Lovely, lovely Carolyn sent me some of this to try and I can see right off the bat why she likes it. It is a really delicious tea. The aroma is heavy and rich. The flavor profile evokes things that would make most dessert lovers drool – cocoa, caramel, honey.
It is smooth, and the flavors blend seamlessly. It is a tea that benefitted for me from sticking to the tip of the tongue and the back of the mouth, where the sweeter flavors came out to play. Sucking in air over it intensified the sweetness, but inhaling through my nose with a closed mouth evoked a kind of honeyed perfume taste that was extremely pleasant.
Dawn is a decadent tea, and yet it doesn’t leave you with a weighty feeling. Some teas are so luxurious that I feel like I should be in a food coma afterwards [tea coma?]. This certainly has that heavy, silky feeling in the mouth that I love, but something about the finish doesn’t feel heavy. The aftertaste is nice and light.
When I first saw the name of this tea, I didn’t really “get” it. I mean, it was a pretty name and all, but it seemed abstract to me. Now, I completely get it. From the dark leaves to the light amber liquid, to the heavy flavors lifting into airy sweetness. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea that was a metaphor before [though the fact that I can find one in this may partially be because I have a tendency to overanalyze things]. However, it makes complete sense to me, as someone who has already seen more than a few sunrises in her quarter of a century already.
It reminds me distinctly of one of my last days before winter break at UVA, when a bunch of us trekked up a big hill to the nearby-ish observatory around midnight. We had no real agenda other than spending some time with each other before the semester ended and we all went to our respective corners of the country. Boys tackling one another and girls huddling in the chill. Climbing trees and drinking beer out of a pony-necked bottle. Telling stories and laughing, and waiting for the sun to rise together. We grew quieter as morning approached and eventually settled down in a section where the trees cleared enough to see part of the campus. All you could here was us breathing, and our breath streaked the air around us. The darkness began to lighten as the sun started to warm the horizon as the blushing, yellowed, amber tones bled across the sky. The almost heavy feeling in the atmosphere that seemed to settle in as the typical waking hour approached started to lift, and within a span of time that seemed to pass far too quickly we’d witnessed a natural phenomenon. It’s an act that’s occurred more times than I can count, practiced and perfected over the eons, but I hope that it never gets old.
For a tea to mimic such a simple, beautiful thing that is strongly tied into the memories of so many people is pretty powerful, and I can see why this would be a true delight to wake up with. So I must say thank you to Carolyn, and make sure that I order some more of this. And soon.
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I’m so glad you liked it! It was a revelation to me, but clearly not such a revelation as it vouchsafed to you. I love your connection of it to dawn. I hadn’t seen that and had wondered grumpily what I was missing in my understanding of the name. But now that you describe it, yes, that is precisely the metaphorical taste of the tea. I’d kept looking at the leaves saying, “These look nothing like dawn. They’re dark brown.” So thank you for the enlightenment.
What a nice review. This sounds good I would put this on my to buy list.
@Carolyn I usually suck when it comes to symbolism-type stuff, but this made sense to me in a funny way. I’m glad my idiot-savant moment benefited you! Thanks again!
@silvermage2000 It’s very good.
Guh. And now we have yet another company I need to order from. This sounds…. awesome.
What a beautiful review, takgoti. I love shiver-inducing moments that happen like that. When everything in the universe just seems to be perfect. I love nights like the one you’ve described. When you just feel… ALIVE. I’m happy that this tea helped you feel that way! Yay to Carolyn for finding it!
Beautiful. I tend to stay away from dessert teas but this sounds lovely. Plus, dawn is my favorite time of day.
@Auggy Haha! This one’s worth it, in my opinion. I’m poking around to see what else I might try.
@teaplz Aw, thank you! Yes, that’s exactly how it feels. I’m sure that part of it is my over-romanticized side kicking in, but I don’t mind a little extra hazy halo around my fonder memories.
@Shanti It isn’t overwhelming sweet, which is very nice. It’s well-balanced. Mellow. I wouldn’t be trepidatious about offering it to any of my friends or family, which is saying a lot.
@takgoti You might enjoy their Honeybee Oolong or their Maharani. When I tasted the Honeybee I thought of you immediately. I can send you a bit if you’d like.
@Carolyn I hope that you know that I am not saying these things in the hopes that you or someone else will send free tea in my direction. If it’s really okay, then of course I would love to try some! And also, as soon as your husband stops glaring at your tea collection you let me know what I can send to repay the favor.
@takgoti No I didn’t think you were fishing for tea. I actually thought of sending you the Honeybee a few weeks ago but then decided that you might feel stalked if you kept receiving packets of tea in the mail from me that you hadn’t requested.
My wonderful husband has decided that the solution to the tea invasion is to get a step tansu to store the tea in and to place the teapots along the steps of the tansu. http://www.chinafurnitureonline.com/admin/images/enlarged_images/BJTS02RS_e.jpg
This is planned in our budget for March. So I just have to get to March and be very, very good and then all will be well in his world.
@Carolyn Shut the front door! That is too cool!
Teas that bring back memories are the best. Yes, I liked the post, but where’s the love it button?
yep, just added this to my shopping list. this tea sounds wonderful!
@ Carolyn – that step tansu is too cute! what a great idea!
Woot, just placed an order and included Dawn, thanks to your review. Also, THERE IS A TEA WITH MY NAME. Shanti tea. Shantea? I am excited.
@Ricky Aw, thanks.
@LENA It’s very nice indeed! I like it a lot. So smooth.
@Shanti Oh, nice! If you don’t like it, blame Carolyn. [Absolutely kidding.] And what? Trotting over to look. Oh, wow! AND ranked 7th! That’s pretty impressive. It sounds good, too, looking forward to the review!
Lovely.
Aw, thanks. It is one of very few fond memories I have of the year I spent at UVA. Needless to say, I hang onto it pretty tightly.
I’m so glad you liked it! It was a revelation to me, but clearly not such a revelation as it vouchsafed to you. I love your connection of it to dawn. I hadn’t seen that and had wondered grumpily what I was missing in my understanding of the name. But now that you describe it, yes, that is precisely the metaphorical taste of the tea. I’d kept looking at the leaves saying, “These look nothing like dawn. They’re dark brown.” So thank you for the enlightenment.
What a nice review. This sounds good I would put this on my to buy list.
@Carolyn I usually suck when it comes to symbolism-type stuff, but this made sense to me in a funny way. I’m glad my idiot-savant moment benefited you! Thanks again!
@silvermage2000 It’s very good.
Guh. And now we have yet another company I need to order from. This sounds…. awesome.
What a beautiful review, takgoti. I love shiver-inducing moments that happen like that. When everything in the universe just seems to be perfect. I love nights like the one you’ve described. When you just feel… ALIVE. I’m happy that this tea helped you feel that way! Yay to Carolyn for finding it!
Beautiful. I tend to stay away from dessert teas but this sounds lovely. Plus, dawn is my favorite time of day.
@Auggy Haha! This one’s worth it, in my opinion. I’m poking around to see what else I might try.
@teaplz Aw, thank you! Yes, that’s exactly how it feels. I’m sure that part of it is my over-romanticized side kicking in, but I don’t mind a little extra hazy halo around my fonder memories.
@Shanti It isn’t overwhelming sweet, which is very nice. It’s well-balanced. Mellow. I wouldn’t be trepidatious about offering it to any of my friends or family, which is saying a lot.
@takgoti You might enjoy their Honeybee Oolong or their Maharani. When I tasted the Honeybee I thought of you immediately. I can send you a bit if you’d like.
@Carolyn I hope that you know that I am not saying these things in the hopes that you or someone else will send free tea in my direction. If it’s really okay, then of course I would love to try some! And also, as soon as your husband stops glaring at your tea collection you let me know what I can send to repay the favor.
@takgoti No I didn’t think you were fishing for tea. I actually thought of sending you the Honeybee a few weeks ago but then decided that you might feel stalked if you kept receiving packets of tea in the mail from me that you hadn’t requested.
My wonderful husband has decided that the solution to the tea invasion is to get a step tansu to store the tea in and to place the teapots along the steps of the tansu. http://www.chinafurnitureonline.com/admin/images/enlarged_images/BJTS02RS_e.jpg
This is planned in our budget for March. So I just have to get to March and be very, very good and then all will be well in his world.
@Carolyn Shut the front door! That is too cool!
Teas that bring back memories are the best. Yes, I liked the post, but where’s the love it button?
yep, just added this to my shopping list. this tea sounds wonderful!
@ Carolyn – that step tansu is too cute! what a great idea!
Woot, just placed an order and included Dawn, thanks to your review. Also, THERE IS A TEA WITH MY NAME. Shanti tea. Shantea? I am excited.
@Ricky Aw, thanks.
@LENA It’s very nice indeed! I like it a lot. So smooth.
@Shanti Oh, nice! If you don’t like it, blame Carolyn. [Absolutely kidding.] And what? Trotting over to look. Oh, wow! AND ranked 7th! That’s pretty impressive. It sounds good, too, looking forward to the review!
Lovely.
Aw, thanks. It is one of very few fond memories I have of the year I spent at UVA. Needless to say, I hang onto it pretty tightly.