September Sipdown Prompt – your most exciting tea
This had a lot of hype and I believed it was likely as good as I have read. I was not disappointed.
We had this as our breakfast tea today. Ashman, who likes only a few black teas without milk and sugar, said that it reminded him of having a cup of hot chocolate…and there was no milk or sugar in it. That is pretty high praise for him.
As for my impressions of it, it is so rich and the more it cools the more chocolate you taste. It says there is vanilla added and I expected to taste a lot of vanilla but I really tasted none, so I think the vanilla must just be there to really bring out and accentuate the rich cocoa notes of this tea.
This is a hearty tea with dignity and refinement. Excellent with food, and excellent without. This is one of those teas that stop you in your tracks if you have been chatting and absentmindedly pick up your cup to sip. You will pay attention to it!
We were making it western style and so far have made three steeps. I still have the leaves in the basket and I think this may be good for one more.
While this is a very exciting tea and I was very excited to try it, I will be totally honest and say that it is my second most exciting tea, but the most exciting one has to wait until exactly the right time to be steeped. It is a very limited edition Da Hong Pao, purchased in London at Postcard Teas by Superanna. They no longer sell tea at their brick and mortar location but had one tin of the three they were able to acquire on site there for photographing and when she asked pretty please they agreed to sell it to her. I am waiting to have that one at an as yet to be determined family gathering.
