Assam Harmony

Not bad. Not bad at all. :)

Lightly bready. Malty flavor. Pleasantly soft. Bread-like aroma too.

I like this tea. I like assams for their bread-likeness. This is a good smooth example so I’m pretty happy with it.

Yummy.

After a few days of being away from thinking about tea (but not away from drinking it, I guess), and a few days of indulging in hot chocolate with the weather as bitter as it has been, this morning I just wanted something brisk, bracing, and unadorned in my cup. I opted for this tea, and I wasn’t sorry. I don’t usually add to my teas, I like them just fine unsweetened and unmilked unless my sweet tooth is kicking up…but this morning?

This morning I dropped one of these into my cup: http://www.gingerpeople.com/crystallized-ginger/premium-cut-crystallized-ginger.html

And it was just what I wanted. Sweet, a little spicy, and a treat at the end of the cup. Yum.

On another tea-related note of awesome, but not related in any way, shape or form to this cup of tea: http://www.escape2urbana.com/

Can I go there, please? Hey, steepster guys: new contest suggestion for you, right there. :D

I’m singing ‘Cup of Brown Joy’ today. When I say Assam you say lovely. Assam! Lovely! Assam! Lovely!

Anyway… Yesterday was a good tea day. I drank 3 cups shy of 4L of tea – and it was all delish. So today’s quandary was: do I take a risk with a new tea and possibly upset the good tea karma from yesterday or do I go with tried and true to keep the wonderness flowing?

I decided to be a little daring and try this one. (I could have been more daring – I still have one Adagio custom blend to try…) And it’s official – I like Assams. I wasn’t sure because in the past I had only had some not so great ones and didn’t know if my dislike of them was related to the fact that they were Assams or the fact that they weren’t high quality. Totally option two.

This was very smooth – absolutely zero hint of bitterness so I definitely could have brewed it the full 5 minutes I think (but brewing unknown blacks that long scares me). I got a very bake-y quality from it. Like a nice bread. It took me a while to place it and I might be off (my mouthwash from last night has a disturbing amount of staying power – I can STILL feel it on my tongue so it’s dulled my sense of taste a bit – boo!) but ultimately I came up with that it tastes like the cookie part of a chocolate chip cookie. I didn’t get a chocolate taste from it, but you know how there are some cookies that skimp on the chocolate chips so you just end up with a bite of cookie, no chocolate? But it doesn’t taste like a sugar cookie (unless it’s a brown sugar cookie)? That’s the taste I was getting from this.

Right now I’m intentionally tying this one with Adagio’s Irish Breakfast for the rating but I’m going to have to see which one truly reigns supreme (once the mouthwash taste goes away and I can have a fair taste-off or something). But yeah, two thumbs up.

Now, must go watch the Brown Joy video again.

Tea of the morning…..

I recently picked up a few samples at Adagio, mostly to compare to things I have. I really do like their black teas for the most part. I guess when I first started on my tea journey, I was heavily invested in the flavored ones, so I did not really appreciate their black teas like I should have. Even though I don’t care for their flavored tea base, there are many things this company does well. I also enjoy their herbals that don’t contain hibiscus, mostly because anything with hibiscus is not for me. And the chai is yummy.

I wanted this one to compare to my Mystery Assam, as I noticed there were plenty of golden tips in the product picture. The actual product looks pretty much the same as the pic. It brews up into a malty breakfast tea with notes of bread. You know, that really good crusty bread. As far as comparisons to my other Assam, the other just seems a little richer. These leaves are thicker and brighter, if brighter is possible for a shade of brown! I also think this one is much more malty than the unknown Assam. It is pretty good. It does have me wanting to add in some Keemun, though, to fill out the body of the tea. The taste of this one is all in the front, there is a slight astringency in the middle, and the end…..I keep looking for a taste at the end, but I am not getting anything. Strange. Anyway, I don’t expect to be an expert on Assam any time soon. I mostly like it in blends.

Mug method for 3 minutes.

Assam Harmony is a good black tea with a smooth flavor profile. Slightly astringent at first, it benefits from just a touch of sweetener. Then other flavors begin to emerge — drinking it, I am thinking of stroopwafels and chocolate covered biscuits. It doesn’t taste like caramel or chocolate, precisely, but it brings those to mind. There is a bit of maltiness, as one would expect from an Assam, but it’s not overpowering. Overall, it’s a fine breakfast tea, very easy to drink, and I think it would go with a variety of foods.

I think I may have brewed this one a little on the weak side… I’m still not used to brewing single cups.

I think I can now say with some certainty that Assams are my favorite. This one seems a bit richer than the Melody, but as many of the reviews on Adagio have said… it’s not so much better that I’ll be spending the extra money on this one.

I like this tea a LOT. I’ve always been partial to Assams, and this is wonderfully malty and robust. I like it with a splash of milk. SO TASTY.

Fine amber colour, pleasantly malty though not overpowering scent. Well suited to its name — the taste holds its own without being overly assertive. Would be a nice accompaniment to a dessert, particularly something sweet or fruity.

I was looking for a malty tasting tea, which Assam is supposed to be. I don’t know if I got a bad batch or what but it’s very weak tasting and hardly malty at all. The second time, I tried using twice as many leaves. It gave it a beautiful amber color but was bitter and dirty tasting. Tastes like socks!

Ok, this tea deserved one more try and I think i figured out why it tasted so terrible last time. I don’t think I was using warm enough water. This time I made sure the water was boiling. What a difference! Slightly sweet, smokey, and most importantly, malty! I added just a tiny touch of sweetener to bring out the maltiness.

I definitely enjoyed my two cups (second steep was as good as the first) this time around. I bumped my rating from a 5 to the 55-60 range. Still not going higher than that because it was inconsistent. Maybe if I finish off the sample with favorable cups from now on, I may change my rating again.

Now that I know how to brew this properly, I’ve been drinking it all day. I’m on my fourth cup. The first three were all steeped from the same leaves. It gets a little weaker with each steep but with a little sugar, it tastes more like a baked sweet roll each time. I really misjudged this tea. Re-rated again :)