Shanghai Tiantan International Trading Co.

Tea of ‘Second Breakfast’, but really just the second pot of the morning….

It has been a weird morning. I feel like I have just done surgery on my keyboard’s space bar. And now it is working better than having a sentence all strung together with no spaces. You would not believe all the little hinges and teeny little clips in there to hold everything in place! If my fingers were any bigger, I would have needed a good set of tweezers!

Anyway, onto the tea. I decided to give this one a go since I feel pretty well versed in a few Keemuns that I drink regularly. My references are Keemun from Fortnum & Mason and Harney & Son’s English Breakfast. So far, this one just seems a tad more bitter and slightly more smokey. Actually, it is pretty close to the F&M. This one comes in as a tea bargain at something like $3.69 for a half pound at my local Asian market. It comes in a yellow round tin. The thing that concerns me…it was produced in Aug. of 2008, and expires in Aug. of 2014. Cool that they have the production date, but a 6 year shelf life? Egads!

Steeped the usual way.

ETA: I did not finish this pot. That speaks volumes to how much I like it as the pots of tea that I love are gone very quickly. This tea has been used to add body to my Chocolate Rocket from David’s Tea at a 1:2 ratio….

A tin of tea purchased from the local Asian market. It is less than $4 for a half pound.

I decided to try this one as a cold brew iced tea. 8 perfect teaspoons (12 actual teaspoons) in a 40 oz pitcher, steeped overnight. I am thinking less tea next time. The tea is more smokey and earthy than I think I would like and probably just a little strong. It makes a great bold iced tea, and I don’t have to feel badly about using large amounts of it quickly. I watered it down a little and it is perfect!