Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
The highest grade spring buds turned into a black tea. Amazingly smooth and slightly sweet.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This is really GOOD!
I steeped this a little differently than I normally would steep a black tea. Usually, when I steep a black tea, I use my Breville One-Touch, but based on the amount of tea that I had, I decided to steep it in my gaiwan using short steeps. And I’m really blown away with the results.
Even after steeping for just 1 minute in my gaiwan, I have a deliciously full-bodied black tea that is rich and robust. It is incredibly smooth with notes of malt and cocoa. There is a sweet undertone to this, but, it is not so sweet that it overwhelms the nuances of this tea. I also taste a fruit note in the background that has both sweet and sour tones to it. Such a remarkably complex tea!
What I’m loving most of all about this particular tea is the creaminess it offers. It isn’t a milky-creamy kind of taste and texture you might experience with a Milk Oolong, for example, but, it is more like a rich, dark chocolate kind of creamy. It does not saturate the palate, though, because there is a clean feeling from the light astringency at the tail to keep the palate fresh and invigorated … and ready for the next sip!
Do yourself a favor, and try this tea … and be sure to brew it in your gaiwan! Don’t get me wrong, I still am completely in LOVE with my Breville, but for bud teas like this one, I highly recommend getting out the gaiwan. After your first sip, you’ll thank me!
