Kenyan Tinderet

This is different. It seems as though it’s bolder than other black teas, and I can see why people say it reminds them of coffee. Yowza! I think I’ll pass the other half of this sample on to ozli as she enjoys coffee more than I, and this may be more her thing!

It’s a nice enjoyable cup. I don’t think it would be a staple, but I might grab 10-20g sometime.

Thanks CrowKettle. I was curious about this tea, and it’s round little balls.

Oh, and… Sipdown!

This is one of the straight blacks from Davids that I was always hesitant about, largely because of the size of the leaf. That and it always smelled a bit more bold than I might prefer. Luckily, a colleague of mine is entering the wonderful world of loose leaf and shared a bit of this with me so I can finally try it out. Thank you!

Steeped it for about 3 minutes (my standard for blacks) and it smells very much like the bagged teas of my youth. My Dad was a Red Rose drinker (with a tonne of milk and sugar) and it reminds me of that. It smells bold but not necessarily astringent. First sips confirm the thoughts I got from the smell. This is bold and strong, a step up from traditional bagged teas but not the sort of loose leaf I would drink a lot of. This is very hearty and would stand up to flavouring, milk and sugar very well but isn’t really for me. I prefer my honeyed Chinese blacks with cocoa and sweetness in every sip. That said, this is a little sweet and not at all bitter but it’s too vigorous for me! : )

I wanted something strong but this seems like it might be TOO strong. I don’t think I even steeped it more than 2 1/2 minutes before I was like this is too strong. Now with milk in it it looks like a ginger tinged cup of coffee rather than some tea.

It is definitely lighter in taste than it is in smells. I could probably have let it go to three minutes, but it totally needs the milk for my tastes. I can tell that without it, it would be really malty and I probably wouldn’t care for it.

It’s really rather honey sweet, along with what seems like bittersweet, dark chocolate. Almost tastes like a chocolate cereal to me too.

I bet if you can get this all the way to 4 minutes, it will get you on your feet in the morning.

Thanks, Reasoned_Melody!

oh yeah, this is good stuff. A regular black tea with extremely subtle complexities. I’m not adept enough at identifying flavours but I can taste the spice note mentioned by Daniil and now that it’s pointed out I can tell that it is indeed cardamom or something similar. The maltiness is very nice as well, very mild yet lasting throughout the entire sip.
The astringency is a tad too much for me but then the girl made my tea extra strong so it could be a function of too many leaves.
Now that I’ve had most of the cup, the spice note is building in the aftertaste the way spicy foods do as you get into the meal. Very nice! I’m impressed.
The floral note is the most subtle of them all. I would not have noticed if it wasn’t in the description.
Ok so DT’s just made up for some of their failings with this one, in my books. The only issue I have that everything is so mild, as I prefer more bold teas.
I wonder, why am I the only one to find this one so very satisfying??

Oh, wow. I steeped at about 98C for 3 minutes like I usually do with black teas. The colour is a gorgeous red-brown, and looks like it would be a perfect base for a spiced Thai iced tea recipe.

The tea? Oh geez. Bitter AND astringent. Behind the blech are some lovely malty and floral notes.

I ended up adding a bunch of milk and more honey than I usually do, but I think I’m going to dump this and try brewing with much cooler water for 2 minutes.

Edit: And as I sat here applying for work and eating my stew, the tea is gone. Maybe I don’t dislike it as much as I thought it did? Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention and would have drank pretty much anything.

What a pleasant cup of coffee! A heap of astringency and a smidgen of bitterness… Oh, coffee! I wish I wasn’t a wimp and could drink you straight but I’m just completely incapable- maybe as a double double from Tim Horten’s or with enough syrup and whip cream to sink a buffalo? Ah, There! All better. Now you taste like a “Dark” Hot Chocolate with a little bite at the end!

Um, well, apparently this isn’t coffee but I don’t drink a lot of that stuff, OR black teas, so please forgive me! This is exactly the kind of black tea I hide from. It’s not because it’s “bad” but because I am a weakling and I feel like anything this strong will crush me. I don’t have the stamina to handle such briskness. Maybe I need to train myself up.

The leaves are cool looking! They’re little round balls that give off a malty odour when wet which I found to be a bit intimidating at first, not being able to handle beer very well- on top of my intolerance to coffee.

In reference to where the tea is from, Tinderet apparently means ‘Place of Lightening’. It’s fitting as I do feel like I am being struck by a bolt while sipping on this. Whereas I can’t drink the first steep of this straight yet I can, and do, enjoy the second steep on its own- much more mellow and smooth, but with enough edginess to stay vibrant. There’s even a hint of floral sweetness that I love so much in my white teas. This is a very strong, full bodied tea and I wasn’t expecting such a delicate note to be found underneath all of that force.

I definitely love this one. I think it may almost be my favourite straight black. Had a nice big pot of it to nurse all afternoon. Mmmm.

Oh my, I am in love! The woman at DT said that this reminded her of coffee, which I do miss but my stomach can no longer handle. But, the coffee comment had me wondering. Will it be acidic? Will it be tea pretending to be coffee and therefore fake?

But, it was not at all. It sure looks like coffee when it is brewing. But, other than that, it is pure tea. The taste is strong and lovely, but it has very little after-taste (well, as long as you steep it not too long). I think the coffee comment was about the full-bodied aspect of it – it does not taste watery at all. The tea goes down extremely smoothly. It is perfect for the morning, or for one of those long rainy days when energy seems to be fleeting.

The best part about it, is that my husband, who does not understand the big deal about the teas, does not understand why I have a drawer of 20 different kinds, and looks at me with a somewhat glazed, patient expression when I talk about them, LOVES this tea! Score one point for the tea lovers!!!!

Probably should have done this one in the finer of my two infusers AND also turned the volume up on my phone so I’d hear the steep alarm? YOWZA, that’s a strong tea! Nothing coffeeish about it, imo, but it could PROBABLY strip paint. :D?

First of all, how do they get the leaves shaped into those little balls?? Is this what CTC tea looks like? I’ve never seen it before but I kind of like it.

Anywayyy, I did NOT like the way this tea smelled when I first steeped it. It seemed to have some kind of wet vegetable smell like weird cabbage or something. When I first tasted it, I thought it tasted that way too. But after a few sips I started getting this honey-maltiness? And a little bitterness that really came out in the aftertaste. This is really unlike any other tea I’ve had, it seems like there’s a lot of subtleties to it. I can see how it would be described as “earthy” too. Also I find it pretty astringent but not offensively so. As it cools I get more of the honey taste.
In the end, I really like this tea. I’ll break it out when I have time to sit down and appreciate it. I tried it straight up this time just because it was my first time tasting it, but next time I’m gonna try it with some sugar as Tina S. suggested.

The look of this one intrigued me. What a wee little leaf! The smell is classic black – perhaps a little bit stronger than most.

Oh yes, this one is stronger than the others. I don’t know that I’ll be keeping this one around after I finish my 10 g sample. Perhaps a shorter steep would make it more drinkable? But today in my black tea experiments I was attempting controlled steeping times to compare across variations.

This is my perfect straight black tea! I’ll write a proper review soon, just had to say I absolutely love this tea!!:)

I’m almost finished with the 38 grams of this I bought last week. Not very much of it, but if I went through it that quickly I know it’s something I’ll be picking up again. I’m usually nursing a cup of wonderful, tasty Yunnan or Keemun.

As Indigobloom pointed out, most of DAVIDsTEA’s selection seems to be of the relatively mild variety. Not this one. This is by far the strongest tea I’ve had from them.

This morning’s first steep didn’t even break the three minute mark. Two cups of near-boiling water, two teaspoons of tea (not heaping, but not stingy). Brewed as dark as most of my teas would be after a 4-5 minute steep.

The taste is very earthy and slightly bitter, but the good, pleasing kind of bitter. I definitely get the floral notes, but thankfully not as strong as I do in the smell (not a fan of floral). It’s very full-bodied. Very satisfying as a pick-me-up, but it works well as the after-dinner treat in the official description.

I enjoyed this tea. Best with honey or milk.

For a full review head over to: http://bit.ly/aHkm2g

Had my second cup this morning….never can decide whether I really like a tea until I’ve had my second cup. Really loved the smell out of the bag….very malty black tea smell. Once steeped, it reminded me of a strong Irish breakfast. Steeped it my usual 5 minutes for black tea and added my usual milk and sugar. Had that taste you get when you steep black tea a little too long. Not sure if I should try steeping it for less time or if I just don’t like it as much as other black teas. I prefer a really smooth black tea and this one wasn’t it.

LOVE THIS! It has such a wonderful body, and delicious notes of honey and earthyness. Cannot say enough about this one. I do take it with milk and a little sweetener. Though I can go with or without the sweetener depending on the day. I love to steep this one up really dark because it just gets wonderfully strong and more earthy without getting astringent or bitter at all. It reminds me of Twinings’ Irish Breakfast tea quite a bit, which is likely why this became an instant favourite. It will be keeping this one stocked up, that’s for sure!

Strong like a China black. The recommended steeping time is 4-6 minutes, but that’s way too strong for me. Good for breakfast. I’m not in love with it, though.

What an odd looking tea! Like coffee grounds or something, I wonder how they get it that way?

Again, another $1 straight tea… I’m trying to get in as many as I can before the deal is over in a few days! I can’t really say anything that hasn’t been said before about this tea: it definitely calls for milk and sugar or honey, don’t steep too long or it gets a bit “strong” in flavour, I think it could make a lovely chai (if mixed with the right spices), and it is another tea that is much better than David’s Orange Pekoe. Satisfying and rich.

Dry leaves look really cool and awesome. Smell is gentle, sort of like light golden monkey. I got a cup of it, so maybe it’s due to paper teabag, but I find it rather light tea or maybe I am just used to stronger/more flavorful blacks. However, this tea has an amazing long aftertaste, I think it would be a great morning tea. Both smell and especially a taste has an interesting note to it, something like allspice or perhaps cardamon, its subtle.

I was surprised at the colour of this tea – it has a delightful, milk chocolate colour that I normally would associate with hot chocolate or maybe coffee, but not normally tea. I like it, it’s interesting.

I am the worst steeper ever. I am kicking myself for leaving it too long (next time I’ll try for about 2 – 2.5 mins). It probably only steeped 5-7 minutes though, so it shouldn’t be shot. It smells absolutely wonderful – sweet and rich with a malty element. I imagine it would taste better had I not forgotten about it :( It still tastes quite good, but not special. My parents drink a lot of tea – far more than me – but only Red Rose. This reminds me of a cup of too strong Red Rose that was allowed to become bitter. It’s drinkable, but for the price I’d rather have a cuppa what’s on the stove already brewed.