Q: How does Jacobiasca formosana affect the flavor of bug-bitten teas like Honey Black?Ī: The bite from the Jacobiasca formosana causes the leaf chemistry to change and this results in a change in flavour. Sometimes we find a tea by chance, while other times it takes years to find the exact representation we’re looking for. All jokes aside, we’re able to pull from our extensive network and find very unique teas. When searching for teas for our Garden to Cup collection we taste a lot of teas! It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. Q: Was it difficult to source Honey Black? How many teas did it take to find the perfect one?Ī: Yes, Taiwan’s black tea production is quite limited, so we were very lucky we were able to get this in our collection back in 2015! Luckily, during our search we found this gem from the Lu Ye Tea garden, which on top of having great oceanfront location has very high quality standards. You might detect some small variances to the one from 2015, but these are due to the change in weather in the growing region from one year to another. What made you bring it back? Is the current tea different from the previous one?Ī: We brought back our beloved Honey Black because we thought it would make a great feature in our Garden to Cup collection! This dark and full-bodied black tea is a unique find from the eastern cost of Taiwan, the same location we sourced it from when it first launched. Q: I loved the Honey Black that DAVIDsTea offered years ago and was so bummed when it was discontinued. If you’re a fan of gongfu-style brewing, I find that it performs really well that way too. I recommend drinking it on its own without any milk or sweetener so that you don’t miss out on all of that complexity. Honey Black is the black tea for people who think they don’t like black tea. It was mellow but still had a nice round body. If I didn’t already know it was black tea, I might have guessed that I had been drinking a highly oxidized oolong. The mouthfeel was smooth without any bitterness. A pleasant sweetness lingered after each sip along with a grounding maltiness that tied it all together. That was followed by jammy notes of red fruits and the slightest hint of rose. It was a deeper and darker taste that reminded me of a buckwheat honey that I enjoyed recently. As expected, honey was the dominant flavor note that grabbed my attention. Honey Black brewed up a beautiful reddish amber color. Once they did I was able to see very even oxidation with buds connected to one to two larger leaves. It took a few infusions for the leaves to fully open up. I prepared this tea using the classic glass bubble teapot from DAVIDsTEA. I used the recommended water temperature of 200℉ with an infusion time of 3 minutes. There were some stems, but the sample I received consisted mostly of whole leaves. They had a noticeably sweet and earthy aroma. How cool would it be to fly over the tea fields with a thermos of Honey Black in hand?ĭAVIDsTEA’s Honey Black has a twisted leaf style that was very dark in color with fuzzy golden tips visible throughout. While doing research for this post I discovered that Lu Ye is famous for its annual hot-air balloon festival. ![]() This picturesque region is ideal for growing tea because of its abundant water sources, mild climate, and rich soil. Honey Black comes from the Lu Ye Tea Garden, a small producer located on the east coast of Taiwan. Their description notes that it is high in caffeine so this is a tea you might to want to steep earlier in the day depending on your level of sensitivity. I love seeing a larger company contributing to a fairer, more sustainable tea industry. Jacobiasca formosana, the leaf hopper insect responsible for bug-bitten teas like Oriental Beauty, is the cause of the honey-sweet character of DAVIDsTEA Honey Black.Īs is the case with all of DAVIDsTEA’s Camellia Sinensis offerings, a portion of the proceeds from this tea help to support the Ethical Tea Partnership.
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