Hao Ya 'A'

Not as smoky as I was anticipating (makes sense though; my intro to smoke teas was a very hardcore lapsang souchong served at Crumpets and this is my first keemun-on-its-own); brewing it smells more like toasty chocolate than anything, with the smoke sneaking in on the chocolate note’s coattails. The smoke’s subtlety is really quite nice here because the bigness of the toasty chocolate aroma complements it so well.

Does taste rather bitter (which kind of works actually, with the chocolate aroma…makes it seem like an almost painfully dark bar of chocolate). I’d steep it for a minute less next time and see if that makes it perfect.

Powerful indeed. I need to spend more time with this tea before giving it a proper review.

This tea is just what a good keemun should be. The leaves are small, dark brown, and wiry. The aroma is strong and rich with notes of both dark chocolate and malt with a little smokiness. The tea soup is dark copper in color.

The feel of the tea is smooth with no bitterness. The flavors of chocolate, malt and smokiness mix together nicely. I should note that I drink this tea with a little sweetener and a splash of milk. I infused the leaves for a second time and enjoyed another cup although a tiny bit less flavorful this time.

The third infusion was still enjoyable but it was more astringent and felt a little thin so I did not try for a fourth. Overall, an enjoyable tea experience – robust tea with a nice balance of flavors. I would definitely purchase this again.

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple”. – Oscar Wilde

Harney and Sons’ Hao Ya ‘A’ is a complicated, beautiful beast. The dry leaf of this keemun has a strong musty scent with a very slight cocoa note. The wet leaf emits a more mellow, smoky smell. The scent is neither inviting nor offending. The strong, muscular scent does not necessarily translate to the taste. The brew is gentler with a dry-forest, earthy flavor. Woodsy. There is a profound dark toasty taste that intrigues. But the real stand out is the superb dark chocolate aftertaste. An exquisite dark chocolate that is finely bittersweet. The more I sip, the more I respect it. I’m loving this.

This is a thinker’s tea. Deep. Crafty. Quite possibly, menacing. I don’t see this as an everyday tea. This is a tea for a special occasion. An occasion where one wants to shake up life’s monotony. An occasion where one wants to question everything that is perceived as true.

This tea has a nice, dark color and a crisp, smoky aroma. The flavor is not bitter, not too dry and not very smoky at all, as I thought it would be from the aroma and my experience with other Keemun teas and blends such as English Breakfast. It is even less smoky than its nearly as delicious sibling, Hao Ya “B”. It has a very clean, crisp, fresh taste, very complex and sophisticated. This tea has a depth of character unlike any other tea I have tasted. This really is an excellent tea. It does not need cream or sugar to be fully appreciated, but I found that if you do use cream and sugar, both work better with this tea than either alone, but be cautious; you only need a very small amount of both to augment rather than overwhelm this tea’s natural flavor, which just keeps getting better and better with every sip. Even the aftertaste is itself a unique and flavorful experience. I must admit, this tea has greatly improved my heretofore under-informed opinion of Keemun teas and may indeed have supplanted others as my tea of choice. I am delightfully surprised by how delicious this tea is and I’m already looking forward to my next cup and to sharing this tea with others!

The leaves are a very fine dark brown with just a few grays to represent the experience contained in this tea. At once one will recognize the unique scent of this tea – an unmistakable smokiness beckons your sip. My first reaction to this tea was strongly towards a similarity to some coffees, but after about a cup and thinking about why this connection rose into my consciousness, I realized this was so because the distinctive taste stays with you as you exhale, especially through the nose. Coffee has a similar effect, a lingering aftertaste. The taste, however, is not that of coffee, there is a cocoa note underwritten by the tea’s characteristic smokiness. I had not previously been fond of Keemun’s but this is rather an exception, the swift kick it gives has grown on me and I drink this tea when I need to concentrate or get moving.

This is a good classic Qimen ( “Keemun”) tea, easy to measure, brew, and drink. The leaves are chopped to about 1/4 inch (dry), and are fragrant of cocoa. I noted the dry leaves seemed coated with tea dust, suggesting some rough handling or transit, or maybe the bottom of the barrel—LoL. Brewed a teaspoonful in a plastic drawstring teabag with boiling water for 4 min. Good, full mouthfeel (no discernible cocoa flavor) with the classic spicy-peppery Qimen taste on the back of my tongue and a long pleasant finish. Minimal astringency with a nice sweetness. Plenty of caffeine.

I am grateful to have tea, any tea at all, any comforting warm beverage at all, full stop. But the more I drink this one the less I enjoy it. It’s harsher on my throat than other teas. It could be the weather. I could be coming down with something. :shrug: My palate may just be gravitating away from black teas.

song pairing: Sonata in B Minor, K. 27 (Domenico Scarlatti) – Lucas Debargue

I am now leading a team at work including a new person who just joined us last Monday. I haven’t “officially” been a people manager before so this is a new thing for me. I hope I’ll be good at it. I’ve seen the effects of toxic management on people and my goal is to at least not be that.

As a result, my workload has increased exponentially rather quickly. Last week was essentially back to back meetings all day long and trying to get work done in the interstices. Next week looks like a lot of the same. It’s a good thing I love my job.

As a result (yeah, I know I used this to start the last paragraph, too), I haven’t slept all that well this week. My fitbit is telling me I got eight hours last night and the quality was pretty good, but I feel pretty beat. Maybe that’s why I’m excited by this tea.

The dry leaves don’t reveal much about the tea in their scent — pretty typical earthy/leafy smell, but dude — once steeped, what an amazing smell! It’s pretty much pure chocolate to me, with a tiny bit of smoke and fruit around the edges. The liquor is reddish brown (emphasis on the red) and clear.

The aroma is, oddly, better than the flavor. But the flavor is still lovely. The chocolate isn’t as strong in the flavor, which is probably why I love the smell more. I was telling someone the other day I’d rather die than live in a world without chocolate — which is, ok, an exaggeration, but not by much.

The flavor has more bread/malt in it. I looked back at my note on the Hao Ya B which indicates that I found that one sweet. I don’t find this one sweet, but it isn’t sour or bitter either. I can see where some have said this has a leather note. It’s more savory than sweet, and the smoke and savoriness together produce something reminiscent of leather.

But I generally think of leather notes as making a tea somewhat heavy and potentially rock like in the stomach. This one is substantial, but not what I would call stout or heavy.

I like it quite a bit. Without tasting it next to the B version, I can’t say which I prefer. So I’ll rate it the same.

So, I’m stuck at a weeklong youth retreat for a position I’m about to leave. I find this situation infuriating. Fortunately, I managed to carve out some time for a morning gongfu session. I know I don’t do a ton of Keemun, but this was really nice.

Obviously, I gongfued this tea. My current setting wasn’t ideal (I had to set up shop in a dormitory room), but I managed. I did not conduct a rinse due to the limitations of my surroundings. I started by steeping approximately 5-6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 212 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the initial infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of chocolate, plums, and leather. After infusion, I detected emerging malt, brown toast, smoke, roasted nut, and wood scents. In the mouth, I discovered intriguing notes of dark wood, brown toast, cream, plums, smoke, roasted nuts, chocolate, and leather. Subsequent infusions allowed the nut impressions to separate. I began to pick up roasted almond, hickory, and black walnut. I also began to detect sorghum, pine, cedar, black cherry, apricot, minerals, and roasted grain. The later infusions were dominated by minerals. There were, however, lingering touches of wood, smoke, leather, sorghum, and nuts.

I know it is not exactly the season for strong black teas, and as previously mentioned, my setting did not lend itself to a gongfu session, but I found this to be a very nice tea regardless. The Keemuns from Harney & Sons seem to enjoy a good reputation, and after trying this tea, I can certainly see why. I would have no problem recommending this to anyone looking for a flavorful black tea.