Organic Formosa Red, no. 18

Thanks to Sil for a sample of this one.

Now, this tea is coming off as kind of weird for me. It’s not particularly strong, although I followed the brewing instructions (not intentionally, I just happened to go with a 2-min infusion!). It’s also seeming to be a bit mariney?? The odds of it having been contaminated and ending up tasting like that are quite slim, so I have to assume that it’s an intentional note in the tea… Yeah, this is just weird. The aftertaste is honey-like and nice, but the initial flavour is verging on unpleasant.

I will admit that I did not rinse; I will try to remember to do that next time I give this a shot. I may have also underleafed, though I can’t see how that would have contributed to the weird flavour, just to the seeming weakness.

I figured i’d better give this a shot since it’s out to at least Kittenna from the weekend and i haven’t even tried it yet. I can’t remember what prompted me to pick this one up when i was in sanfrancisco as i wasn’t even really sure about my tea preferences, but pick it, i did.

I must say that i guessed on the amount of tea to put in this one since i don’t have a scale (shush kittenna!). Whatever the case though, it’s turned out quite nice. This tea is unbelivably sweet, but not in an artificial way. It’s not a strong, bold black…instead there’s a fruity, breadiness? to the tea. There’s no bitterness. I’m not entirely sure how to describe this…in part because we’re having system issues at work again and i’m focused on that. I’m looking forward to a few additional steeps tonight when i get home though. I also really want to do this in a gaiwan when it comes because i think this will be a much more interesting experience that way.

Thank you Happy Lucky’s Staff for this Sample from the back room!

When I go to my neighborhood tea pub, I usually have a few tea samples tucked inside my purse, and sometimes I have a whole bag or box that I drag in and set on the bar like treasure. I can’t help myself. I have beloved tea’s that must be shared with people that love tea too.
Many times when you go into a tea shop the people working there are transient. Students, or casual part time workers who may know something about tea but have not made tea their passion or career. This is not the case with my tea pub. (These people know their stuff!)

I received this tea on one recent visit as a gift. (There had been exited tastings behind the bar of my Laoshan White and the Bailin Gonfu Black that day).

Today:
I used a Gaiwan (4oz) with boiling water and steeped 2min.

Wet leaf, copper and olive…very pretty…changing to dark olive green by the 3rd steeping with the leaves open and large.
The liquor was honey red gold gradually getting lighter by the 3rd steep.

I was just about to go into the 3 tasting phases of this tea when I couldn’t. The tea is not about a sterile set of numbers and discriptions. So here goes ad lib…

When I look at the whole tasting experience I’m reminded of Fall.
There is an introduction immediately to a sweet malty rye bread with peach jam. Then banana peel, not a bitter taste at all…but a taste and texture that is thick and fuzzy. Fall, bread baking and holidays.

I could picture my daughter, three grandaughters and I in her big (huge) farm kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving Feast. She would grind wheat and make the bread for the family. Someone else would make pies (Used to be me). Homemade cranberry sauce bubbleing on the stove, Turkey already in the roaster. I’m commanded to make the beloved candied yams layered with apples and pecans.
The second steep had my yam and apple flavor (without nuts and butter), just a more squashy yam and the sugary golden delicious apples cooked together so that the flavor melts in your mouth. Fragrant and luscious. Oh the taste is so good and rich. Dripping. I’ve never tasted a tea like it!

The breadiness of the first steeping was gone along with the malt. The banana too.

The final steeping was like the end of a meal when you’re full and scraping the bottom of the bowl. Not much was left. It was still good to drink but lighter and squashier. This was a shadow of that amazing second steeping.

What a generous gift. One of the finest, fruitiest Black Tea’s I’ve tasted.
A Taiwanese Tea and Assam blend grown close to Sun Moon Lake.

1 second rinse with tea infusing temperature water
1 tablespoon for 375 ml

Nice smooth flavour. Molasses-like sweetness. Leathery hints in the background. Lingering sweetness, reminds me of a ginseng-type sweetness.

Second infusion at 2.5 minutes with near-boiling water.

Third infusion at 3.5 minutes with near-boiling water. A lot of flavour seems to be lost by the third infusion.

Thanks to Sil for sharing this with me!

This is another sample from Sil. Thanks!

Opening the baggie, it smells kind of fruity.
I measured out a heaping tsp & steeped for 3 minutes (after drinking I read the instructions, lol…suppose to be 2 tsp (1 sec rinse) X 2min steep…oops!).
The resulting tea was delicious anyway. It reminds me of french bread, with butter spread over it. It’s very smooth, a little malty, sweet even. There is a bit of an ‘ocean’ taste to it, nothing overly objectionable, but noticeable.
The resteep was very mild.

This is a sample kindly shared by Sil, thank you Sil !
I really appreciated this tea.
Even if I’m not a big plain tea drinker, I manage to recognize an high quality tea and it is really one.
It’s not an heavy malty black tea but a medium bodied one with wonderful notes of wood (that’s what I felt !)
There is absolutely no bitterness with this tea.
I love it.

Picked up half pound on recent trip to SanFran (and usual stop at Red Blossom). Not a black tea guy at all but this one really blew me away. There’s a very subtle milkiness to the brew and no matter how long one steeps the leaves, the tea never turns bitter. This has resulted in a lot of experimentation and I find that I prefer a longer steep time with much lower temperature water.
Very, very nice tea and I would echo Leland’s comment that, as good as this tea is, I can’t wait to sample the competition grade.

If this is the regular grade, I can’t wait to try the competition grade… Has a much more complex flavor than any black tea I’ve tasted, while also managing to be surprisingly sweet, especially by the third or fourth steeping.