A dark and chocolatey tea journey.

vendor: harney & sons

origin: anhui province, taiwan

leaf appearance: short, thin, dark leaves

first infusion: 15 seconds

following infusions: +5 seconds

water temperature: 195°F | 90° C

liquor: amber color

Leaf

The leaves are short and are so dark, they appear almost black. When dry, the leaves give off an aroma of malt and dark cocoa. After the first infusion of the leaves, a stronger scent of cocoa appears.

Gaiwan

Liquor

The liquor was an amber with a strong scent of cocoa and malt. The cocoa is almost non-existent in the first infusion. On the third infusion, the flavor of cocoa overpowers the taste buds, and a slight floral flavor tickles the tongue at the end of each sip.

Reflection

It’s surprising how the cocoa flavor magically appears!

The first infusion starts off like other black teas, but as the leaves were allowed to steep for longer, this tea was like drinking a smokey, bitter chocolate.

During my first experience of this tea, I wasn’t a fan of that bitter chocolate flavor. The tea also has a slight astringency made my tongue feel a little too dry - reminding me of how it feels to eat baking cocoa. But after a few sit-downs with this tea, it slowly grew on me.

If you’d like to experience a slight smokey and chocolatey tea journey, I recommend trying this tea.

Try again?

No, for the price point of this tea, I wouldn’t add it too my collection. But as always, I’ll still explore other keemun mao fengs out there!