Imperial Red Tea

I have managed to miss two Carnivals!  I totally spaced that yesterday was the deadline!  Must do better this week.

I do have another new tea to report on though.  Imperial Red, from In Pursuit of Tea, is a rich black tea from the Fuijan Province of China.  The first thing I noticed on opening the packet was the smell of the leaves.  Sweet.  Cocoa-ish, and sweet.  That augured well; I love to follow my nose.

Even the smell of the steeping tea was a bit cocoa-ish, so I was a little disappointed that it wasn't as strong in the taste.  The strongest flavor is smoky.  Not overwhelmingly smoky like a lapsang souchong, but definitely smoky.  The cocoa remained only in the after-breath, that flavor that lingers after you've swallowed, as you breathe with your mouth closed and the aroma and tatste of the tea combine.  I'm sure there's a tea-expert word for that phenomenon, but I don't know what it is.  I just call it the after-breath, and it's one of the things I love best about tea.  About some teas.

The other most noticeable thing about this tea is the color, which certainly lives up to its name - definitely red, as you can hopefully tell from the picture here, and quite different from the Délicat White Tea which has a lighter, yellowish color.

This is a good tea for sipping on a cold winter evening, which I just happen to have handy at the moment.  It's brewing up to be quite a storm outside my window, but this tea sort of says, cuddle in, snuggle down, all is safe and warm here.

Comments

[tea Love]

This is my favorite tea. Can not find it anywhere any more. Searched everywhere.

[Louise]

Love the site!
I was reading your "what say, lady grey" and thought the reciepe was great , will definately try it out.
I would love to send you some of the best earl grey I think you'll ever taste and possibly some Assam or Darjeeling. Would love it if you could do a review on it and let me know what you think...
Not sure how to get i touch with you though.

[aka Nik]

yum! It looks great.