Country of Origin: Kenya
Leaf Appearance: dark, twisted with lots of golden tips
Ingredients: black tea
Steep time: 4 minutes
Water Temperature: 200 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain teacup and mesh strainer
Liquor: dark amber
When we think of black tea from Kenya, CTC style tea bags are what normally comes to mind. This tea is proof that there is so much more to this growing region than that. The leaves were quite beautiful. Even after surviving the long journey from Canada they were mostly whole and large in size. There was so many golden tips that this could easily have been mistaken for a Darjeeling or Yunnan black tea. The taste was complex with earthy, chocolaty notes and a raisin-like sweetness. There was a mild briskness but it wasn’t bitter at all. I resteeped the same leaves just a few minutes later and the result was just as good as the first time around. This is one black tea that I would not recommend using milk or sugar with. Doing so would just cover up all of those wonderful nuances. Although I used a simple metal strainer, this tea would definitely lend itself well to gongfu style brewing.
You can find out more about this tea here.