The Kent & Sussex Tea and Coffee Company

I’m going to be doing a bunch of possibly pointless, definitely uninteresting to anyone but me, notes about straight-up strong black Irish/English blends. No ratings for the time being, but at some point.

This — I find confounding (though it’s not alone, as everything about this applies to a couple of Bewley’s teas that aren’t in the database yet). I don’t get a loose leaf tea that’s – as far as my understanding goes – made to be a perfect teabag tea. This is tiny CTC tea – possibly the tiniest bits I’ve come across, and the only way I can make a decent cup of tea is to put it in a teabag. Otherwise, too much dust and you can’t strain it well, and it gets bitter & overly astringent in a flash. So I’m getting a very high quality teabag, by filling one of the huge ones – plenty of room for leaves to move – but I’d rather get a loose-leaf tea when I buy a loose-leaf tea! Taste is good if not mind-blowing, and it is nice and strong.

Just finished the last of this off and will have to do a few, “let me be fair” type comments to qualify my meh rating. First thing is that I was probably looking for – not a replacement – but an everyday, cheaper version of Yumchaa’s Chilli Chilli Bang Bang. That’s just not fair to most teas! Also, silly of me to try this one probably, as I’d never put orange biscuits in my gingerbread. Had it had any noticeable ginger flavours, a bit of orange might have been okay, but all I got from this was a rather faint generic citrus fruit. It should have had more taste, as there really are big bits of almond, peppercorns, and ginger is hardly an expensive ingredient to add to your gingerbread tea! (Actually, my bad again for not thinking harder about that ingredient list.) I’m guessing Yumchaa’s rooibos base is a lot better too, as if I weren’t looking at the tea, but drinking on a blind taste test, I don’t think I’d know it was rooibos.

All in all, not offensive in any way, but not something I’ll buy again.

The ingredient list is a bit odd – not sure what “China Sencha” is, for one thing. But this is a nice tea all the same. Smells just like creamsicle in the tin, sweetly creamy and vanilla-orangey! And it is a pretty tea, if not quite as elegant as the picture on the website would suggest. That may be a good thing though, as a piece of orange that big and full of peel might add a bitterness the tea doesn’t have at all. Taste is more flavoured green tea than creamsicle, which is a good thing, and it’s a nice smooth tea base, whatever it is. Still doesn’t taste quite as good as it smells, though it’s very tasty. I’ll keep experimenting, and will be reordering when I finish the small size order I got first.

No notes yet.

Name: Assam Harmutty Second Flush
Supplier: The Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Company
Origin: Harmutty Tea Estate

Notes on Tea When Dry: Very small leaves with alot of golden tips.

How Prepared: 3 heaped tsp in ball infuser for pot
Water Temperature: 90ºc/195ºF
Steep Time: 4 mins

Colour: Pours Dark Golden
Aroma: Malty

Tasting Notes:

An excellent black tea. A lovely blend of Assam and Kenya tea. It has a very smooth taste. Very pleasant as a breakfast tea.