I’m recovering from having the mother of all migraines yesterday so I wanted a morning tea that would be somewhat nice for my hangover-like state that I am in. I’m trying this one without milk and sugar because I haven’t gotten a chance to do that yet. ‘Brisk’ is a good way to describe it. It’s also got a sweet edge to it which is nice, almost like it is slightly sweetened already. The tea is nicely smooth without being insipid. It manages to strike me as thick and stout but also mild. It has all the smoothness of something I’d gravitate to during the afternoon but at the same time it manages to pack enough punch of flavor and hardiness to be a good morning tea. It’s not in your face or aggressive. It’s like when someone wakes you so nicely that you don’t realize until it is too late that you are fully, 100% awake and even though you are still laying in bed, you have no hope of getting back to sleep but instead are ready to face the day. Which all in all works out well for my migraine aftercare so thumbs up.
I like the versatility of this tea. At 3 minutes and it’s a smooth, sweet, medium bodied tea that is bold enough to be breakfast-worthy but nice enough to make me happy without additives (even in a travel tumbler, which is a bit of an achievement). Steeped for 5 minutes though, it turns into a stout, growly, super-chewy full-bodied breakfast blend that cries out for a little milk to smooth the edges. So on mornings like today when I want a kinder wake-up tea, I can reach for this one. But on days that I need something to slap me in the face and shake me awake? Yeah, this works well then, too.
I’m a sucker for breakfast blends, so I had to get some of this with my first Samovar order. I had thoughts of saving this until the weekend so I could try it straight and without worrying how it would do in a travel tumbler, but decided this morning that I need good travel tumbler worthy teas. So I made this up, poured it into my travel tumbler, put in a little milk and sugar and away we went!
My immediate though upon taking my first sip was “TOO MUCH SUGAR,” so oops on that. I used about a teaspoon for my 12 oz and that was probably too much (the insane sweet faded after the first sip though, so it worked out well). The taste of this is pretty unique for a breakfast blend. Malty and full bodied (not quite chewy, though), it also had a fruity taste that I can’t find the right words for. Not Darjeeling muscat (not bright enough and much smoother and darker) but musky fruit. Almost like an aged, molded purple grape. But not in a gross way – in a delicious way, like if aged fruit was a delicacy instead of something that had gone off. A dark, musky fruit taste, pushing its way to the front of the taste to surprise me with nomminess. It is possible that this taste was brought to the front or exacerbated by my excess sugar. I kind of hope not because that taste made me happy and really set this tea apart from other breakfast blends.
And now, if Wikipedia is correct, I’m thinking the musky fruit taste isn’t due to the sugar (or at least solely). Samovar’s tasting notes say that this is made with Dian Hong style tea. Well, I have no idea what that is but Wikipedia says that it is Yunnan tea (learn something new everyday) and is “…fermented with lychee, rose and longan…” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dian_hong_tea ). Are Yunnans always fermented with fruit? Because if so, that would explain the fruity taste I would get from Teance’s Yunnan Gold (I thought it was because I stored it next to a bag with black currant flavored tea in it but maybe not – and I think someone else on here has gotten fruity tastes from their Yunnan, too).
Anyway, so this rating is subject to change because now I need to try it with less sugar and also with no sugar. But ultimately, I’m thinking this tea will be a great morning blend and it travels well so big points for that. If this goes how I think it will, I’m going to wish that I had bought the larger tin.
10g/28oz
I could really get in to having stouter Yunnans for my first-thing-in-the-morning tea. Between this and Andrews & Dunham’s Yunnan, I’m finding that I love having a bold, slightly aggressive but still surprisingly smooth tea first thing in the morning. This one is probably a hair less growly than the Tiger but it has a slightly sweeter, fuller taste that makes it quite nummy. No milk or sugar is needed though it stands up to it very well. Quite a nice way to start the day – stout enough (and with enough caffeine) to give me a good wake up but smooth enough that I don’t need to add anything to it to make it friendly. I imagine it is somewhat similar to starting the day with an expensively smooth coffee.
This tea has officially earned a permanent place in my pantry. It’s got such a changeable nature that it is almost perfect for any occasion. Steep it around three minutes and it’s a smooth, fruity sweet, silky tea that is perfect for all day (well, except for maybe right before bed – caffeine, you know). Steep it for closer to the five minute mark and it turns into a stout, brisk, more rough-and-tumble breakfast tea with hints of sweetness. No matter which version I go with, I’m always happy with what I end up sipping on. So I think it deserves a permanent pantry spot from me – it’s the least I can do after everything it’s done for me.
