Tea Review: Mark T. Wendell Formosa Keemun

September 9th, 2011

Category: Black

Tea Company: Mark T. Wendall Tea Company (website)

Ingredients: Black Tea

Vendor Suggested Preparation: not listed

Mark T. Wendall Tea Company Formosa Keemun

At a venerable 104 years old, Mark T. Wendell Company has perfected the art and science of selecting and purveying fine estate-grown teas. This variety, according to the website, was a favorite of the founder himself.

This is a great tea, but if you’re proficient enough to recognize a Keemun with your eyes closed, you may be surprised. This one behaves a little differently. Keemun teas generally have grainy, hay-barn, feedlot aromas. Dry, these big leaves lead with that smell, but there’s a fermented, fruity accompaniment that sets it apart.

Steeped, M.T.W. Formosa is a beautiful burgundy-brown. That magic “other thing” that changes up the dry aroma is present in the liquid as well, toning down the sharpish taste that I normally associate with Keemuns. Sweet…dry and a little puckery…it’s a little hard to describe, but extremely pleasant to analyze! Left (neglected for a couple of hours while I ran to the mall) to itself in the pot to cool, it reheats nicely without turning bitter.

Good tea reviews sum up with a pithy one-sentence summary recapping the tea’s personality in a few concise words. Because this one’s so not-run-of-the-mill-but-really-interesting, I’ll have to do in three: Steep. Taste. Repeat.

You can purchase the Formosa Keemun directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

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