This is a very enjoyable tea. The twisted, tippy leaves have an aroma of raisins, wood, cocoa, and malt. When I added water I was initially disappointed to see that the leaves were broken, as I've paid less for full leaf Yunnan. Fortunately, the taste doesn't seem to suffer from this fact, with no bitterness and only a slight astringency. When brewed for around four minutes, it has a smooth, thick, malty and fruity flavor. The finish is sweet and slightly peppery, with lingering notes of raisins and chocolate. A longer brew brings out an intense chocolaty sweetness, which seems to be a common characteristic of Chinese black tea.

It resteeps well for a broken black tea. I get two good cups easily even with longer brew times, and a third slightly weaker (but still quite good) one if I have the patience for a 20 minute final brew. The character of the tea doesn't really change each resteep, but by lengthening the brew I can control the balance between being more fruity or more chocolaty. It might be fun to play with this aspect of the tea in my gaiwan.

After overlooking the region for a while, Yunnan black teas are quickly becoming one of my favorites. This tea is good enough to keep Yunnan at the top of my list when looking for new teas to try, but it lacks something to make me feel that it's exceptional; I think I'll try Yunnan Sourcing next. As usual for Octavia, it's overpriced on their website, but it can be found cheaper at some tea and coffee shops.

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