73
drank Keemun Hao Ya A by TeaSource
1216 tasting notes

Pulled this as my next “daily drinker until gone” package of old tea. Like (most) of my old tea, it still wasn’t opened yet! We got dumped on with the white stuff last night and I just want a simple, warm cuppa this morning.

Very tiny leaf for being full leaf and not CTC! Brewed 3.5g to 350ml 205F water for 3 minutes. Brewed cup has a lovely aroma of subtle barbecue smoke, tangy orange, and molasses, that together make me think of some fancy meat glaze.

Ooo, that is a strong cup of tea! Has a very deep flavor and some astringency, but is surprisingly smooth for how dark of a cup it produces. I get a strong burnt leather and smoke note, with a bit of a malty undertone. Toward the end of the sip, a subtle citrus is present, most close to orange zest. I get sort of a dark molasses and black pepper, thick and sticky coating feeling left afterwards on my tongue. Also, a ghost of a rose note left in the aftertaste, too. Tea is just a bit mouth-drying, now that I’m halfway through the cup.

It’s tasty, and I do like keemuns, but I might try using a little less leaf next time and see if that makes a difference on the astrigent/drying qualities without affecting the flavor too much.

Flavors: Astringent, Burnt, Citrus, Drying, Floral, Leather, Malt, Molasses, Orange Zest, Pepper, Rose, Smoke, Umami

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
Cameron B.

I should steal your idea for having a designated daily drinker… I haven’t been doing so well with drinking my old teas!

Mastress Alita

All my teas are 2oz. packages and there is just no way I’d get through that much if I didn’t put in that sort of effort.

Cameron B.

I’ve been mostly focusing on small packages just to get that number down quickly and give myself some momentum. But I should definitely have at least a cup a day of old, larger teas too!

TeaEarleGreyHot

Yes, small packs make achievable goals! Big cakes of Puer are hopeless, so pile them in the back of the cupboard and pretend you’re aging them—thereby turning hopelessness into victory! Eventually old age turns us ALL into penny-pinchers and we can brag about the well-ripened Pu’erhs we wisely set aside!

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Comments

Cameron B.

I should steal your idea for having a designated daily drinker… I haven’t been doing so well with drinking my old teas!

Mastress Alita

All my teas are 2oz. packages and there is just no way I’d get through that much if I didn’t put in that sort of effort.

Cameron B.

I’ve been mostly focusing on small packages just to get that number down quickly and give myself some momentum. But I should definitely have at least a cup a day of old, larger teas too!

TeaEarleGreyHot

Yes, small packs make achievable goals! Big cakes of Puer are hopeless, so pile them in the back of the cupboard and pretend you’re aging them—thereby turning hopelessness into victory! Eventually old age turns us ALL into penny-pinchers and we can brag about the well-ripened Pu’erhs we wisely set aside!

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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