Masu Smoked Black Tea 烟熏小种

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Apple, Campfire, Cedar, Chamomile, Floral, Leather, Orchid, Peat, Pine, Scotch, Smoked, Wet Rocks, Mineral, Red Fruits
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by derk
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 11 oz / 313 ml

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3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “2021 harvest so 2 years rested. Sharing a pot on an overcast, cold and breezy morning. Like a glass of heathery, smokey scotch for breakfast. It takes me places but also grounds me right here. ...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “By courtesy of derk I had a chance to try another Old Ways Tea. I remember talking with the owner on r/tea IRC chat (I haven’t been there for ages… just re-logged there now.) It seems lots of...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “This was an unexpected olfactory pleasure for me: the smokiness is very fresh and “real” in dry leaves and equally satisfying when brewed – with vegetal and berry notes. The taste is enjoyable for...” Read full tasting note
    92

From Old Ways Tea

2021: My cousin lives in the mountains above Tongmu in a village called Masu. This is black tea (zhen shan xiao zhong) from Masu smoked in the traditional way over pine.

Opening the bag will release a fresh smoke smell, strong, but not acrid or overpowering. The first steep may give you the impression of cooking breakfast over a pine fire, a little dry but smooth and full bodied. The smoke flavor quickly mellows out, and becomes well balanced with the sweetness of the black tea and mineral flavors.
The quality of the base material is what makes this tea interesting for me. As the smoke dissipates faster than the tea steeps out, each steep shows a slightly different look at what smoked tea can be.

About Old Ways Tea View company

Company description not available.

3 Tasting Notes

94
1558 tasting notes

2021 harvest so 2 years rested.

Sharing a pot on an overcast, cold and breezy morning. Like a glass of heathery, smokey scotch for breakfast. It takes me places but also grounds me right here. This is an expertly smoked tea made with high quality leaf.

Flavors: Apple, Campfire, Cedar, Chamomile, Floral, Leather, Orchid, Peat, Pine, Scotch, Smoked, Wet Rocks

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 17 OZ / 500 ML

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94
1839 tasting notes

By courtesy of derk I had a chance to try another Old Ways Tea. I remember talking with the owner on r/tea IRC chat (I haven’t been there for ages… just re-logged there now.) It seems lots of changed during the year I haven’t been there. I was busy with my life (finals, thesis, job search…) and I am now very sad about it that I left it without saying goodbye.

I remember we were talking about wrappers. Wrappers of those loose leaf “samples”. And he sent me photos of shop where buys them. Here is the link (I have saved it that I can admire) https://imgur.com/a/g88DE

Anyway to the tea. It was my another breakfast tea and today I was feeling it’s gongfu time. So, prepared all 5 grams in my gaiwan. No rinse, because the tea was such great looking and there were no dust.

It had mild smoke aroma complemented with red fruits aroma. It was good pairing to my bread with aged gouda cheese.

In taste it was quite strongly smoky at first, but soon it started to mellowing and it has ended with smooth minerality with sweet notes of tea, which were again quite similar, to red fruits to me.

The pine smoke was enjoyable all the times, it was never overpowering the flavours. And other notes. I wish I got a chance to try it again. Maybe not today. Nor soon. But Old Ways Tea is always a quality tea.

Damn!
Thank you derk.

Flavors: Mineral, Red Fruits, Smoked

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 125 ML
ashmanra

Wow! Those packages!

derk

Cool picture! Looks like a wall of smokes behind the counter at a gas station. Also, your food pairing sounds perfect.

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92
226 tasting notes

This was an unexpected olfactory pleasure for me: the smokiness is very fresh and “real” in dry leaves and equally satisfying when brewed – with vegetal and berry notes.

The taste is enjoyable for those who like strong pine smoke, which smoothly blends with bread, honey and berries. It is not very complex but is well put together.

This tea is a bit on the pricier side but this is what it takes if one wants to get a traditional smoking process on a good base.

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