Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Formosa’

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.

This Grace tea is called Winey Keemun and gets its name from sharing an affinity to wine, at least in using similar descriptors such as body and colour. This tea is a blend of teas from 3 continents: China, Formosa and Indian teas, similar to an English Breakfast Tea. Grace reminds us this is a specialty tea as the leaves have been extra slow-fired.

I did a search and came up with some fairly standard wine terms from Dummies.com. So, is it possible to take wine terms and apply them to tea? I picked a few wine terms and placed their tea compliment following the term: Aroma/bouquet, body/liquor, flavour intensity/depth of flavour, softness/mouth feel, and tannins/dryness in the mouth. Tea typically needs much more inspection than wine. Tasters read the actual leaves. Wine lovers read a label. One could say my humour is “tannic” (dry).

Lets look at the leaf first. The leaf is interesting. I think the longer leaves are from Formosa. There are some broader matt-black flat leaves possibly from China that have a good curl and lots of smaller pieces possibly from India’s CTC processing including some golden tips. The scent of the leaves is a bit like a stone fruit, a peach or apricot. What I am expecting I’m not sure. The leaves are telling me the colour will be quick to express but the flavours will develop with time. Grace recommend a 5 minute steep. So, I’ll try the traditional 2.5 grams in a glass tea pot with 5 oz water at 200 degrees F. for the 5 minutes, then lets see what part of this tea is winey.

The colour of the liquor is clear and bright with a medium mahogany brown-red and a malty aroma to the liquor. There is an acid-bitterness taste and citrus notes that are obvious. The flavour intensity is not as deep as an orange pekoe but not as complex as a Darjeeling, so I’d call this a medium intensity tea. There is some natural sweetness coming through the bitterness. The Formosa minty-clean on the breath is unmistakeable. The softness/fullness in the mouth is enjoyable but not as much as other teas, so I’d call this a medium for mouth feel. The tannins are not light but they also do not have the same strong levels as tannins in wine either. The bitterness is peculiar though and left a strong after taste in my mouth. Astringency from tea tannins leaves a dry mouth, not a bitter mouth. I decided to add milk. Sure enough the tea could take the milk, killing the bitterness. This left me wondering if a 4 minute steep would be better.

I returned to try a new shorter steep and the results were much better. Sure enough, the liquor was smelling floral now. There was a slight smokiness coming through on taste from that slow-fired approach and the bitterness gone. There were taste complexities coming through including a bit of fig-flavours coming in now. There is a pleasant lingering taste . Its amazing what a difference 1 minute will make. This tea is not very forgiving, so watch your timing carefully. Winey tea.

As a recommendation, this tea can be taken in the afternoon with a savory or sweet snack or with a heavier meal in the evening. I think it would be great as an after dinner beverage as well as the robustness would be appreciated.

You can purchase the Winey Keemun English Breakfast directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

I like big chunky tea leaves and the Mark T. Wendell Formosa Keemun fits the bill. A fully oxidized black tea from Formosa (aka Taiwan) is unusual as Formosa typically produces the famously large-leaf fragrant oolong, a green tea. Taiwan is known for its superb tea industry and its workers handle tea with care and appreciation. Mark Wendell referred to this tea as “the burgundy of teas” boasting a mellow full-bodied brew with a superb bouquet. However, some reviewers say it’s too mild a tea . This black tea is typically served as a breakfast beverage so I can understand that a robust tea would be expected by some. A keemun would typically not be taken with milk or sugar and a light sponge cake would probably accompany this tea if served in Taiwan.

The dry leaf is cut and dried with a gentle curve. The pieces are about a 1/2 inch in length and thick, not wirey as you would expect from a mainland China Keemun. The colour of the leaves is not jet-black either. There is a silvery appearance reminding me of fermented Pu-erh tea. The scent of the dry leaf is a bit minty and bit chocolate and a bit floral.

The recommended preparation from Wendell is “1 rounded teaspoon and 1 for the pot. Steep for 4-5 minutes in 190-200 degF (88-93 degC) water”. The amount of water is not specified. So, I will use 2.5 grams in a pre-warmed 5 oz Gaiwan as my tasting measure with 200° F filtered water. I think 4 minutes would be best. The leaf is quite thick so a longer steep is needed. I would use the full 5 minutes if I were preparing a larger quantity (12 oz.) in a tea pot and I would keep it warm under a tea light. As a special note, I tried a heaping teaspoon (from my kitchenware) of the tea and weighed it. I was at 2.4 grams with my kitchen teaspoonful, almost bang-on. I tried a traditional kitchen measuring spoon ( 1 tsp.) and ended up with 1.8 grams, considerably less. So, you can see that if you’d end up with a lighter tea if you were too scientific about it.

On the examination of the wet leaves, I noted brown-leather coloured, fully opened leaves. There were some stems but generally a quality leaf was used. The leaf and stems were a bit dry on rehydration. This tea could go up to 5 minutes but has little more give after the first 4 minutes. There is a distinctive floral scent to the wet leaves to enjoy as well.

The liquor pours off clear and bright with a light amber-red colour. There is the scent of caramel and a slight malt note from the oxidization, similar to an Assam. With low astringency the natural sweetness comes out. There is a hint of smokiness. The liquor is full in the mouth, leaving a pleasant residual and minty-cool freshness in the mouth, almost like after brushing your teeth in the morning. I can see adding a tiny bit of lemon to pick up the brigntness. I tried the tea after an initial tasting with a blueberry bran muffin to see how it would stand up to additional sweetness and flavours. The tea tasted quickly like an orange pekoe, losing its sweet floral notes and leaving some astringency that seemed to now ask for milk.

My recommendation is to enjoy this tea mid-morning to early afternoon where you are not expecting robustness. While it would be best to drink this tea solo, try serving the Formosa Keemun with light fruits such as melons or pears as the tea will not stand up to strong flavours. I don’t think its meant to be. I can see Mark Wendell sitting in his office sipping this tea while working on his business papers. Light and mild, this tea would not distract his attention. What a contrast from his dearly loved smoked Lapsang Souchong Hua-Kwa tea!

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

In 1875, a failed civil servant traveled from his home in Anhui Province, China to Fujian Province. The goal was to learn the secrets to black tea production. While Fujian was mainly known for its white teas and oolongs, the region also had Golden Monkey to brag about. He returned and set to work on a type of his own. The results were a hearty and sweet “red tea” that exceeded his wildest dreams. The new beverage took the name of the county where it was created – Qimen. Or as we “Anglish” know it, Keemun.

The tea also gained popularity as an export, becoming the principle ingredient for the titular English Breakfast blend. There are five true Keemun varieties in existence and one “faux” Keemun produced in a province west of Anhui. I had no idea that a Keemun variant was produced in Taiwan, but leave it to Mark T. Wendell Company to surprise me. Their site mentioned that this silver-leafed tea was one of their founder’s favorites, referring to it as the “Burgundy of tea”.

Rarely has Mark T. Wendell let me down in their selection of Formosa (or Taiwanese) teas. The first of theirs I ever sampled was the much-lauded Hu-Kwa – a Lapsang Souchong-inspired smoke tea. The notes were subtler than its campfire kin and also possessed a strange floral presence. From then on, I knew Taiwan could make a black tea. Their Formosa Keemun also promised something unusual. At first sight, the leaves were indeed as silvery as the site description proclaimed; they were also longer and twistier than their Chinese inspiration. The aroma was an odd mixture of dust, earth, nuts, rice and spice – like I was smelling a pu-erh blended with flowers and herbs.

Black tea brewing instructions on the MTW site called for a four-to-five-minute steep in 190F-200F (88C-93C) water. That was much stronger than I took my black teas. I had to give in to my palate preference on this one. I raised the water temp to 205F, used 1 heaping teaspoon of leaves in 8oz, and steeped for three minutes.

The results were a far lighter-looking beverage than I anticipated. The liquor ended up a dark gold color with a middling smoky/nutty nose to it. The lightness was probably due to my steep preference, but most Keemuns I had sipped fared well at three minutes. The flavor – as is often the case – was where this showed promise. Keemun proper usually possessed a bitter foretaste then settled into its sweeter notes. This, on the other hand, went straight for an earthy (almost leathery) prologue and settled into a textured pinecone-like middle. The aftertaste was understated but not unwelcome.

I can’t say this lives up to some of the best Keemuns I’ve tried. Keemun Gongfu does figure-eights around this variant on nuance alone. That said, the earthy characteristics give it a body and taste similar to another Formosa offering – Ruby Black. And from my sipping perspective, that isn’t bad company to keep. It’s still quite an acceptable alternative.

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

This is the second tea blend I have tried with Formosan and Indian teas. I am wondering about Formosa teas are. They are from Taiwan. From what I can gather, Formosa teas are oolongs. So, I am supposing that the one in this particular blend is on the black side of things. This does explain the flavor profile. I was not expecting an oolong to be in this tea. I think a shorter infusion in my smallest teapot would be a better brewing method for this tea.

I was right, less leaf and a different brewing vessel improved this tea. I treated the leaves as I would if I were brewing on oolong: less leaves, cooler water, small tea pot.

Ok, now to the review of this tea.

Amber colored liquid poured from my teapot to my cup. First smell is of a traditional tea smell. No fancy additives taking away from the tea leaves. The sip revealed an earthiness that is hard for me to pinpoint. If you could taste water running over smooth stones, that would be this tea. It is simple tea with many layers of flavor.

The astringency is there, but I expected that with this blend. All the teas are bold in their own right and then to have here all together in one blend, this is one tea that definitely says Good Morning in a BIG way.

This will have to be a weekend tea for me. Time is a factor for me during the week, this tea will cause you to ponder the story of the tea leaves and solve the problems of the world. With each new infusion, another dimension unfolds. The second infusion is milder. I don’t see this going over two infusions and still being viable. I suppose the reason for this is the other two black teas as I rarely think that black teas taste good after two infusions.

All in all, this tea is good. If you are curious about oolongs, this may be a good starting place. It tastes like an oolong but has all the characteristics of black tea.

You can purchase the Winey Keeman English Breakfast directly from the Grace Tea Company website.