Wow, what a find!

I discovered this tea when looking for loose-leaf black teas to throw into an Amazon order to get over their free shipping threshold, and I was pleasantly surprised. I love wild arbor tea from Yunnan province, which I often buy from Yunnan Sourcing, and I've had it from Mengku, Jingmai, and Da Hu Sai.

This tea was similar to all of those teas, but was, amazingly, about half the price, and nearly as good.

The dry leaf is strongly aromatic and the aroma is complex. It has deep spicy and herbaceous notes, less smoky than some Yunnan teas, but rather toasty.

The brewed cup is clean and smooth. The aroma is predominately toasty, with hints of flowers, spice, and malt. The commercial description says that this tastes like Assam, but I disagree. There are some faint notes in the aroma that remind me of Assam, especially larger-leaf Assams from some of the more remote areas, such as is sold by TeaOrb, but it doesn't taste at all like most Assam. Rather the taste is intermediate between that of a Ceylon OPA and a Wuyi Rock Oolong. The flavor is similar to a Ceylon OPA but smoother and the aroma is much more complex.

Very easy to brew. Forgiving about leaf quantity, temperature, and time. The leaves are big and easy to measure out, and they infuse slowly. This tea handles multiple steeps excellently. Brewed Western-style, it makes two very robust cups with ease; it would be a great candidate for Gong Fu brewing because of how slowly it infuses.

I like how I feel after drinking this tea. It has a moderate caffeine level, less than most Assam and most breakfast teas, but more than some black teas, certainly more than most ones as smooth and mellow as this one, and more than some of the wild arbor teas I've had from Yunnan Sourcing. I prefer drinking this in the afternoon. It's more mellowing and relaxing than uplifting, but it does offer a little of both effects.

I normally do not like (or recommend) buying from companies that sell only on Amazon and do not have their own website, but this tea was really outstanding, among the best teas I have had in a long time, definitely one of the best you can find on Amazon, and probably the best price and value I have ever seen on a wild arbor tea. If you need something to throw into your order, consider this.

I especially recommend this tea to anyone who likes wild arbor Yunnan teas. It is very similar, I'd say probably indistinguishable, like if you served this to me and told me it was some new offering from Yunnan sourcing I would believe you.

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