Gold Leaf Black Tea 2018 (30g)

The Garden

LaKyrsiew sits in one of the more secretive terroirs of the tea world, in Meghalaya Province. The province is just south of Assam, on the other side of the valley to Darjeeling. LaKyrsiew was planted in the year 2000 with tea plants from Darjeeling. Its small scale farming and micro factory creates just 1,500kg of tea each year.

This Batch

LaKyrsiew’s best black teas have the long lost characteristics of high quality Indian hill teas. They’re well structured and complex teas, which Darjeeling might have once produced. This batch is an example of LaKyrsiew’s best. The leaves are almost fully oxidised and full of silvery gold tip, suggesting a moderate 40% evaporation before rolling.

Tasting Notes

This batch is medium bodied with hints of sweet woods. The T78 varietals it a touch of ginger cake character. There’s also a hint of cocoa, and the tannins are peach-skin in character. This is a fine craft ‘black tea as it used to be’; well worth trying.  We suggest 3g per 150ml cup at 90°C for 3 mins.

Storing and Ageing

As with most black teas, this will drink well for 5 years from picking (Autumn 2018). LaKyrsiew’s black teas in previous years have aged very well: The 2011s and 2012s are tasting superb now (2019). Keep in mind that that they usually go down in flavour for a year along the way and there’s always a chance it may not recover. Enjoy now and keep a jar aside in a cool place if you’d like to have a go at ageing it.