Element 2023 Mengsong Black Tea

Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown: Day 8

I found this very light and bright, with notes of raisin, and not at all astringent. There’s a faint whiff of fishiness if I sniff deeply enough, but not enough to pick up on otherwise.

Gonna cold-brew the leaves overnight and see what I get in the morning!

Day 8 of the Tea Thoughts winter countdown box. Oh, whew, another black tea that doesn’t hurt! This is so much better than I expected it to be, and I know already that my tasting note isn’t going to do it justice. So just know that I found this fairly complex and quite enjoyable. I got three hot Western-style steeps and an overnight cold steep out of it. Rich, cocoa, black bread, almost jammy notes. The cold steep had very similar flavors, just a bit lighter, probably because it was the last steep.

Adventageddon Day 8

Gongfu!

This was the tea from the Tea Thoughts advent today. It’s the first time in this year’s advent the tea has been sourced from another (named) company instead of just ordered in bulk under Nazanin’s brand name – and I was especially excited because it’s a BLT tea that I haven’t tried/don’t own!

I brewed it up in my black tea yixing and it was really delicious. A bit brighter in its top notes with a little bit of a stewed or brandied stonefruit kind of note before transitioning into something a bit more darkly sweet with notes of caramel, pomegranate, and molasses alongside a gently floral undertone. I really enjoyed it quite a bit, though I think I actually preferred the first black tea from Tea Thoughts (the Orchid Jasmine) just a little bit more. Maybe because the tasting notes were a little more “unique” feeling? Overall, though, I feel like Naz has really good taste when it comes to black tea. Or, at the very least, at least tastes similar to my own…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDVVeu3SUWV/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw3gOEh8vDA&ab_channel=ThatWoman-Topic

Oh no. So fishy. Verging on ripe puerh, definitely not a flavor I’ve ever experienced with a black tea before.

Powerful, delicious Dianhong. Big bouquet of vanilla poppyseed muffin, roses, mulch, plantfood, and sticky pipe tobacco. Strong flavor of dark, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate and chewy caramel (Reisen candies), and roses. Looong lingering vanilla sweetness, like poundcake. No bitterness or astringency at all. Excellent.