Had this last night, but I was too tired to log it then. Lacking any other reason to sequence this sampler of six teas, I thought I would knock out the two that smelled the most alike first.
This one has a much more pungent smell when dry than the assam. The assam’s fragrance seems to be almost light, definitely not minty but sharing some of that quality in the nose. This one I opened, sniffed, and said, ‘figs’. That’s what it smelled like to me last night…dried figs. This morning I’m getting more of that barn-hayloft-horses smell I mentioned in my assam note…but where other people might find that off-putting, I really like it. It’s like hay and leather.
The taste of it was surprisingly grassy for something that smelled to me as though it would have darker raisin elements than the assam. Grassy, and then I was able to get the smoky quality the longer I sipped on it. I like both of these equally, I think. The assam might be easier to drink a great deal of, but this one was just as good for totally different reasons. I only had time to steep it once, but next time I’m going to be curious about steeping it several times, as it, like the assam melody tea, lacked bitterness on the finish.
