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Tea review, part one: Boh tea from the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia.
My sister-in-law, who is Malaysian-Canadian, brought this tea as gifts for her & my brother's family's summer US visit. I was fortunate to be at her parents' home when she handed me the tea, and so witnessed the jealous interest of her parents. They didn't quite come out and say, "Where's ours!?" but the wish for the tea was clear. Fortunately, she had tea for them and their friends as well.
I made the tea as my second pot today, knowing i needed to find out if it would be suitable for my first pot when the current Organic China Keemun runs out. One criteria for my morning pot is a difference i find between China teas and Indian teas: i think it is an astringency. Apparently, per wikipedia, the Indian tea plants are a distinct botanically from the Chinese tea plant, which may account for the difference in the teas.
My guess would be that the Malaysian tea plantations were planted with the Assam variety of C. sinensis, so i suspected that the Boh tea would be too astringent for my morning pot (on a fairly empty stomach with no milk). Unintentionally, i have committed the perfect test: i let the tea steep for hours. This is a usual mistake for me, particularly with the first pot of the day, and surviving this mistake is a prized feature for me. The Keemuns survive it -- and so did the Boh tea. It's actually been just fine over steeped. I won't describe it based on this tasting, but i look forward to my next pot of it.
My sister-in-law, who is Malaysian-Canadian, brought this tea as gifts for her & my brother's family's summer US visit. I was fortunate to be at her parents' home when she handed me the tea, and so witnessed the jealous interest of her parents. They didn't quite come out and say, "Where's ours!?" but the wish for the tea was clear. Fortunately, she had tea for them and their friends as well.
I made the tea as my second pot today, knowing i needed to find out if it would be suitable for my first pot when the current Organic China Keemun runs out. One criteria for my morning pot is a difference i find between China teas and Indian teas: i think it is an astringency. Apparently, per wikipedia, the Indian tea plants are a distinct botanically from the Chinese tea plant, which may account for the difference in the teas.
My guess would be that the Malaysian tea plantations were planted with the Assam variety of C. sinensis, so i suspected that the Boh tea would be too astringent for my morning pot (on a fairly empty stomach with no milk). Unintentionally, i have committed the perfect test: i let the tea steep for hours. This is a usual mistake for me, particularly with the first pot of the day, and surviving this mistake is a prized feature for me. The Keemuns survive it -- and so did the Boh tea. It's actually been just fine over steeped. I won't describe it based on this tasting, but i look forward to my next pot of it.
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