Bohea

MY 100th TASTING NOTE! Cue the balloons and confetti.

For my 100th post, I chose a tea that I have never had before. I’ve kind of been avoiding Lapsang Souchong teas due to their smell. Not that the smell is offensive, I’ve just never been in the mood to drink them. The tea’s liquor is much lighter than I expected (even lighter than most black teas). I think I was expecting a tarry, murky, dark color to match the smell. Surprise #1. The tea smells like a campfire. Well, maybe not like a campfire per se…but it smells like your clothes after you have been close to a campfire. The 1st taste (the second it touches your tongue) is that of a smooth black tea. Then an overwhelming flavor of smoke and ash (and I mean that in the best of ways) takes over. The after taste is that of residual smoke and a very light sweetness. Odd and interesting. Surprise #2.

I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. I’ll be open to try other LS in the future now that I’ve gotten the initial experience out of the way. I really do like the lingering taste. It’s not like cigar smoke that can hang on for a day or two. It’s like the aftertaste of a nice meal that involved eating smoked ham or something similar.

Now that the world of LS has been opened, it might be time to delve into pu-erh…maybe. Slowly.

Here’s to experiencing 100 more teas.

Maybe it was the tea fairy’s plan all along to have me spill my Rosy Earl Grey which then forced me to place another Teas Etc. order with a sample of this tea included. Perhaps the tea fairy is less capricious than I had thought. Because I loves me some of this tea!

The dry leaves smelled…like an old ashtray?…but not tabacco-ey at all. I was majorly concerned. Steeped it’s a very light smoke (says the Lapsang Souchong lover). I wasn’t impressed with the first few sips. I was getting a woody taste, almost like cardboard and no sweetness. It seemed rather flat. And then slowly this tea started to morph. It seemed like a yummy wood taste (now reading the description it’s like “oak!” ::facepalm::), the smoke is still more of a feeling than a scent/taste, and there’s the nicest sweet aftertaste left over from the sip. Warm Fuzzy detectors engage. My “I need MORE NOW!” feeling kicked in and I knew that this tea’s a keeper.

I’m drinking the second steep right now (added 1 minute to steep time) and I’m liking it more and more. The sweetness is shining through. It’s not as aggressive as most LSes, all the flavors I associate with smoky teas are present, but much more subdued. You know how tv shows and comics have a tendency to turn their characters into babies? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpinoffBabies
Well, this is the baby version of Upton’s Black Dragon. If I had to chose between the two it wouldn’t even be a contest: Upton would win with its maturity. But this tea is yummy in its own rights and has earned a permanent spot in my cupboard. TG

I have fallen in love with this tea! Does anyone else recall the mention of “Bohea” in “The Rape of the Lock” by Pope? I first encountered this word back in my university days.

Belinda and her bohea and her billets douxs is duly celebrated by Alexander Pope. I ever more appreciate the luxurious and wealthy life Belinda led when I sample this Bohea which came in a package numbered “6” in the wonderful, generous “Geek Pride” package which RABS so nicely sent to me.

One sniff of the dry leaves and I knew that I would love this tea. One person’s old ashtray is another person’s heady perfume! And so this tea brought me waves of exhilaration. It’s a smoky/sweet adventure treat!

It’s a smoky tea – yay! I’ve become so addicted to smoky teas so of course I wanted to try the “original Lapsong tea.” The smell is a little sweeter than my normal lapsang but it’s still pretty smoky. The taste is milder though. It reminds me of Andrews & Dunham’s Caravan – smooth and silky and rich and heavy and smoky (but not too smoky). There’s a dark, rich, almost cocoa-like feeling to it that makes it feel decadent. Not quite a taste, but a feel. (Can a smoky tea be a dessert tea? Probably not but this one give it a good try with the richness.) It is decently mellow as far as smokiness – the smoke is there but it blends so well that it’s not like inhaling a campfire with each sip of tea. It’s heavy and rich (and silky – did I say that already?) without being overpowering or tarry. There’s a very sweet little upswing at the end – maybe sugar or honey or something floral or fruity. I don’t know and honestly, I’m not trying too hard to figure it out because I’m just so busy enjoying it. This is seriously tasty stuff and I think it needs to have a home in my pantry.

Goodmorning Steepsterites.

Still going on with the warm-ups for sample week, and this poor thing is the choice for today.

Poor? Oh yes, I seem to be thoroughly mistreating it. A little more leaf than I would normally use for a pot, but not enough to split in two. Fine, a stronger cup then. Then the discovery that the saucepan didn’t hold enough water to actually fill the pot, so I’m having to boil more. I hate this way of making tea! Tomorrow the boyfriend is coming home, thankfully, and I have received word that kettle is safely in his possession and that it will fit easily in the suitcase.

In other words, cross your fingers that this doesn’t come out horribly wrong and I haven’t just wasted a sample. And not just any sample, a smoky sample! It almost doesn’t bear thinking about.

However, we are dealing with a Chinese black here, and as we know Chinese blacks will often take an awful lot of abuse before becoming completely undrinkable. Strange that, but it’s part of why I prefer Chinese. They’ll spring back from almost anything.

This one is no exception, and I can’t even taste any traces of the mistreatment it has suffered at my hands. It’s smoky and smooth with no hints of astringency or even beginning bitterness. Nothing. It’s just patiently coping with everything that has been thrown at it and is still coming out on top. The only thing that makes it any sort of rough or prickly is the smoke, and that’s supposed to be there.

There is a sort of tangy flavour to it, though, and not really the fruity sweetness that I’m used to in the regular Lapsang Souchongs. It’s like that note has been replaced by this slightly spicy and tangy note. I think I prefer the fruity sweetness.

I quite like it, although not as much as my regular LSs, but it’s a very nice tea.

As I was cleaning out and reordering my tea cabinet I came across this sample and thought “why not”? I noticed a really nice smokey scent as the the leaves steeped. Similar to Lapsong and yet different at the same time. I get a sweeter smokey scent is how I can best describe this one. The taste is interesting too. There’s a great smokey flavor there, but also a hint of sweet too. But I’m loving it and might need to order more. After all wasn’t that the point of clearing out the tea cabinet? ;)

Bring on the carcinogens!

I love smoky tea. I really do. I love its moodiness and atmosphere.

When Auggy — through whose generosity I’m able to have this tea today — mentioned that she thought she might’ve zealously overpacked the tea in an effort to keep everything from smelling like Bohea, I was surprised; the only Bohea I have in my cabinet is certainly a very mildly smoky tea. I would debate its ability to contaminate other leaves too badly. Since I’d only just had my Bohea yesterday, I thought this would be a good place to start, since I’d be fresh for comparing the two.

I unwrapped the foil packet enclosing the plastic baggie and was hit with a wave of that familiar lapsang scent. The smell is quite strong! Not daunting for me, because…well, I love lapsang — as long as it avoids becoming acrid and tarry.

This one assuredly does. Freshly steeped, you can tell that the tea will be more mild than the scent of the dry leaves might suggest, but the tea doesn’t get ‘watery’ underneath the smoke, which is lovely. It brewed to a pretty golden-amber color. There is no astringency, but the tea feels rich and a little bit sweet when it sits on your tongue. After you swallow, the richness comes forward with the definite taste of wood — I assume that this is the oak mentioned in the description, as it’s more shadowy and less sap-like than some of the distinctly pine-like lapsangs I’ve tasted previously. It reminds me very much of visits to various reenactment villages along the New England coast on summer vacations with my family — Williamsburg particularly. There is something of the antique Colonial kitchen to the taste and the smell that makes me crave cured ham and apple cider.

Unrelated note, I think my ratings need overhauling again. Alas!

Also: I think I may have missed several HUNDRED tasting notes since my stepsis and mom came up to visit me a week ago. I will try to go through them, but am bound to miss a few. Apologies in advance!

Backlogging…

Like others have said before, this is sweet and SLIGHTLY smoky. The smoky flavor in this tea is not overpowering…. It is quite mild and pleasant . I think I am going to enjoy this one….

Smells smoky but tastes sweet. I’m ok with this one…just not sure what level of likeness yet so I am sure this rating will change….

First sip…tastes like edamame! A bit briney and a bit sweet.

Next sips.. settles into smooth, slightly smoky, woodsy cocoa with hints of soy sauce.

Super mild—very easy to drink. Not tannic at all.

Another very subtle, easygoing tea. It’s nice, may be best for an afternoon or early evening tea. But for mornings, it looks like I need something with more “kick”.

I have been wanting to try a smoky tea, and I have wanted to try Bohea ever since I saw that Colonial Williamsburg sells it on their site as a historic tea. Today I got to address both of those wants! We heat our home mostly with a wood burning insert and this tea smells like my clothes and hair after I have started an oak fire and gotten in the smoke a bit. That’s a good thing to me – speaks of home and hearth. I don’t TASTE the smoke, I smell the smoke, but after you swallow your sip the smoky flavor drifts lazily up into your nose. I can definitely see how smoky tea can have passionate followers, and I think for myself it will be something that I occasionally crave but wouldn’t drink every day. In winter this would be especially good, though I just got back from a 30 minute walk in 93 degree heat! Thank you, TEAEQUALSBLISS! I can say I have now had a lapsang style tea and….I like it! It is definitely more smoky than my beloved Queen Catherine from Harney who gets me going on tough days, but I hear this is one of the lightest and truer to the original historic lapsangs. Only steeped for three minutes – the smoky leaves had me scared! Tea flavor is lovely, though, but after I made it I read that long steeps won’t hurt this tea.

It is good, very coffee like. It is weird, I get different tastes each time I sip. It’s like smooth black coffee…but lighter. Sometimes sharp on the end.

Bought mine at Colonial Williamsburg, and it was nothing like its description.

I do adore this tea – smoky, smooth and sweet. It’s my rainy-day tea, and that describes today perfectly.