I crafted this tea to try to be an improvised version of Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao from Frank’s era because trying to source the Qu Hao at a price and/or minimum purchase within my budget was proving an impossible task for me. Frank’s source for the tea no longer carries it, and one of my sources was able to locate it for me but I would have had to purchase so much of the tea that I wouldn’t have been able to store all that tea, much less sell all of it at a price that would have even allowed me to break even. So, reblending it is not going to happen, at least not for the foreseeable future.
so, instead, I decided to try to improvise and create something similar, without being exactly that tea. The blend of teas I used for this blend is one of my favorites: Gu Zhang – which has a natural chocolate-y tone to it, then I added a small amount of Yunnan & Assam to it to help round out the flavor just a bit. I like the base, it is really rich & flavorful.
It’s been AGES since I last had the Black Silk Milk Chocolate blend from Frank, but, I think this tea hits the mark. It’s chocolate-y in a way that reminds me of chocolate milk when it’s chilled & lightly sweetened, but when it’s hot as I’m drinking it right now, it tastes a lot more like Pinwheel cookies, hence the name. (I hope those that make the cookies will not notice little old me and want to seek legal action, I just like the name, really.)
Anyway, I really love how this one turned out!
Again, thank you for trying to recreate my forever favorite: Black Silk Chocolate Milk! I don’t know why I didn’t think that you might be able to use a different base for the blend. Now I can ask for Pinwheel to be on the holiday box poll every year. :D