Assam Melody

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!

(No, not for this tea…though it’s pretty good! This excitement is due to my Adagio order arriving today. It’s my first go-around with them (re: teanewbie), and so I decided to order a whole slew of samplers to start familiarizing myself with tea types I’ve never had before…and I’m going to work through them all. This is the first one. Whee!)

I like this. What I like most about it is that it lacks any bitterness whatsoever, which surprises me, because it seems as though it should have some. I can vouch for the mouth-dryness mentioned in some other tasting notes, though it’s not parching or intolerable.

The smell of the tea as it was brewing was wonderful, but maybe some of the wonderfulness is due in small part to memories out of my childhood. I spent a lot of time with horses (as a lot of little girls seem to) and the smell reminds me a little bit of the scent of hot bales of alfalfa hay in the sunshine…a sort of earthy hay sweetness and warmth that I have no analogue for. If I had to make another comparison, I might say raisins, but not sharply sweet raisins…more like the aftertaste of raisins.

I got a little bit distracted during the second steeping and I’m not sure how long the leaves were in the hot water, but I know the temp was down to 208 instead of 215 when I poured it in. The flavor is more black-tea this time, weaker but still tasty. I’m looking forward to steep #3, but I suspect I’ll be done with it after that.

I’m still fussing with my ratings…I’ve rated so few teas that it’s hard to know where to place this little marker. Stuff is subject to change for a while…

In my thermos, Assam Melody. I’ll need something to sip on for awhile…

Slowly cleaning out my tea cabinet still. I just finished my sample of this one.

While this is nice, I probably won’t reorder it. I like a certain amount of bite to my black teas and this one doesn’t really have it. I’m having it over ice, slightly sweetened. It’s a smooth, rather gentle tea with a flavor that reminds me of sweet potatoes and earth. It isn’t very astringent, either, but that’s a good thing. Anyway, this is incredibly ordinary and mild, so I’m not a huge fan.

First off, I’m sorry for blowing up everyone’s dashboard page. Ya’ll drank a lot of tea this weekend!!! Just trying not to miss anything.

The latest order from Adagio is in…lots of new teas to try and post about. My Monday morning is starting off with a cup of Assam Melody. I’m very happy with the cup despite being unable to identify one of the smells/notes. The closest I can guess is an ever so slight pine taste? It hits my tongue right before the aftertaste kicks in. I like it. It’s probably not pine. Maybe it smells like clean tea. Like a fresh out of the shower tea? Anyone else have a guess?

I’m not blown away by this tea, but it is quite nice. A couple of seconds after swallowing (after the cup cooled down), my mouth is devoid of moisture. Is Assam known for giving a dry-mouth effect? I did not notice this when the cup was still very hot.

Saving the savory teas until I’ve tried all of my other tins…..

Nice malty black, but as others have said it just doesn’t have the oomph that like it my morning black tea. However, this is great blended with other stuff, which is what I did! Should be posting a review of my Adagio blend soon. :)

Sweet and smooth, brews nice and dark. Tasty, but lacking any “bite”. Slight astringency but not much, just a bit of that drying sensation on the back of your tongue. Notes of raisin and of course maltiness.

Tea: 2 tsp
Water: 16oz, filtered
Additives: None

Wanted to relax tonight before bed, so I thought the perfect way to do this was to take a nice, hot bubble bath, sip some Assam Melody from Adagio teas, and finish the novel I’ve been reading.

I wanted to try a sample that wasn’t too risky since I didn’t want to accidentally grab a sampler I didn’t like and be stuck with it once submerged in the tub. Chose a basic black as this seemed easy not to hate, and thankfully I was right. The smell is fragrant but not overly so, just a dependable yummy smell that all good black teas have when you inhale deeply with your nose hovering in the cup. The color was a dark red that looked rich and deep. Taste wise it was sweet and pleasant. At the very end of each sip there was a something…almost a bitterness but not quite, and I see what some mean almost about a dryness (this was hardly noticable to me, however.)

While everyone touts it’s lack of bitterness, I must say I accidentally steeped this one a little over three minutes and hit the five mark. I can see where it would be overwhelming if you oversteeped it much too long. It’s a basic clean black, pleasant and enjoyable, warmth and relaxing. There is no amazing pizazz that shouts from the cup and sings to the senses, but it’s definitely enjoyable.

Pretty much exactly what I expect from a black tea. Nothing spectacular here, but a solid choice when craving a basic black.

My last cup of tea at work in my rush between clients before I can go home to my Della Terra Eight Candles :) Or…hopefully one of my 3 Black Friday tea purchases in the mail!! I like a nice plain assam or ceylon tea, so this is a good end to the work day and the lack of flavored teas today makes me really look forward to a delicious treat this evening!!

Did a taste test today with this tea plus 4 other assam teas. This was my first try of this tea from their sampler 4-pack. This one came out #5 behind TeaSource’s Panatola and Ramanugger, InfusionOfTeas Halmari and SpecialTeas Rembeng. This one has a rather noticeable yam flavor note in it. Since I like yams I wasn’t sure if this was a positive or negative. I decided it was out of balance compared to what I like in a good Assam so it pushed it down the ranking. The brew was lighter more yellow than the others darker more amber coloring. I drink this black but with sweetener. I would not order up this one given the other excellent assams I have found out there.

Nice, smooth tea to wake up with. Also makes a tasty iced tea.

This is my first assam tea and one of the few unflavored black teas I have tried. It is very smooth and naturally sweet. My friend added a touch of sugar which made the tea far less enjoyable. Will definitely be trying more assams in the future.

Striking, malty, heavy tones in a nice accessible way. This is a solid Assam tea – taking the malty thickness you enjoy in PG Tips every day and expanding on it more thoroughly, but never in an over-the-top way. Strong nose and quick finish. It’s nice to have an Assam straight for a change instead of as I usually have it, in a blend. Nice work again, Adagio!

Another back-log. I love this so much that I’ve been forcing myself to drink some of the other teas in my cupboard to make it last longer.

Slept right through my alarm (again), so had to make do with my emergency Assam stash + a teabag. (I have a little tea case that I keep in my purse for exactly this purpose, it has little kitties in little teacups on it – yay craft markets!)　I didn’t quite put in enough tea leaf to suit my early morning taste (or lack thereof, rather), so I find it a little weak, but it has served it’s purpose. I’m quite fond of this Assam, honestly, it’s very forgiving and mild.

This tea is amazing! It is so amazing that in order to drink more of this I washed a coffee travel mug and it is now my Assam Melody mug!

It has everything one could ask for in a tea. The flavor is not idle, it dances all over the place and grabs your attention at every sip! It teases at first waits a moment and then blooms into citrus,melon. I expected it to fall back down into a black dryness, but it shocked me by veering over to an almost earthy note and stopped short. This tea does that at every sip, it doesn’t dampen towards the end like most teas.

This is the first tea that I can’t wait to reorder in large vast quantities.

I bought a sample of this as part of Adagio’s black tea sampler. It’s a robust, flavorful and fragrant tea. Stands up well to milk and sugar, or very refreshing and clean tasting on it’s own.

Decided to go for a second cup, and I’m glad I went with a plain tea instead of a blend.

A nice, straightforward tea. For me, it’s not really light, yet not really strong either – right in the middle.

I’m surprisingly happy with this tea! I decided to let the water boil to brew a stronger tea, and it seems to do the trick. Adagio ended up sending me a replacement set of black tea samples and a little something(s) extra too at their expense. Well… It worked. They sent some stronger teas for me to try out, as I had complained that their teas were too thin.

It’s light and slightly sweet. It’s a satisfying after-dinner black tea.

This one took me off guard. This is a very rich specimen, at least in the looks department; quick to infuse – I was afraid of overdoing it! – and surprisingly not very strong.

Heavy amber color and smells slightly smokey. Taste is very mellow — it reminds me of the Autumn Laoshan Black by Verdant, but gentler. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make much of an impact. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but I probably won’t actually buy it (came with the Raja sampler set).

Might try 4 minutes for the first reinfusion.

EDIT: First reinfusion: yup; nope. There’s just not a whole lot in this thing.