Auggy

Afternoon tea brake! I’m ignoring work to try to mitigate the grump.

Oh, this smells nice. Chocolaty. I even got a whiff or two of what smells like chocolate syrup, so when I say chocolaty, I mean it. Cocoa sure, but sweeter. The dry leaf smells different though. Not so much chocolate as dried plums or maybe raisins (though not quite as thickly sweet smelling). It brews up very dark but very clear. It’s very pretty. I did catch a quick whiff of something that made me think of wet dog but now I can’t find it again (thank goodness) and instead get chocolate syrup.

It’s very smooth. A thinner body that I was expecting but not a thin taste. Earthy like a Yunnan but darker, deeper tasting. As it cools there is a bit of malty sweetness that hits me in the back of my mouth when I swallow. At the very end of each swallow, there is a hint of smokiness that just barely pokes through. Took me a while to figure out what it was, actually, but it reminds me of the sweet smoky tarry taste in Samovar’s Lapsang Souchong. Not much – anti-lapsang-ers no need to fear – just a tiny little poke to the tastebuds consisting mostly of the sweet tarry, not actually barbecue smoky. It reminds me of the pine poky I get from Rishi’s Keemun but sweeter, softer and smoother.

It’s a heavy tea even if it has a smooth feel to it. Very rich, dark tasting. I think I probably should have gone for a lighter tea today because this tea is good but I’m just not quite clicking with it. I’m rating it based on my experience right now but honestly? It’ll probably change in the future. When I’m in a rich, Yunnan-ish sort of mood, I think I’ll appreciate this more. Until then, it’s not quite love.

^3g/8oz