EDIT TO ADD: Their delivery service is appalling. I cannot in good conscience give this tea a good rating. Service = 0, the tea was about an 80.
Along with the Countess Grey, this was my other requested tea from the friend who went on a trip to London. I do love Keemuns. The leaves are a little smaller than I thought they should be. I am wondering how this compares to Hao Ya B as it is definitely more intense than my English Breakfast from Harney. It has just a little more bite than I would like.
24 oz teapot, 4 1/2 actual tsp tea, 4 minutes, freshly boiled water. Note to self: go lighter on the leaf and shorter on the steep. I think it will be even better.
I am kind of second guessing this choice, mostly because straight teas don’t vary a great deal from vendor to vendor, even though there is some variance in quality. I have a pretty good stash of Keemun, and am planning a grand Keemun side by side sampling at some point to work out the nuances of each variety for myself. The tea is wonderful, but I wish I had stuck to requesting something that is just from Fortnum & Mason’s Picadilly offerings. There are a few varieties of this company offered in the States at Williams- Sonoma, so I did try to skip over those for now. I guess my advice to take away from this…if you have the chance to get tea from a place once in a lifetime, it is probably better to stick with their specialties.
