Official what Black (Red) Tea Are You Drinking Right Now?

[joelbct]

Look at this beauty, the leaves themselves are so tempting .. I think I will order some tomorrow morning
Btw your are so right on this, so far the best Keemun I had were all from the ex-state-owned Keemun factory, they sure know how to process Keemun tea

Enjoy. And I agree, his $0.35/g $10/oz Keemun is not bad at all. Though clearly not the equal of the Tribute. Just slightly less smooth and just not as perfectly balanced or quite as complex- maybe lacking the special je ne sais quoi, though still quite solid, for those of us who aren't fortunate enough to drink $10/session teas every day.

[ethan]

Interesting reading William & Joel because I have trouble comprehending black tea (or perhaps any tea) selling for $2.40 per gram. Also, some teas including Keemun & Assam black, have never seemed to me to vary so much between good & better, so it is hard to imagine a far, far, superior "best". Obviously, I have never tasted the best.

I like reading people's feelings & thinking on a tea's worth, that is how one decides it is okay to buy some tea that is very expensive. (Or not okay.)

Thanks for posting. cheers

[joelbct]

Interesting reading William & Joel because I have trouble comprehending black tea (or perhaps any tea) selling for $2.40 per gram.

When I first got into tea, I used to marvel that the price made it so accessible. I'd rather that particular Keemun cost me $1/g like it did 10 years ago, but $2.4/g is still peanuts compared to what people happily spend on Wine or Spirits, cannabis, tobacco, a night out on the town, etc.

Ethan, if you were to pop down from Boston I'd prepare the $10/oz Keemun alongside the $70/oz Keemun and I'd bet you could tell me which was which blind, and appreciate the price discrepancy, even if black tea isn't your thing! I'll be hard pressed not to finish my remaining 25g in the next 5 days though

Drinking Sessa Estate Assam. Not bad, but at $5/oz not appreciably better than the Mangalam I ordered directly from jayshreetea India at $15/500g+ $15/shipping = $1.70/oz.

The Assam quest continues.

[Tead Off]

Interesting reading William & Joel because I have trouble comprehending black tea (or perhaps any tea) selling for $2.40 per gram.

When I first got into tea, I used to marvel that the price made it so accessible. I'd rather that particular Keemun cost me $1/g like it did 10 years ago, but $2.4/g is still peanuts compared to what people happily spend on Wine or Spirits, cannabis, tobacco, a night out on the town, etc.

Ethan, if you were to pop down from Boston I'd prepare the $10/oz Keemun alongside the $70/oz Keemun and I'd bet you could tell me which was which blind, and appreciate the price discrepancy, even if black tea isn't your thing! I'll be hard pressed not to finish my remaining 25g in the next 5 days though

Drinking Sessa Estate Assam. Not bad, but at $5/oz not appreciably better than the Mangalam I ordered directly from jayshreetea India at $15/500g+ $15/shipping = $1.70/oz.

The Assam quest continues.

I would think that Teaemporium could fix you up with some good Assam. Have you tried their teas? I have no experience buying Assam, but their Darjeelings are very good and the owner is a very nice guy whom I met up there.

[ethan]

Joel, I'll get down to New York mid to late summer, I think. Love to have a black tea session w/ you.

My comments were confusing, sorry. I do drink black tea regularly, the Himalayan Orange (HOR) of Jun Chiyabari, Nepal has been a regular for me for > 2 years. From Taiwan I enjoy a competition-winning black & a Ruby Jade 18. These favorite black teas cost 2 or 3 X > other black teas that I could also enjoy. They are better & to me better enough to pay double or a bit > double. I just did not know black tea got exponentially more expensive or better. I'd love to taste that greater worth!

No argument from me on relative cheapness of tea compared to booze etc. (I haven't drunk alcoholic beverages in > 40 years. $ saved on that = all my airfares to & from Asia etc.)

Teachat participants seem to talk about costs mostly for teaware and pu-erh. Cheers.

[kuánglóng]

I would think that Teaemporium could fix you up with some good Assam. Have you tried their teas? I have no experience buying Assam, but their Darjeelings are very good and the owner is a very nice guy whom I met up there.

AFAIR Rajiv (teaemporium) doesn't sell Assams, at least not back when I often visited his store on my way back home. Can't find any Assams on his website either but he used to sell some fine Darjeelings for sure.

[William]

Having some JinJunMei at the office .. so yummy!

[Tead Off]

I would think that Teaemporium could fix you up with some good Assam. Have you tried their teas? I have no experience buying Assam, but their Darjeelings are very good and the owner is a very nice guy whom I met up there.

AFAIR Rajiv (teaemporium) doesn't sell Assams, at least not back when I often visited his store on my way back home. Can't find any Assams on his website either but he used to sell some fine Darjeelings for sure.

Hmm. Could be my mistake. 5-6 years ago, I thought I had bought an Assam from him. Maybe I'm confusing him with someone else. If you can contact Mittal Teas in New Delhi, look them up on internet, I remember him having Assam and Nilgiri tea. Very nice people in Sunder Nagar market.

[joelbct]

Joel, I'll get down to New York mid to late summer, I think. Love to have a black tea session w/ you.

My comments were confusing, sorry. I do drink black tea regularly, the Himalayan Orange (HOR) of Jun Chiyabari, Nepal has been a regular for me for > 2 years. From Taiwan I enjoy a competition-winning black & a Ruby Jade 18. These favorite black teas cost 2 or 3 X > other black teas that I could also enjoy. They are better & to me better enough to pay double or a bit > double. I just did not know black tea got exponentially more expensive or better. I'd love to taste that greater worth!

Right, i recall you drink some blacks. And I agree, I don't like my daily drinkers to run me more than $100US for 500g, or $1/5g session, so 20 cents a gram.

Does seem a rarity to see a black tea priced at $2+/g, but silly as it seems I'd currently pay that price to taste the perfect Meleng + Mangalam Assams I drank in 2008-12. Better to pay $10/session than keep wasting $ on disappointment.

That was the best part of this $70/oz Hojo Keemun for me, finding a tea that lived up to its memory. The good Dian Hongs I can still find thru YS, but no luck yet on the Assams, my other favorite black.

I've spent $500 on tea so far this year, so I should wait until June/July 2017 crop to order any more. I'll try any recommended Assam vendors and estates for this season but then I'm giving up again if I have no luck

Edit, I caved and ordered samples of the Tonganagaon and pure gold tips Dikom from Harney (never seen this before in an Assam).

[joelbct]

Drinking Harney pure gold tips Assam. Really good, never had an Assam version of an all-gold-tips black/red tea. First Assam I've had in years that hasn't been disappointing.

Dry Leaf: http://imgur.com/a/0yJdX

Wet Leaf: http://imgur.com/a/ZSCad

Liquor: http://imgur.com/a/O0nbc

Link: https://www.harney.com/collections/all/ ... olden-tips

Cross-post review on r/tea:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/6 ... and_assam/

[William]

Drinking Harney pure gold tips Assam. Really good, never had an Assam version of an all-gold-tips black/red tea. First Assam I've had in years that hasn't been disappointing.

Dry Leaf: http://imgur.com/a/0yJdX

Wet Leaf: http://imgur.com/a/ZSCad

Liquor: http://imgur.com/a/O0nbc

Link: https://www.harney.com/collections/all/ ... olden-tips

Cross-post review on r/tea:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/6 ... and_assam/

Those leaves look so tasty!

[ethan]

Congratulations, Joel. I am glad that your long pursuit has not been in vain. Thanks for posting, especially since I would not have bet that vendor would be the one to end the disappointment.

[William]

Having some Golden Bud (金芽) in F1 early/mid 70s SP Hongni clay, I bought from Hojo-san a couple of weeks ago along with other reds .. malty/cereal/syrup's sweetness flavors, so yummy!

[Alucard]

Hua Xiang Jin Jun Mei Black Tea this morning. It's similar to un-smoked Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong.

[kuánglóng]

Really enjoying some of this Brazilian Assam ...
http://what-cha.com/brazil-grandma-umes-black-tea/

This is almost as good as an Assam can get, malty and fruity (citric) with a ceylon-esque briskness, some flowery notes (rose) and surprising throatiness.