I received a sample of this in my last order, and there was enough to do about four steeps with it. I think the tea itself is good quality, but this particular sample was jinxed. The first cup was delicious, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to how I made it or the particular flavor notes of the tea, I was too deep in Terry Pratchett’s Equal Rites. Overall it seemed like a good full-bodied ceylon with a few interesting side notes – maybe something a little eucalyptusy, but I can’t be sure at this point – and a teensy bit of astringency, but nothing unpleasant.
The other cups all got contaminated or oversteeped. I made a really strong herbal in my steeper, and even though I washed it out, I could still taste its influence when I made my next cup of ceylon. I tried it again a few days later and got called away as soon as I poured the water, so the poor tea sat there for 20 minutes. To top everything off, a BUG flew into the last cup, so that was the end of that.
I’m going to have to get another sample before I’m really sure about this one, and then I guess I’ll have to do some kind of voodoo on it to protect it from whatever is lurking out there trying to spoil perfectly good tea.
