Ah, Black Ruby! How do I love thee? Yet alas! I cannot have thee! Thy distributor is no more.
I have hoarded the remains of the sample from Paul M. Tracy but I knew I really should go ahead and drink it. This was the final tea of tea time today, following two teas that had strawberry flavor. This is an amazing tea and is a bit hard to describe. I told my guest that it was unflavored and she looked a little puzzled, as it really had all the charms of the teas we had already tried.
This particular Taiwan Ruby tea is a little darker than the one I buy at A Southern Season and it has more body. The raisin notes are darker and richer. Both teas are excellent, both resteep fantastically, and both are worthy of “Fine Tea” status. They are rather different from each other, though, even though they are supposed to be the same tea from the same cultivar from the same island…and I have purchased more than one batch from SS so it isn’t due to year of harvest, but perhaps terroir in general, and perhaps different processing at a different tea plantation.
I must say, today was a banner tea day!
