Yokotea

So I’m a tea novice and I’ve been trying to cultivate/acquire a taste for black tea. I mean, why not? Then I’d have some more stuff to enjoy in my life. Lots of other things are acquired tastes: coffee, beer, red wine, Indian food. Brushing your teeth.

It’s taken a while, but I think I’m getting there. First there was an Oolong. And now this. (Much thanks to Starfevre for the sample.)

I didn’t expect much from this tea. (After all, it’s a black tea, eh?) When I opened the package, it smelled just like black tea, maybe a titch more interesting. As I prepared it, I was thinking, “Well, if it’s just a black tea and I don’t like it maybe I can cheat and add some chocolate syrup”. ;-)

The taste is really… great! And interesting!
I was so surprised. I’m not sure I have the language to describe the flavour. I looked at notes on other Assam Banasplaty teas — and saw words like “malty” and “smooth” and “slight metallic aftertaste” — and those fit for me. But it has more complexity and interest than that.

I made a big 16 oz mug (using 2 measured tsps of tea leaves), and it was gone in no time. I was careful to steep it for exactly 3 minutes. And I did add sugar and milk — I couldn’t appreciate a black tea without those, as I don’t like the bitter taste.

I wonder, is this one of those teas that could improve with multiple steepings?

And how does one do that? Do you have to do the 2nd steeping soon, while the leaves are still wet? Or do you spread out the leaves to dry, and re-steep later?

Not very lemony, contrary to its name, and the herbal flavors didn’t appeal to me. Kind of a ‘woolly’ taste, predominantly chamomile.
For me, this tea was blah.

Edit: I just added the listing for this tea, and so far, there’s only one rating — mine — and I gave it 41, and yet the “Steepster score” is 71. I wonder why? Shouldn’t the overall score be an average of the ratings given by people (like me) using this site? A puzzlement.

This tastes like a pleasant, but not especially special, Earl Grey. The tea base seems fairly weak, though I can taste the bergamot oil clearly. Perhaps more flavour will turn out as it cools.

Tasting the black tea more clearly as it cools, it’s lightly astringent and a tiny bit bitter. It tastes slightly wooden to me, but then I have a weird tongue. The bergamot oil is still the primary flavour, as it probably should be for an earl grey.

This tea steeps to a very light red colour. It smells delightfully of pineapple and hibiscus primarily.

The sourness of the hibiscus comes through strongly on the taste, but also there is a feeling of the tropics in the aftertaste when the flavours of pineapple and coconut come through.