About a year ago I was in a local Asian market place and they had these tiny fruits sitting on the check out counter. While these fruits did not look like anything I had seen before, they did resemble some type of berry. The always pleasant couple who run the store asked me if I wanted some Lychee. They explained that if I want some I need to act quickly as they really are only available fresh for 2 weeks during the year. They quickly picked one up, showed me how to peel it and let me taste. I was in love !!! Yes, wrap me up a pound of those ! I can’t wait for this seasons fresh Lychee.
Obviously, when I saw the 8 oz tin of Black Lychee Tea in the Asian store (made by Golden Sail) I could not pass it up. At $5.99 ½ lb it was also reasonable. Of course I could not tell if there were dried Lychee in the tea or not since the packaging was mostly in Chinese. It was packed well in a tin with double lids and a light white paper surrounding the tea inside.
I opened up the tea when I got home and it of course it is a flavored tea, no dried fruit inside, but the aroma was amazing. I brewed this tea at 185° for 1 minute for the first steep. Subsequent steeps were each a little longer. I got 3 steeps out of this tea with the lychee flavor still strong, after that the lychee flavor drops off dramatically.
The liquor of this tea is a clear brown with a tinge of red. There is a very slight astringency which you would expect of any inexpensive black tea. I do not like astringent tea and I was not put off by it. To be honest the astringency did not come until about the third infusion, which was probably left sitting for 5 – 7 minutes because I got caught up in another chore.
I like this tea and it’s price. It got a thumbs up from everyone on the tea tasting board. While they were not overwhelmed by it, they enjoyed it. One of my tasters said the aroma and taste made her feel as if she were in a spring garden. That conjures up a nice picture since she was actually in the desert of Bahrain serving our country. I am glad to report that further tastings will go to her stateside since she is packing out in just one day.
Our next post will be on a Silver Needle White tea. I think you will be interested in what our tasters said about this tea.
