Teavivre's Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea

Sometimes, after I've sipped only flavored teas for a while, I start to crave a simple black or green tea instead. Happily, this latest craving coincided with the delivery of a generous box of new tea samples from Teavivre! Here you can see the thin, wiry gold and brown leaves of their Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea.

The tea comes in an individually sealed foil packet, and a wonderful woodsy scent greeted me as I opened it.

I'm glad I read the directions for once, because I was intrigued that it said to steep this black tea at just 185 degrees for 1-2 minutes. I don't like my tea too hot or too strong, so I appreciated the guidance.

I used my white porcelain tea-tasting set, which always makes me stand up a little straigher and take my tea tasting a little more seriously. I enjoyed smelling the aroma of the wet leaf, which was an even woodsier version of the dry leaf. I recently walked by a construction site with a friend and sniffed appreciatively, for I love the scent of fresh wood shavings, and that's what this tea's scent reminded me of.

The biggest surprise was the taste. This was a very rich, smooth tasting tea, and there was a definite sweetness about it—with no sugar added at all! I swished it around in my mouth. I sipped. I savored. I even steeped the leaves a second time. Yes, that sweetness was definitely there, and I found it an almost honey-like sweetness. Only afterward did I read the Teavivre description of the tea, and that sweetness wasn't imagined--it's intended! If you'd like to know more about this terrific tea, go here.