This is the second Keemun black I am writing about. The first one is a very comforting tea for me. It was sweet and effortless to drink. This one, however, is more special. Not only because of the number of golden buds it contains but it offers complex aromas and I’d not know how to call them until I researched about this tea.
Keemun black tea was created in 1875 during the Qing Dynasty in Qimen, a county in the Anhui province. It is considered one of the finest of black teas in the world, and it has a characteristic taste which is associated with rose.
A research in 1978 compared the flavours of Keemun tea with Ceylon black tea. According to this research, the ‘rose’ flavour in Keemun comes from geraniol (rose-type odour) and 20 phenyl ethanol (rose honey-like odour), which is found much less in Ceylon tea.
With this tea, I experienced slight sweet and fruity notes with some maltiness. It was medium-bodied but had a complex character which I can now say was enriched with rosy notes. I now want to taste more keemuns to see how they differ in taste and aromas.
Tea Profile:
Type: Black
Origin: Anhui, China
Harvest time: 2019
Leaf colour: Tones of dark brown with some golden tips
Liquor colour: Amber
Tea aroma: Floral
Tea taste: Slightly sweet with malt, rosy and tobacco notes
Steeping/brewing: Place 4 g of this tea in a 100 ml gaiwan and pour water at 100°C. Rinse the first steeping after three seconds. Infuse the leaves for 10 sec for the second steeping and add 5 sec to each consecutive steeping.
Shelf life: Up to three years