2011 Himalayan First Flush

This is another sample I received from Azzrian and I’ve been excited about trying it since I’ve never had a tea from Nepal before. First of all, I want to say that I’m a little puzzled as to how this qualifies as a black tea…it’s completely green and light brown. When brewing it emits an extremely fruity and somewhat floral smell, and the liquor it produces is a light amber. Overall, ot seems very much like an oolong to me. As for the flavor, to me it tastes like a combination of silver needle mixed with peach and apricot. It’s very “juicy” and a little tangy with the pleasing astringency and mellow nature that a white tea would possess. This one is definitely interesting, very unique and I like it a lot. Thanks Azz, I probably would’ve never tried this on my own.

I completely forgot about these selections from Rishi. Major Tea Fail over here, I know.

The dry leaves smell like bright floral – like flowers in a summer garden. First steep and the liquor is a gorgeous golden brown, looks very luxe. First sip and I taste the soft peach and bright floral flavors. It’s quite the sipdown! Second steep, same flavors, same crispy flavor. This one’s a winner, guys!

Morning Cup.
Strange tea – good but interesting. Steep instructions are nothing like other black teas I have encountered – 185 to 190 for 3 mins. Okay not FAR off but unexpected early in the morning! Yeah I managed to get up early today.
So what do I do? I do it the way I do most black teas.
At first I thought to myself “ah ha I was right” as the brew was lovely – then after it began to cool it became bitter. Well so I was wrong. I will re-steep going by the instructions.
Regardless – from what I tasted prior to the bitter coming through it was very nice!
I will rate and add more notes once I steep it correctly.