The previous try of this tea was from a June 2018 harvest forwarded my way from White Antlers. Alistair from What-Cha included a May 2020 sample with my latest order, thank you :)
The dry leaf smells like cherry fruit leather: high-pitched and tangy with a dried fruit sweetness. Once brewed, the aroma is of dried cherries and fresh apricots, bright with a rich chocolate note that hides beneath a more general ‘stonefruit.’ The liquor has a pleasant medium body with a balanced astringency. The taste is very smooth with cherry, leather and gentle malt. The tea swallows juicy where much more of the flavor comes out and is particularly fruity. I notice cherry wood, cherry, walnut, fig, red plum and fleeting impressions of caramel and butter. A tangy feeling is left in the mouth and a peach aftertaste hangs around for several minutes, followed by a caramel-like returning sweetness.
I seemed to get more from this harvest than the one 2 years prior. I had described that one as ‘zippy’; there is a little more heft to the 2020 but it’s still a bright tea. Its smoothness really helps it go down quickly, a good thirst quencher.
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Butter, Caramel, Cherry, Cherry Wood, Chocolate, Dried Fruit, Fig, Fruity, Leather, Malt, Peach, Plum, Smooth, Tangy, Walnut, Wood
I thought I have tried this tea before. Maybe I did before my Steepster times?