| Photo: Shan Valley |
Country of Origin: Mynamar
Leaf Appearance: dark, very small
Ingredients: black tea
Steep time: 5 minutes
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain teacup
Liquor: bright reddish brown
This tea was earthy and sweet with nutty notes and a mild fruitiness. Smoky notes in the background rounded out the flavor profile, adding a nice balance. It had a bold astringency but did not become bitter when left to steep for too long the first time around (oops!). The dry tea was small and CTC style and there was quite a bit of leaf dust inside of the tin. That is not necessarily indicative of the quality because it tasted more like a Keemun. Although you could use milk and sugar if you really wanted to, I recommend foregoing both. It is hard to peg down the terroir’s exact effect, but both of the teas that I have tried from Shan Valley have been very unique. The pyramid bags are convenient for the office so this tin has taken up residence on my desk. I use it as a bit of a breakfast tea but it would be suitable for drinking any time of the day. Occasionally one of the strings will rip off but that’s not really an issue for me since I often use pyramid bags that have no strings. There’s a few more selections from them waiting to be reviewed and I’m looking forward to exploring Burmese teas more.
You can find out more about this tea here.