Choicest Tea

This tea is AWFUL. I was looking for a simple afternoon black tea, but what I got was something that tasted like bonito flakes and seaweed. Some people might be into that, but not me.

Lichee tea is amongst my favorite black teas. It’s robust, loaded with caffeine, earthy, and just a plain great tea.

Today was cold and snowy. Before starting my car this morning, I wanted to make a good strong cup of tea (and something with a caffeine kick), so I grabbed this. I figured that it’d be a nice way to begin the morning, and was a good re-steep for an afternoon pick-me-up.

I was very disappointed by this tea as the pu’er had an unpleasant rotting taste and tons of stems. I found that it would serve better as a flower pot with its pretty metal container.

I am lucky enough to live close to an asian super market and shop there consatanty so running into this was inevitable. This is the first loose black tea I tasted that was almost 7 years ago and I still love this stuff especialy on a cold day.

Working on a sipdown of this one … it gets props for taking abuse. Dumped some water in my trusty Hot Shot, forgot that I had done so until it cooled, and tried a three minute steep in almost tepid water. It was still fresh and a touch fruity.

What’s left of this little packet from Michelle had sifted down to the realm of half-packages in my big black tea basket aand looked lonely.

As is the fate of plastic packets that have been canoodling with other lonely plastic packets, this one has likely lost a little strength from its heyday. So I still can’t isolate what gives lichee it’s licheness. Getting sort of a pleasant fruit cocktail afterglow as I drink. The black tea base is nicely balanced, too.

With all that said, this is good stuff! (Good stuff is often defined by the fact that the entire tumbler is gone before my five-minute commute is over.)
One that’s comfortable for “heavy drinking,” not just sipping.

Got to treat myself to a lingering morning cuppa (took a couple hours off to be supervisory parent at our first college bookstore run—-but don’t get me started) and this was my tea o’choice.

I’m still trying to figure out what I’m tasting in the lychee that makes it lychee; but it’s sweet and light and balanced nicely by whatever black base the Choicest folks chose to match it with.

(OK…I have to say it: do we really need three purchased textbooks for “The University Experience” required freshman orientation course? I learned how to study for free. There. I said it.)

I couldn’t find this one, but if it’s listed/spelled differently, I’ll be happy to correct.

Living in the largely rural Midwest, our “exotic” fruit section in the produce area isn’t, and I wouldn’t know a lychee if you conked me on the head with it. So I wasn’t sure what to sniff out or taste for in this nice sample from Michelle.

What I am getting is a pleasant black tea base with a little honey-ish sweetness. I erred on the side of caution and used just a rounded teaspoon to a 12-ounce tumbler, so it may just not be prepared strongly enough to get a good lychee vibe, whatever that may be.

Fortunately, there’s more in the pouch to experiment with, and regardless, I like the way this tastes!

I bought this tin of tea from my local asian supermarket. Trying new teas is so much fun and I couldn’t pass up the cute pink unique tin. I hope this is the same one you tried, because on the tin it says both “Choicest Tea” and also “Whole Dragon”. But it says “LICHEE CHINA BLACK TEA” on the front all the same.

This is my favorite “go-to” tea. Perfect for those times when I just need a quick cup of tea without a lot of extra bells and whistles. It’s dark enough to wake me up in the morning but the flavor is light with a hint of sweet from the lychee.

Both the smell and the taste of the tea is very clean and light. Sometimes I add some cream as I do with most of my black teas and though it isn’t necessary, it’s really good!

The flavors of the tea can be enhanced by adding more leaves. It definitely brings out the darker flavors if you do it this way. Just have fun with it.