Tasting: Emerald Black Tea

It’s winter in Wichita and with such a nice snowy day I couldn’t resist taking a short walk in the local nature park I live by.

Sadly the snow only lasted a day but I got to enjoy it with some fantastic tea.

Hugosum is a tea company and farm that specializes in black tea from the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan. I got to visit their store during the 2019 TOST program and was given this tea, Emerald Black, as a gift. I recommend giving their site a look at https://hugosum.com.tw/. Now, on to the tasting!

Inspecting the dry leaf

Leaf style: Long, twisted
Color: Charcoal black

To help me with this tasting I used aromas and flashcards by the Scents of Tea Aroma Kit developed by Scott Svihula and Virginia Uttermohlen Lovelace MD. I’ll have a separate blog post about it soon.

Dry leaf aroma: Slightly earthy, malty caramel, floral berry. Strongly honey and cocoa powder

Brewing

I brewed the tea at 210° for 4 minutes with 300ml filtered water.

Inspecting the wet leaf

Wet leaf aroma: Malt, honey, floral berry, sweet, with hint of black pepper and clove

Inspecting the liquor

Liquor aroma: Spiced yams, brown sugar, hint of caramel and honey

Taste

Taste profile hot: Malt, sweet potato, notes of violets and small red berries, wine-like with a smooth body
Aftertaste: Medium dryness and lightly tannic

Cooled: Similar flavors, tart with stronger tannic character and very strong floral/fruitiness

Final Thoughts

This was an excellent tea and easily one of my favorite black teas. It’s flavor and aroma profiles were all on the same range making it layered and harmonic with a mouthfeel that kept it interesting.

I brewed this tea stronger than normal to bring out all the notes and subtle hints. I re-brewed it at 198°F for 3 minutes. This brought more of the smoothness and sweet undertones out which is what I would suggest for enjoying a cup rather than analysis.

This is the tea towel I used, by the way. It was a Christmas gift from my mom.