Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea

hmmm, the ever diligent angel contacted me the other day having noticed my low initial review of this tea. she politely offered some suggestions for steeping differently than i had. let me emphasize that in no way was she pushy or inappropriate— she is a woman passionate about tea and teavivre and so customers, reviewers and their opinions are important to her.

i agreed to resteep… it’s hard to refuse when someone asks so politely. honestly, the first go round was so bad that i really wasn’t expecting to like the tea regardless of the advice, but i was wrong.

1.5 tspns for 16 oz tea cup steeped for a hair short of 90 seconds (it was getting rather dark and i wanted to err on the side of caution).

what did i get? a light tasting, non caffeine stick tea reminiscent of a fruit/wood mix. not oak though… more like the light scent of balsa wood crossed with a just-left-the-room sandalwood. truly lovely!

thank you so much angel for your expertise.

i am happy to re-rate… (and yes, ultimately i will buy).

When a tea is called fragrant, you know you just have to smell it! I love the aroma of the dry leaf. I can smell cocoa! Deep, rich chocolate-y notes, and hints of freshly baked bread. Malt. It smells so rich and sweet. The fragrance of the brewed liquor is faint when compared to the dry leaf, but it still smells amazing and delicious and sweet.

This is delicious too. It shows a softer side of Keemun – while many Keemun teas can be bold and bracing, this one is strong yet soft-spoken. It lulls you into a state of consciousness rather than gives you that invigorating shake that some other Keemun teas that I’ve tried often offer. I love experiencing this gentler Keemun!

This is another one I’ve had my eye on for a few months. I was thrilled when it was offered to me by Angel at Teavivre. I’ve previously tried their Keemun Hao Ya, and I loved it. While it was smoky, this doesn’t smell smoky at all.

The dry leaves are particularly dark, almost black, and extremely thin and long. Like brittle spider legs as I measure them above my slightly cooled water. They smell very strong, pungent even. Once brewed, the tea smells like honey and wood with a hint of something that kinda makes me think of pumpkin.

The taste is intriguing and delicious. This is a rather strong black tea as far as Teavivre’s lineup has been so far. It makes me think of a malty puerh. I’m going to give it maybe three minutes and thirty seconds next, in hopes of making it even stronger. Must experiment. But for now, I think I liked the Hao Ya better.

This is my first venture with keemun – I would not normally have purchased this tea based on the description, but this was a sample given to me in my Teavivre order, so I decided to give it a go.

I wasn’t very nice to this poor tea. I steeped it far too long. Well, what a pleasant surprise that it was still really tasty. It was malty and a little bread-y. I decided to re-steep the leaves even though I over did it the first time around, and while the flavour was milder (no surprise there) it was still quite flavourful. I am impressed.

I will definitely be purchasing this one at some point.

The dry leaves have a sweet and dry aroma, and the liquor smells honeyed with the faintest touch of malt. The lightness of the cup prevents it from pairing too well with milk but it re-steeps great.

This is a nice smooth and round tea; I can see where they draw the sweet potato comparison from. I most easily pick out the fruity and floral sweet notes, and then the malt. Bigger gulps make me think of fruitier dark chocolate near the finish, but it’s a loose association. There’s a lot going on with this tea- it’s deceiving.

Despite the gentleness of this tea it makes me think of rainy winter days where my clothes have been soaked through; I can see me wanting a cup of this then. It’s not something I’d reach for all the time though.

Tea of the morning……

This was my free sample with my most recent TeaVivre order. I stocked up on the black dragon pearls and purchased some of the Golden Monkey without even sampling based on the reviews of Steepsterverse (thank you for all of your thoughtful reviews). I had been wondering about this one and do appreciate that TeaVivre now allows you to pick your samples along with your order.

The leaves are long, thin, and twisted. It does remind me in look of the Keemun Mao Feng from Harney, but I think the leaves are just a little shorter. I did not brew this according to TeaVivre’s instructions, but used the method by which I usually brew my Keemun Mao Feng as I was hoping this tea might be a good substitution for it. The liquor is lightly noted with cocoa, and a little fruity, floral, and malty. It is very smooth and satisfying. In comparison, this one is lower in smoke and earthiness (which are definitely only slight in the KMF), so this would be a good choice for those who don’t care for the slight smoke and earthiness found in other grades of Keemun. I don’t think I could use it as a substitution for my favorite Keemun Mao Feng, but it is very good on its own. The price on this one makes it into the range of being more of an everyday tea than my KMF.

Usual teapot method.

Superfine and Supergood!
Thank you to Angel and Teavivre for the sample!
This is not AS malty, not AS chocolaty not AS strong as some other teas of this nature but it is oh so good!
Smooth and relaxing.
A definitive sweet potato flavor and aroma. (Yummmm)
Thick Mouthfeel.
Slightly drying on the back of the throat.
Absolutely no bitterness or astringency.
Grainy baked bread flavor. (double yummmm)
This is perfect for today’s fall like semi rainy weather.
Makes me feel like walking in the woods amongst crunchy leaves!
Sweet without any added sweetener!
Almost a little like molasses.
If you swish it around in your mouth you get the taste of rainwater and wood.
Delightful!

Not easy to find a Keemun that isn’t one dimensional. Usually flavor falls flat…somewhat like a mediocre merlot. Bleh!
I don’t care much for who scores the best Keemun as long as I can find it and brew it up!
So happens, that the best I’ve found thus far is Teavivre’s Organic Superfine Fragrant. (And yes it is in stock!)
This tea is layered…like an old vine wine. Smooth and not harsh.
I prefer plenty of leaf when I brew and 2-3 minute steep. Don’t steep longer!
There’s nothing wrong with drinking Keemun any way you want to. Tea snobbery is vulgar!!!
Plain, with sugar and/or cream is outstanding! Robust!

Hello to old friends!

I was curious about this post: http://steepster.com/discuss/5668-radical-iced-tea-directions-from-upton-tea-customer-darius-mcgregor

Cold brewing for 4 days? I usually max out at 12 hours. Every once in a while it goes for 24 hours. But I thought I should give this a try.

I actually only cold brewed for 3 days because I forgot to get it into the fridge and if I don’t drink it today, it will brew for 4 more days before I can get to it. Overall, I would say it doesn’t taste a whole lot different than my usual 12 hour brew. It is almost like all the flavours had been steeped out of the tea after about a day and really its just been chilling there for days. I do think it is a bit sweeter, and the flavours are a bit more complex vs a shorter brew. There is a strong keemun taste, kind of malty, a sweet honey type flavour, there is a strong keemun as well as a floral fragrance to the tea. I would have anticipated it to be quite a bit stronger after sitting for 3 days. Overall, it is a delicious cold brew, but I don’t think the extra few days makes a hug difference. What it does show me, is that it is a lot more forgiving if I forget about it, than I thought it would be.

Thank you to Teavivre for sending this wonderful set of samples! They finally arrived today and I can finally start digging in.

I am in a black tea sort of mood so I figured this would be a great place to start, that and the tea came in a little once cup pouch so I didn’t have to do any measuring!

The dry leaf smell reminds me of soy sauce with a hint of sesame seed, which is making me really hungry as well as get this tea going. The steeped tea is a nice dark amber color and smells a little soy saucey still with a hint of chocolate.

The taste is very nice. There is no astringency that I can detect, which is very nice and makes for a smooth tea. There are some nice chocolate notes that are coming out as I sip this as well as a hint of chili. I might try less water when I resteep this to try and make it a little more to stronger.