Gather!

I tried to be very conservative with brewing this tea as it seemed like it might be bitter. I can definitely taste the rich, malty tones but there is still quite a bit of bitterness. I might try using less dry leaf next time.

Thanks to Donkeytiara for sharing with me

I am gutted that this tea is not currently available from Butiki or any of the other folks who carried it. Most folks probably demoted it in their heads just by seeing the letters CTC in the description, but that was a mistake….a beeeeeeeeeeg mistake. If you are a black tea drinker, one who doesn’t shy away from a hearty mouthful of tea (with or without milk) in the morning, find someone with a stash of this tea that isn’t crazy about it and ask for it in a swap. There are chocolate bottom notes, gorgeous baked bread middle notes and a lovely fruity top note that is combined with very little astringency, to make a “just complex enough” breakfast cup that is smooth and more than satisfying. It will make you make the “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..” noise when you take a mouthful… and I live for that!!

OOh! Steep time is 2 minutes on this. Don’t oversteep. If you do, you’ll think I’m a liar with very bad tastebuds.

So I’m on the uphill climb of getting my husband to take the time to actually TASTE tea instead of just looking for the teabag of his childhood taste. I chose this tea for him to try this morning, and he actually could taste the “smoothness” of tea! Yaaay! Baby steps! Royal Teas of Kenya have a great Kenyan tea here, even though it masquerades as a “plain old CTC”…. I really enjoy this malty straightforward kenyan tea. Just enough maltiness, chocolate and baked bread notes, but with a nice “breakfast” feel to it in your mouth. I will be keeping this around for as long as it is made!

I was in the mood for a Kenyan tea this morning, but didn’t want to deal with astringency….dang this is one smooth mouthful of flavor for a CTC. Again, although the packaging says to steep for 4-5 minutes, DON’T!! A 1 minutes steep seems impossible for a kenyan tea, but since this is a CTC, 1 minute is perfect. Malty, bready goodness in my cup with milk and sugar. NOM!!

This is the same Royal Kenya tea that Butiki sells…. I purchased it from Gather! via Amazon, because Butiki was out of it and it is just a NICE lovely cup of smooth Kenyan tea to have around the house. When I got the package from Gather!, something wasn’t right….did I order the wrong tea? The Gather! packaging told me to steep this tea for 4-5 minutes….now I KNOW that’s not right for a ctc, so I checked Butiki’s website….yep, if I’da done what Gather! told me to, I’d be drinking tea/tar! Instead, steeped at 1 minute, I’m drinking a smooth, malty, tasty cup of brown joy. Stacy and Butiki, you have trained me well!

This was a sample sent to me when I ordered from Gather! and my second go at it. Today I’m still smelling the wonderful bread note from it, but again, this seems to be a lighter African tea….lacking the mouthful of flavor that I typically expect from African teas. It also feels a bit astringent in my mouth today….but I never know if that’s the tea or me having not drank enough water these days…..I don’t like teas that leave my mouth feeling dry. Is that what most people call astringency? Sigh….so much to learn! Anyhow, Is this BAD tea? No, not bad. Will I restock? Nah….the world of tea is a big big place and I’m ready for some other good stuff!!

This is a lighter tasting kenyan than my “usual suspects”….which was good for today, as I had a bummy tummy when I woke up this morning. I steeped for 4 minutes, and the nice bread-y aroma was immediately apparent. There wasn’t alot of body to this tea, but the flavor was really nice. It is a nice alternative for the african tea drinker when you don’t want a WALLOP and you’d prefer a nudge.