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I decided to get a sample of this tea from Harney and Sons with my last order and it wasn’t in the database yet so I added it this morning.

I confess the only other Bohea I have tried is the Bohea Imperial from Upton Tea which I loved. I was expecting the same love from this as well. :P

The dry leaf smells incredible, I am getting chocolate covered cherries. I steeped this for 4 minutes per H & S suggestion.

This is a very elegant tea, in terms of flavor it is very reminiscent of a wuyi oolong and I adore most of those. It has a definite cherry/plum flavor with a bit of malt and buckwheat. As the cup cools and the flavors become more prominent I am reminded a bit of a red wine. Unfortunately as the cup cools I am getting some bitterness that I’m not really enjoying.

I confess I liked the Upton version better because of the smoky quality… I’m not getting much smoke in this particular Bohea, but I wonder if someone else might perceive it differently? I’d like to try steeping the remainder of the sample I have using the gong fu method. The picture of the tea on their website looks lighter than what I have in my cup so I may have needed to adjust my leaf to water ratio.

I don’t think I will be buying a full size of this but in any case, I look forward to the reviews of others as they come in.