds, some woodiness and slight winey notes ( like Keemun but they said its Yunnan teas )

Im no expert. It would be interesting to read someones review who can analyze this blend.

Overall, i was happy to try it. I have enough to try Gongfu which i always prefer with Chinese teas.

https://instagram.com/p/6iiFhvBwkK/