I love this tea! It has officially replaced Royal Golden Safari as my morning black tea. Every morning I either have a guayusa or a strong black tea since I am not a morning person at all. I must admit when I normally make this tea, I load in the leaves and let it sit forever. I love my black teas crazy strong. Today I’m sticking to the parameters that we set on our website. I’m not quite used to drinking this tea this way.
As the name suggest, this is an Assam that comes from Taiwan. In the 1920’s, under Japanese rule, Assamica tea bushes were brought to the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan. At the time, the Japanese wanted to compete with the British in the black tea market. Since then this Assam has been refined by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station.
The long chocolatey colored leaves smell so amazing. I’m picking up notes of cherries, peaches, and dry earth. The body is rich and velvety and has a lovely malty-ness. I’m getting notes of cherries and apricots almost immediately then some cacao notes. When it settles I’m picking up raisins, clove, and cinnamon. There is some pleasant and balanced astringency to this tea. I would recommend this tea to any fans of black tea and especially to any fans of Assams that have not tried a Taiwanese Assam. This tea will definitely be a staple for a long time, very delicious, very interesting.
