Dinosara

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Brown Sugar Fig Black Tea from Ovation Teas

Dinosara drank Brown Sugar Fig Black Tea by Ovation Teas

I tried this one with a little lower steep temperature this time since the assam seems to have a bit too much bite for my tastes. I love the concept behind Ovation Teas but I’m not sure if I’m in love with their black tea base.

So far so good! My first sips are yielding a slightly sweet, dried-figgy taste without any bitterness to the base. As it cools there is something that comes out… not quite a bitterness, but some kind of Assam-y-ness that I just don’t find very tasty. I don’t think that the base is low quality, I just think I generally dislike Assams. C’est la vie, you live and learn. I still enjoy the teas enough that can drink them, but I don’t think I’ll be craving them often (and some are probably good candidates for taking home to drink with a bit of milk and sugar).

2012-02-03 10:39:56 -0500

195 °F / 90 °C

3 min 0 sec

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Comments

KeenTeaThyme 2012-02-03 11:20:32 -0500

This sounds really interesting… adding to my shopping list…

TeaEqualsBliss 2012-02-03 11:48:51 -0500

Oh!!!!! I have been wanting to try this one!!!!! eeeeeee!

SimplyJenW 2012-02-03 15:31:09 -0500

I think you have described what I did not like in this one. I think it would be awesome on a lighter tea base.

Dinosara 2012-02-03 16:11:41 -0500

Jen – Yeah, I love the brown sugar and fig flavorings, but not the bite of the Assam. A pure Ceylon or a Chinese base would be great!

Cheryl 2012-02-03 16:21:01 -0500

Troubled black tea base sets off an alarm in my head (have trouble w. Adagio’s base in flavored blacks). They are on my “to try” list though. Hmmm.

Dinosara 2012-02-03 16:25:47 -0500

I’m not sure if it’s a troubled base or just that I don’t get along with Assams. Also it seems to work better with some flavors than others. Plenty of others do like their black base, and from what I’ve tried of their greens and whites they seem nice.

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Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

I’m a grad student and in my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

I have an Adagio Teas UtiliTEA kettle and a Tea Forté Kati cup for brewing. I also have a Chinese Ru Kiln tea set for gongfu brewing.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: These teas are mind-blowingly good to me.
89-80: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
79-70: Tasty teas that I enjoy, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
69-65: Teas that I would probably drink again, but wouldn’t seek out. They don’t quite do it for me in one aspect or another; often just not quite my style
64-60: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
59-50: Bleh. I usually choose not to finish the cup because life’s too short to drink tea I dislike.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.