Type: Black (unflavored)
Appearance (dry): Small, curled, dark reddish-brown leaves
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 95°C, 1-2 tsps, 2-3 min.
Rating: C+* | 79/100
# of Brews: 5
Tasting Notes:
This tea is actually one of the few that I didn't pick up at Black Friday. I think I bought this during Summer when What-Cha was selling them for 1p, and I'm now finally getting to drinking it. Personally, one of the reasons why I haven't gotten to this one is because I don't really drink black tea gongfu style (I usually only drink stuff like English Breakfast or flavored black teas western style). Anyway, since this is a Western black tea, I will be breaking my brewing parameters once again; this will be brewed with the tasting set, with 5 grams and +5 seconds each brew from 10 seconds. No specific album today while drinking, but I suggest the album Sky Parade [GST-05] by Galaxy Swim Team (another solid chip album).
So, from the first brew, this tea was already very earthy and smoky. The brew was a dark gold/amber color, with a smell similar to soy sauce. Along with the earthy and smoky notes, the tea was just very bitter (leading me to lower the brew time significantly) and tasted very similar to wood. I could also pick up some nutty notes, such as hazelnut, which combined with a sort of vegetal (asparagus? or just soupy) flavor to create a slightly sour taste. The later brews brought out the fruity, muscatel notes which were pleasing, but I eventually stopped at the fifth brew. This was due to a variety of factors- mainly the brew style and the time of day (I'm multitasking right now, since I have a bit of homework).
*Despite the flaws that I found with this tea, I think that it is actually a pretty good tea. The only reason it tasted overwhelmingly bitter was almost all my fault, since I think I used too much tea, not enough water, and long brewing times (in relation to the ratio). If you brew it according to the parameters on the container, I think it would taste great as a breakfast tea, with milk and sweeteners.
Misc. Notes:
Well, today was pretty eventful. Had class, went to work (asked the first of many teachers to write a letter of recommendation for a summer internship, and she said yes!), bought chocolate chips at the grocery store, went to piano class, baked cookies, and then did this review. I tried making some chocolate krinkles (a recipe from one of my aunts) without the cocoa powder, instead substituting it with chocolate chips. Instead of getting the intended result, I ended up with a dry, airy hybrid between a cake and cookie. Lesson learned, though. Anyway, there's day 2! Personally, I rushed a bit through this review because of all of the stuff I stated before, and wasn't really paying attention to the tea. When I tried the tea before, though, I thought it wasn't half bad- it was certainly worth the 1p I spent on it (thanks What-Cha!).
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