The aroma that wafted from the bag was glorious, all roses, almost overwhelming. Opening this generous sample was like walking into a florists.
I put the sample in a jar for storage and kept the empty bag next to my desk for hours, literally just deeply inhaling the lingering scent from the empty bag. Having made an all-day commitment to working on a Puerh sample I did not try this fragrant tea until the following day when I could dedicate my full attention on what was clearly going to be an interesting and refreshing new experience.
The following day I prepare to sample the tea and notice the scent coming out of the jarred tea is not as strong as it was in the foil bag but the strong buttery floral tones come right back as soon as the long stick-like leaves are immersed in the warmed gaiwan. First few steeps are reminiscent of Oriental Beauty, which I didn't not expect, but this is brighter, flashier, with more fruity undertones than OB. The first three brews are so bright and crisp I leave the four gram sample in the open gaiwan for a later hour in which to reintroduce them to the water. I have a strong feeling this will steep 6-8 times, but don't know as of this writing. We shall see!
My initial feeling is this is a lovely tea and I hope to see some subtlety come in with the later steeps.
The TeaSide web site can be hard to find so here is a little help for you! www.tea-side.com
From the owner of TeaSide we read:
Thai tea is still rarely found in tea shops. But we try not to abuse this rarity, range of teas in our store is always changing and growing. Our goal is to create a high-quality collection, without reference to the exotic nature of the product.TeaSide has no exclusive work commitment with any tea factory, I always choose the most delicious tea, inspecting all interesting and serious tea producers. Sometimes it happens that from the whole range of large factories we buy only one, the best variety. Every season I spend extensive testing over again. I arrange parallel brewing and tasting of four-five best representatives of the same kind for almost each tea. More often, only one instance will be included into our assortment.
I am totally charmed by her words, and others on the site and look forward with great anticipation to trying a lot more tea varieties from Thailand.
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| Photos from my gaiwan of TeaSide's lovely Jian Xuan Red Tea! |