92

The smell out of the sample packet is rich and delicious. It made me go “wow.” Chocolate! Coffee! Sugar! A tiny bit of smoke, and some planty earth.

Deep dark reddish liquor. The many fragrances of the dry leaves smooth out into a malty, Yunnany aroma. There’s a little bit of smoke but it’s not super smoky.

The flavor is strong, bordering on intense. I wonder how it would be steeping only 3 minutes. Will try that next time. It’s definitely an eye opener at 4. The flavor has the intensity of coffee. Wonder what milk would do?

It isn’t quite as smooth and mellow tasting as it smells; it has some… not really bitterness, more a lack of sweetness that is surprising given the aroma. There’s smoke in the taste, but it’s not strong. The consistency isn’t chewy but the impression is stout, like a dark ale. There’s a kind of cocoa note in the aftertaste.

This one is going to be worth spending an extended visit with to see what variations might be possible. It will be interesting to go into a second tasting at another time now that I know what to expect.

Rating this because it has a lot of interesting things going on with it. Not sure how I feel about the intensity yet.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Auggy

Yeah, you totally had me at “Chocolate! Coffee! Sugar! A tiny bit of smoke…”

Tamara Fox

This one makes me feel like a queen if taken in the proper setting, i.e., an English tea garden setting :)

sophistre

I’m with Auggy on that! It sounds deeeeelicious…though I’ve found some teas jarring in the past when they promise one thing and delivery another, especially in the ‘sweet’ department. Still sounds worth investigating!

ashmanra

I love this one on mornings when I feel sore and sluggish. It really gets me started up and brightens my day. The smokiness is slight, and it has lots of flavor. I just ordered another tin with the new Harney coupon. Catherine would have probably had tea that was much smokier, I expect, since it would have been more like a Bohea.

__Morgana__

Ordinarily, the stronger the flavor the better as far as I’m concerned. Maybe I was just having a wimpy morning, but it hit me like a ton ’o bricks and/or like Cher in Moonstruck when she slapped Nicolas Cage and yelled “snap out of it!”

See, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY

LauraR

What coupon?

ashmanra

It is the online coupon that you enter at checkout. It is SUMMER12 and you get 12% off your order and at $50 you also get free shipping.

ashmanra

Love the Cher reference!

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Comments

Auggy

Yeah, you totally had me at “Chocolate! Coffee! Sugar! A tiny bit of smoke…”

Tamara Fox

This one makes me feel like a queen if taken in the proper setting, i.e., an English tea garden setting :)

sophistre

I’m with Auggy on that! It sounds deeeeelicious…though I’ve found some teas jarring in the past when they promise one thing and delivery another, especially in the ‘sweet’ department. Still sounds worth investigating!

ashmanra

I love this one on mornings when I feel sore and sluggish. It really gets me started up and brightens my day. The smokiness is slight, and it has lots of flavor. I just ordered another tin with the new Harney coupon. Catherine would have probably had tea that was much smokier, I expect, since it would have been more like a Bohea.

__Morgana__

Ordinarily, the stronger the flavor the better as far as I’m concerned. Maybe I was just having a wimpy morning, but it hit me like a ton ’o bricks and/or like Cher in Moonstruck when she slapped Nicolas Cage and yelled “snap out of it!”

See, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY

LauraR

What coupon?

ashmanra

It is the online coupon that you enter at checkout. It is SUMMER12 and you get 12% off your order and at $50 you also get free shipping.

ashmanra

Love the Cher reference!

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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