95

I can’t resist writing another note on this. The last one was on a small sample I had and I liked it so much that when the site got more in stock I ordered a couple of hundred grammes. This is my first mug of that order.

I used a well-heaped teaspoon. This is difficult to judge as it’s very light and long and straggly (I doubt I could get a 100gms of it in one of my 200gms caddies) and difficult to spoon out; but I put in what looked like a good spoonful and added a little more to be on the safe side. I steeped with boiling water for three minutes.

It’s an intense but clear brown-orange in the mug with quite a difficult-to-pin-down aroma. I think I get warm butter (as on your hot toast), cooked cauliflower, a metallic tinge and, possibly, nettles.

The flavour has good basic tea in it. It has a warm, round element which has touches of rum, liquorice and the smell of loose tobacco to it – something in the middle of those three, say – and the buttery element again, giving a pleasant ‘smoothness’. All this warmth and smoothness is balance by a slight, invigorating ‘bite’, something like the smell of nettles but more fruity – perhaps half-way between the smell of nettles and the taste of oranges.

I know everyone’s taste is different, but I really can’t praise this highly enough – it’s really captivated me.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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Bio

Happily retired male.

Started exploring ‘proper’ tea in March, 2010 after decades of PG Tips teabags. I was initially looking for ‘the perfect tea’; now I don’t want to find one – I’m so much more enjoying exploring the variety.

A confession: I take my tea with four sweeteners to a half-pint mug.
28/05/2012 – I’ve decided to wean myself off the sweeteners, starting this morning, so, three per mug instead of four (I’m getting a growing feeling that I’m failing to get the best out of some of the oolongs and greens I try and I intend getting a gaiwan and the appropriate little cups, and sweeteners don’t seem to be appropriate, there). 16/02/2013 – since New Year’s Day I’ve only been using two sweeteners. I’m struggling to get used to it, to be honest – some teas are more difficult than others.

How I make tea: either in a traditional teapot which holds enough for three half-pint mugs and has a removable infuser (London Teapot Company); or in a half-pint mug with an Agatha’s Bester filter. Sometimes I vaguely think about getting some nice, genteel cups and saucers …

Important: I measure the tea with plastic kitchen measuring spoons – teaspoon and half-teaspoon sizes – so when I say a ‘heaped teaspoon’, as the correct measure is a levelled one, I should probably be calling it ‘two teaspoons’!

Location

Derbyshire/Staffordshire, UK.

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