China Keemun Imperial (No. 502)

I jotted down some notes in a Word document about this tea because I knew I wasn’t going to have time to log this when I wanted to [yeah, I’m a nerd, etc. etc.].

Auggy sent me this tea with the caveat that it was a possible “meh” tea, but that it was good for comparison purposes. Really, I’m up for trying something that’s going to give me a better range of comparison, so that means I’m game for pretty much anything.

I was surprised to discover that this had a really full flavor to it. Which I probably wouldn’t have been, had I remembered what Auggy had written about it, but I’ve never made claims as to the strength of my memory. Well, maybe except to say that it can suck sometimes.

Anyhow, this wasn’t weak. And I liked that. What I’m not sure that I liked was that even though it had a fair amount of flavor, it felt kind of…flat. Not quite as dimensional Jackee Muntz. It also had a kind of salty quality to it, which I normally wouldn’t mind, but this was tap dancing just a little too loudly for me. Actually, this one probably had the strongest malt taste to me of all three of the keemuns I’ve had so far [Jackee Muntz, Keemun Rhapsody, this one].

What I did like was that it had a sweetness to it. It reminded me of honey. Not gonna lie, I would have liked caramel [still can’t quite let go of that], but I’ll take honey. You’d think that the saltiness and the honey taste would have combined to make something resembling caramel, but for whatever reason, they didn’t come together for me.

In the end, this didn’t combine quite as nicely for me as the other two. The components read much more as separate entities than anything else, and while I think this makes it easier for me to pick tastes out from it, it makes for an overall experience that isn’t quite as enjoyable. I guess it’s kind of like what they say about a well-composed dish. You should be able to both eat the components on their own and combined into a bite and enjoy it all.

This certainly wasn’t horrible, but it’s not going to make my favorite keemuns list. I’ll finish off the sample though, no problem. Thanks for the experience, Auggy!

Well, I’m certainly not tasting orchid!

Auggy sent this to me with fair warning that it was going to be merely average. I pretty much love trying all tea, so… this one was quite fun to dig into!

The smell of the dry leaves was black tea with a hint of something deeper… maybe cocoa accents? I really didn’t sniff them for long. This one is chopped into somewhat tiny pieces, a pretty standard black size. It isn’t anything to look at.

So I brewed this up in 6 oz. of water (per Auggy’s suggestions), and the resulting cup was very dark and beautiful. The scent off the cup reminded me of raw cacao, deep and powdery (don’t ask how I got powdery from a smell), with a chaser of a tart-like smell that I often associate with the Keemun taste. As for the taste… it’s pretty smoky, actually! Not a smoke like a lapsang or a gunpowder, which taste of actual smoke. More like a quality. There’s flashes of a cacao-like taste, and an underlying tart quality that gives way to a bit of astringency in the mouth. In the aftertaste (and in the flavors that linger on the palate after the sip has been swallowed), there some sweetness. Orchids? Hell no. Not even close. It’s just a general sweet. I couldn’t distinguish a flavor from it.

Even though Auggy advertised this as a “meh” tea, it was definitely serviceable. And as I described, very flavorful! I really liked that this wasn’t weak or lacking depth. Is it stellar? No… it’s a bit rough around the edges. I feel like the flavors don’t extend and lengthen. They’re stunted a bit. But that’s okay, because the ones that manifest are pretty good. I could see myself craving something similar to this. Of course, the only Keemun I’ve had in comparison is Adagio’s English Breakfast, which tastes very different from this. This is more full-bodied and interesting than that EB, which tastes more “default” and more along the lines of a variation on a Ceylon.

This groundhog’s day started with the sound of branches being wrenched from the tree across the street.
Automatically I switched on BBC and start Morning Chores with an Everything-Is-Normal-And-The-World-Shall-Not-Collapse tea from JoeCool. Cairo issues again.
Not using force? That’s good. Slurp- Ooh, nice sweet, fruity malt.
Exactly the familiarity I needed.
Too familiar. This is just like my two current keemuns I’m sick of. Oh well. Still good and smokey sweet. I would imagine this pairs well with BBQ seitan and eggplant.
Ugh. Two hours sleep. A.D.D tasting note. Nearly eleven. Need matcha.

I had meant to drink this plain but apparently my brain was still on autopilot this morning and I went ahead and dumped a bunch of milk into this tea. Blah, I hate mornings – at least it’s Saturday.

The tea has a mildly smokey flavour that I’ve found common to most Keemuns. This mellows out into a lightly sweet flavour the reminds me a bit of raw cocoa. I’m not sure where the person who described this tea was getting orchids from – there’s nothing flowery about this tea. I’ve had orchid oolongs before and they were about as different from this tea as you can get!

_{I miss SpecialTeas! But I’m finally getting around to opening my sample pouches now. Maybe these teas are part of Teavana’s mix now?}

Grainy, bread-y, toasty aroma—strong on the rye and pumpernickel.

Flavor is liquid rye bread with a surprising sweetness! Very, very smooth—no bitterness. I love the sweetness in this—it seems to get more “sugary” as it cools down—almost like molasses.

The taste also kind of reminds me of shredded wheat cereal or malt-o-meal.

I think this would be excellent with milk!

Haven’t had this tea in forever since the husband isn’t a fan of it. But I had a sniff of it the other day and the smokiness appealed to me so I’ve been waiting to have some. Smelling this, it’s probably not a big surprise that I like lapsang souchong because this Keemun is smoky and a little meaty smelling. Taste-wise, however, it is a lot milder and pretty meat-free. I don’t know if I’d say it has an orchid-like flavor to it though. It is sweet but I see it more as a honeyed or nectar-like sweetness. And while it smells smoky and a little bit meaty, it doesn’t taste it.

I think this might have actually benefited from being ignored in my pantry for a while – it seems to have gotten smoother. The husband agrees on the increased smoothness, too, and he no longer hates it – so YAY! I’d have to say I like this one better than Rishi’s now which seems to fight a sometimes overwhelming pine bitterness/rawness. Maybe the Rishi’s just needs to be ignored for a while, too.

Got a sample of this from batrachoid. It’s sad that I have been getting to try some good Specialteas offerings now that they are no longer. It reminds me a lot of the Yunnan black tea I get from the Asian Grocery. I like it and I can now pick this teas flavor out in a lot to the Breakfast teas that I drink. Decent though.

I could drink this everyday!

This has that typical velvety Keemun smoke and chocolate, but this has stronger perfumy floral notes than other Keemun I’ve tried.

2 level tsp in a 14 oz. Yixing pot. Brewed at boiling for 3 minutes. Very good black, tastes a lot like chocolate at times.