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Keemun Spring Dawn from Ito En
95

This is one of my favorite black teas ever, period. At $24 an ounce it better be good, when I first purchased it in 2008 it was $35/oz that year and I was skeptical. But after tasting, I understood why the high price.

Incredibly delicate, balanced, winey, not smokey like Hao Ya Keemun. Good for a splurge every now and then.

People who liked this

Spoonvonstup

Comments

Spoonvonstup
Spoonvonstup 2012-01-17 09:49:59 -0500

What a price! How many steepings will this last you, and how do you brew such a thing?

joelbny
joelbny 2012-01-17 10:07:56 -0500

Same as normal tea, 6 to 10 brews per ounce depending on how much you make at once. I use glassware, a bodum or pyrex cup, 4 minutes with boiling water, then pour through a handheld strainer. You could do traditional gongfu as well, but one can never go wrong with neutral glassware.

Spoonvonstup
Spoonvonstup 2012-01-17 13:43:51 -0500

Thanks for the info. When you steep this tea, do you get multiple steepings out of each session’s-worth of leaves? I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a black tea at this price point, so I’m curious about how giving a session of leaves can be.
Notes of wine. I’d never think to look for that flavor.. I’ll have to keep my “eyes” out for it now.

joelbny
joelbny 2012-01-17 20:37:07 -0500

Yes, well I am no expert but a delicate yet complex perhaps slightly fruity tannin structure often strikes me as wine-like. See the following, excerpt from James Norwood Pratt’s tea tasters lexicon:

“Winey: usually descriptive of a mellow quality fine Darjeelings or Keemuns acquire with six months to a year or more of age; more rarely used to describe overfermented tea”

joelbny
joelbny 2012-01-17 20:39:34 -0500

And no I don’t do multiple steeps from this, but if you were doing it gongfu style perhaps you could. Again, even at $24 an ounce (and I too was skeptical at first, but you’ll see if you try it), that comes to maybe $3 a session, which is still less than one would pay for a beer at a bar, or a latte at starbucks, so to my reasoning it is not so terrible.

Speaking of wine, an ounce of tea for $24, vs a decent affordable bottle of wine for the same price, i’ll take the keemun spring dawn ;)

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Bio

Started drinking tea regularly in 2003 when I read that tea helped broken bones heal faster, because I had one.

Discovered high quality loose-leaf a year later and was soon hooked on Indian, Chinese, and Japanese tea.

Also amassed a small but happy collection of Japanese Teaware.

Location

New York, NY

Website

http://i76.photobucket.com/al...

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