I am really picky about my black teas. The vast majority I have tried in my life are either boring or over spiced or too sweet. It’s hard to find one right in that Goldilocks Zone.
Enter Red Blossom’s Organic Formosa Red, Native Cultivar black tea. This one comes damn close.
Red Blossom has several Formosa Reds, this one being from plants native to Taiwan. They also have an Assam Formosa Red made of plants transplanted to the area, a “#18”, which is a mix of the Native and the Assam, and a Three Cultivar Red, which is a mix of three different varieties in Taiwan.
I started with this one, being the old school, the base to which I could compare the Assam, and then the mixes.
It was a good choice. This is a great, basic, black tea. It gets close to being a bit spicy for my palate, which for everyone else out there would be not spicy at all, but hey, that’s just me. I’m not into the whole spicy thing.
This actually sort of reminds me of that Twinnings Irish Breakfast Tea, just a little less fruity and more tea-y. a little bit bolder.
There is also an underlying, almost hidden taste in here. And it’s a really nice balance, one I don’t notice at first, but once you get through the sweet, spicy first taste, you find a nice mix of creamy, almost cognac, mixed with a bit of honey, and finally ending with a nice, clean, dry finish.
This is a damned good black tea. I can’t wait to try the others!
