China Lichee Black Tea

Decided to try this one out since I have no spicy caffeinated teas at the moment. The dry smell is quite fruity, and the tea scent comes out as it’s steeping. It smells delicious! The naked flavor is really interesting- fruit hints with black tea overtones. Slightly tart. Nice full mouth feel with a bit of dryness. Very nice!

Got this tea yesterday in Chinatown, and had some last night. Having it again this morning! I used a top of cup drop down infuser (Is there an official name for this?) steeping for only between 15-20 seconds for each steep. With the device I have, two steeps fills a cup.

I have to say, oh my. I am so excited for this tea. Growing up, I had always loved eating lychee. Now that I know there’s a tea flavored like it, I’ve died and gone to heaven.

The aroma, upon first opening the tin, is very lichee. It’s not too overpowering, to seem artificial, but it’s definitely apparent.

The flavor of the tea is a very sweet, gloriously fruity high profile of lichee, but with a sneaking boldness of a pungent black tea in waiting. I’m glad I only steeped it for 15 seconds, because I could imagine this tea getting much stronger if gone for any longer. So word to the wise, if you steep this for a few minutes, you might get a completely different profile, with more subtle notes of lichee, and more pungent black tea flavors.

All and all, a good tea for the price. I can tell it’s not the best quality, but it certainly works for an everyday enjoyment.

The only caveat I have about this tea is, after the first two steepings, it loses a significant amount of its lichee flavor. On the third and fourth now, and it has subtle notes, but I’ll probably toss it and steep anew.

I find this tea to taste great even when steeped for a really long time. It’s drinkable at any point of it’s tea life. With slightly different flavor at different steep times. For me it never gets too bitter no matter how long I steep it. I’ve left it steeping for hours, then drank it cold and it still tastes great.

Highly recommended if you like black tea.