What-Cha restocked this. I had two more cups worth left. I should have realized that Hawkband wanted this because I would have given her more. Anyway, I had two servings left and I am glad I saved the sample because it is one of my favorite black teas thus far. Of course that is perking me to want to get another sample to savor, but there are like eight samples I want to do of What-Cha and three of them are in the same price range as this one. I’ll figure something out.
For specifics, I gong fu’d venturing 20, 30, 35, 50, 75, 2 minutes for 185 F in a 150 ml gaiwan. The profile was fairly consistent starting off at a vanilla lemon buttery thing of a black tea and the lemon continued with more malt in the later steeps as the citric sweetness faded to a present reminder. No bitterness or astringency-just smooth in every way like most of the teas Alistair recommends. And yes, I’m raising the rating and giving it a high one because I like it so much….never mind I did not Tumbler test it or Western test it, though it probably can handle it. However, it’s a special occasion tea that deserves the respect of careful steeping of gong fu. Tea made with skill deserves to be served with it.
Oh! I’ve never seen a non-smoky Lapsang Souchong. On to the list it goes!
Non smoky ones tend to be on the “sweeter” side.