Wei Chi Cha

This is a tart tea- I mostly taste hibiscus and a background note of of clove…as I drink it, it grows on me..maybe I need to try this iced? Right now, I am not sure if I like this one….

Woah, brews into a ruby red color. Why am I acting like I’ve never seen this before… Maybe it’s cause I haven’t seen this bright red color in a while. Smells of clove, licorice, lavender and lemongrass hits you right off the bat. It’s not the most pleasant smell to me. Going in for the sip! Hmmm, it’s completely different from the smell. That’s a good thing. Tart from the hibiscus. Sweet from the stevia. Citrus orange peels. It wins a complex tea award. Each sip is sweet and tangy. It’s kind of refreshing. I imagine this one might be quite delectable iced.

I got a bunch of tea in from Samovar not too long ago, and a lot of it’s new. For those of you who read what I throw up here, you know that I like the words, so I’m going to be rolling out my thoughts on them slowly, even though I’ve tried…ehm…all of them already.

Before I say anything more, can I just say hats off to the Steepster monkeys who made all of this wonderfulness happen? Best update ever. Am I right?

Ok, so Wei Chi Cha. Or is it Wei Xi Cha? I’m not sure, but this tea is absolutely delightful. It’s like autumn in a cup. I’m always on the fence about whether to use ‘autumn’ or ‘fall’ because ‘autumn’ borders on snooty for me. I feel as though I should be wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches. Fall seems much more casual comfortable, you know? It’s a little more hooded sweatshirt, which is how I roll. My quirky verbal prejudices aside, though, holy autumnal tea, Batman.

It smells like cider and cloves and cinnamon and dried leaves and log fires. I might be mistaken, but I think that this is a relatively new tea for Samovar, and when I read the description of it I had added it to my cart before I could realize that I’d clicked the button.

The taste of the tea is a little sour [I’ve been slowly discovering that just how sour is controlled greatly by the steep time – I recommend around 4 minutes, maybe 4 minutes 30, but play around with it.] The sourness dissipates once you’ve swallowed, though, and you get treated to this nice bit of sweetness that sinks into your tastebuds.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that the taste of this tea gets watered down quite quickly. If your cup is looking pinkish, you’re probably not going to get a ton of taste. You’re looking for something closer to a nice, light red hue. I haven’t had any luck beyond two cups, but there is a noticeable difference on the second steep.

All in all? A good tea. And it certainly is working well as a stand-in for me while I wait for the weather here to catch on to the fact that it’s officially fall. Right now it’s doing the best impression it can muster of a Louisiana swamp.

I’m not sure what it is about this tea, but I find the flavor/texture amazing! The first tangy sip surprises me every single time. I have to be in the right mood to drink it (and I swear, despite the lack of caffeine it always makes me need to pee) — but when I am, it’s, well — fun. A really fun tea, if you like different and tangy.

Another night that seems to call for a big ol’ pot of Wei Chi Cha. Oh yes indeed.