Every now and then a tea falls into our laps which confound expectations. This is a ridiculously delicious and fascinating brew which tastes like a super-aged tea despite only being a couple of years old!
It comes from (supposedly) 200-year-old Gushu trees in Yunnan so it would be classed as a Gushu Dianhong Black Tea. It was sourced from friends in Taiwan who is certain that it was picked in 2018.
BUT, it tastes like a tea which has been aged for at least twenty years - deep, complex and almost alcoholic in its state of fermentation. Ever since I tasted this sample I have been sipping on this tea as my private brew and I cannot get enough of its funky, spiced deliciousness.
How can a two-year-old tea taste like a twenty-year-old?! My only guess is that, since it was vacuum sealed after processing, it may have fermented with the residual water content in the leaves. I cannot imagine any other reason for its crazy, complex taste.
This tea defies all the rules for us. A tea sourced without that much information and clearly stored in a very irregular way. But, ultimately, tea is about taste and we think that this is the most unique teas we have enjoyed this year so forget the rules and grab this B.A.D (Bizarrely Aged Dianhong) tea for your collection. It will raise many eyebrows amongst even the most seasoned tea lovers.
Not BAD meaning bad but BAD meaning good!
