#ketlee

[lazyliteratus]

This afternoon's tea: @ketlee.in Wild Galangal Ancient Green Tea. Basically, a green tea made from old-arse trees in Manipur, India that was scented with an herb I've never heard of before. Apparently, galangal is a rhizome, similar to ginger. . . The scenting process is very similar to the way jasmine green tea is made. Truth be told, I was frightened of this at first. It smelled like black licorice. . . Brewed up, though, it tastes like a Yunnanese oolong scented with hydrangea. Sweet and toasty . . #ketlee #greentea #tea https://www.instagram.com/p/B5oIhZqga1j/?igshid=1q7otpu8cbljk

[lazyliteratus]

It's been a slow day off. I didn't get to breakfast - or my first cuppa - until about noon. I thought I'd dip into something completely new to me, passed my way by @ketlee.in. It's a first flush "black" tea, hailing from the landlocked Indian state of Sikkim. . . No, this isn't a tea frim the well-known Temi garden, rather, a newer outfit called @bermioktea. The 15-acre garden is one of (if not, *the*) newest tea gardens in the country. Small-leaf china bush cultivars didn't go into the ground until 2002. . . Because of their youth, the leaves are positively bursting with aromatics. This particular first flush is from the 2018 harvest year, but it tastes like it was plucked a mere three months ago. Either that's a credit to impeccable storage, or the leaf material was just that well-processed. Also, could be that the floral nature of the leaves just don't dull down, even after a year. . . A very vibrant brew. . . #bermioktea #ketlee #sikkimtea #sikkim #firstflush #firstteaofmyday https://www.instagram.com/p/B04HfGYgfNw/?igshid=1jdui3ttpwgy6