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Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act III scene 4

“So-so is good, very good, very excellent good; and yet it is not; it is but so-so.”
As You Like It, Act V scene 1

This was my first experience with a CTC (Cut-Tear-Curl) blend. Even knowing what it was I was still shocked at how much it looked like very coarsly ground espresso. My concern grew about bitterness. The dry leaves smelled like (all-together now): black tea! I couldn’t even tell you what tea it was. I looked at the packaging and it’s from a Kenyan tea garden. I don’t know if I’ve had another Kenyan black tea.

The brew itself was surprisingly good: no bitterness or bite! This is a pretty good breakfast blend. And then the cup began to cool and it got a bit crazy. There was this great Ceylonish sweetness happening and then it morphed into a light Puerh. Wah?!?! I soooo didn’t see that one coming. But it was still good — it was more of a “stroll through a small barnyard” earthy Puerh. I did a second steep and this time it stayed a generic black tea with nice moments of sweetness. I wouldn’t call this tea “hefty,” but it’s got a bit-o-oomph on the original steep. I’m not clamoring to get more of this tea, but if I ever get around to placing an order from KTeas, then I’d get a small portion of this to have on hand.

This tea I name Touchstone the fool from As You Like It. This tea certainly fooled me and kept my tastebuds on their toes…er, or something like that. It was these moments of “what the hey?!?!” that I found most delightful. Plus, I adore Touchstone’s line that I used for the intro to this note since it so wonderfully encapsulates my feelings toward this tea. NE