Bergamot Red (black) Tea
Bergamot Red (black) Tea (Fo Shou Gan Hong Cha)
Fragrance: delicate citrus.
Taste: light, a tinge sweet, piquant citrus.
Aftertaste: classical tea, refreshing, fragrant.
Color of the brew: cognac diamond.
Effect: notably invigorating, mobilizing.
Recently, due to the permanent and steady demand from the tea drinkers, one of the main areas of activity of our Group has become dedicated to experiments with the natural flavoring of teas. We do not doubt the fact that good tea is good on its own for a moment. We are confident that the tea most refined and exquisite is the one that did not undergo any additional flavoring. At the same time, we are assured that any condescending attitude to flavored tea as to a substandard drink is wrong and ensues primarily from the fact that the modern tea market is dominated by flavored teas of low quality, and the main purpose of flavoring itself is to disguise the faults of the raw material.
We have chosen a different path. We are using only high quality teas as basis for a flavored drink. We are working only with the natural flavoring. We are choosing to use the classical flavoring methods — this is how we came to have the green teas with the flavors of garland flower and peppermint, leave alone the classical jasmine tea. We are in the search for new methods of flavoring — and we invented the wonderful herbal tea mixes for siphon brewing. And, finally, we are actively experimenting with the natural additives to teas — this is how we created our green teas with the leaves of the cinnamon tree and the germinated brown rice. And this is namely how we got our tea with the natural bergamot zest, the tea we are now telling you about.
In 2009, we decided to produce a classical bergamot tea on our own. To produce it, we tried to use the natural Taiwanese bergamot zest instead of the oil. This opportunity seemed luring — firstly, because this way such tea would be natural to its maximum, and secondly, because we love to dabble in the unusual.
Assam in its Taiwanese large-leaf form is a fairly light tea. Therefore, the bergamot peel we added it with transpired not merely in its fragrance — delicate, light and citric, but also in its taste — the very pleasant citric sweetness, not too persistent, very well harmonized with the tea taste itself. In principle, the result obtained can be extrapolated from the taste of the strong Ceylon tea with sugar and lemon, the taste so well-known to everyone. First, try to imagine the taste of this strong tea with lemon, and then simultaneously — this is of utmost importance — heighten its every characteristic two times as exquisite and refined. The light tea, the light citric notes and the very light sweetness — and that all is very transparent and extremely delicious.
Possibly, this is one of a kind in the modern bergamot tea market. It is not impossible that no such tea was at all produced for market within a few last decades.
Try it! It is a unique drink.