65

Yeah, no. Sorry yssah, and thanks for the sample, but my keemun confusion continues. There are teas I LOVE with 100% keemun bases. But straight keemuns elude me.

I did ask yssah for a sample of this after she offered because of the fact that I can never seem to figure out keemuns. And I think this is probably a decent example of a keemun. It’s very English Breakfast, bold and robust. A hint of smoke, which is something I have tasted in other high-quality keemuns but something I basically dislike. This would probably be fine with milk and sugar, but at the current steeping parameters it is too strong for me. Slightly bitter and astringent, but it seems like those are things some people look for (or at least don’t mind because they milk and sugar their tea.

I have a sample of Butiki’s Congou Keemun coming and I’m interested to see how I react to that. If I don’t like that one I’m pretty much giving up on straight keemuns :P

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Kashyap

Keemun/Quimen is a tricky tea and I’ve noted over the last 4 years or so the signature ‘plum’ note that the tea is renown for has been very lacking, perhaps due to rain/weather/climate conditions. There is also a great demand to use these teas as ‘base’ teas and so the pressure to produce could also be creating a situation that is stressing the plants.

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Kashyap

Keemun/Quimen is a tricky tea and I’ve noted over the last 4 years or so the signature ‘plum’ note that the tea is renown for has been very lacking, perhaps due to rain/weather/climate conditions. There is also a great demand to use these teas as ‘base’ teas and so the pressure to produce could also be creating a situation that is stressing the plants.

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I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

In my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: Mind-blowingly good, just right for my palate, and teas that just take me to a happy place.
89-86: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
85-80: Pretty tasty teas that I enjoy well enough, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
79-70: Teas that I would probably drink again, but only if there were no preferrable options.
69-50: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.
Unrated: Usually I feel unqualified to rate these teas because they are types of teas that I tend to not like in general. Sometimes user error or tea brewed under poor conditions.

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Ohio, US

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