Apparently I’m on a roll, finally trying all these Whispering Pines black teas (purchased during the “pure teas” sale). Same as before – 4g in 4oz gaiwan, 95-100 deg water, hmm what did I do… 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 sec. Now that I’m looking at Brendan’s brewing instructions, he suggests 1.5g per oz, so I guess I underleafed it.
These tea leaves are neat – long, skinny, and dark. The dry leaves smell malty and bready, and the scent just intensifies in the wet leaves. Surprisingly to me, he first steeping in particular was quite light, creamy, and sweet – like vanilla or caramel flavoured whipped cream. With subsequent steepings the malt and bread notes came out, but there remained a lovely sweetness, like toasted multigrain bread with honey. Then some fruity, citrusy notes came in so it was like the topping on the toast switched to marmalade. A few steepings in, I went to read what other people had to say about this, and maybe my tastebuds are just broken, because I seem to have lost the ability to appreciate chocolate flavours in tea! When I concentrated, I could appreciate a raw cacao or cocoa powder kind of thing, but it certainly wasn’t what I would consider the dominant flavour. So weird. :)
Anyway, this is a yummy tea, I was thinking “nom nom nom” while drinking it. :) I’ll definitely try more leaf next time to see if I can get a richer flavour.
Flavors: Bread, Fruity, Honey, Malt
