Heaven's Trash

D’oh, I dumped boiling water over this tea before I thought to look at the suggested steeping parameters. I think it made the tea a little too strong (I forgot about the Darjeeling in there. oops), but it’s still pretty nice. I’m definitely getting bitter chocolate and flowers, but there’s a lot more complexity to the flavors that I’m having trouble teasing out. Hopefully next time I’ll remember to brew it right so I can do a proper note.

I just ate some sauerkraut, and there’s a weird metallic note lingering in my mouth, which is kind of interfering with my tasting of this tea. So, I’ll do the best I can.

The mouthfeel is ridiculously smooth, and I can pick up on the raisiny PTA notes right off the bat, but as I don’t believe I’ve tasted the other teas straight, I can’t pick out their contributions. All I can say is that this is a really delicious black blend, super smooth, malty, raisiny… yum. I’d really have to compare this side-by-side to identify how it’s different from plain PTA (smoother, less raisiny I think), but it’s really quite enjoyable. I’m also far too tired to be writing notes on here. Haha.

I’m very excited to try this one!

The blend is made of dark, twisty leaves with some lighter, almost silver ones. The aroma of the dry blend is intoxicating already—it has that clean, complex “black tea fragrance” that is hard to describe. The brewed tea has that same enticing aroma. The taste is malty but complex; unlike some black teas of this style it’s not heavy or earthy, and lighter, crisp notes just this side of sweet develop with each sip and linger. The mouthfeel is absolutely smooth in spite of the strength of the tea. Highly recommended!

Very tasty bold malty black tea. It gets even sweeter and more complex as it cools.

I reached for this tea this morning. It was a tad less bold than I would have wanted, but the maltiness was definitely there. It kept me company while I had a phone interview, which turned out well. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I’d like to think not ;) Anyway, as it cooled down, I got some strong honey notes coming through, making it sweeter than the piping hot cuppa. I just love the complexity of good black teas. When I resteeped the leaves, the flavors were definitely weaker but still tasty.

I’d forgotten just how amazing this tea is!! Stacy is a tea blending genius and this tea is pure sweet honey amazingness!! Thank goodness I stocked up before she decided to close up shop permanently… I’ll savor every single sip I have left!!!!