Brown Sugar Fig Black Tea

I tried this one with a little lower steep temperature this time since the assam seems to have a bit too much bite for my tastes. I love the concept behind Ovation Teas but I’m not sure if I’m in love with their black tea base.

So far so good! My first sips are yielding a slightly sweet, dried-figgy taste without any bitterness to the base. As it cools there is something that comes out… not quite a bitterness, but some kind of Assam-y-ness that I just don’t find very tasty. I don’t think that the base is low quality, I just think I generally dislike Assams. C’est la vie, you live and learn. I still enjoy the teas enough that can drink them, but I don’t think I’ll be craving them often (and some are probably good candidates for taking home to drink with a bit of milk and sugar).

Next time I steep this, I shall have to remember to reduce the steep time, as the Assam in this does have a bitter bite to it. The fig is very dominant in the dry leaf aroma, but less apparent in the taste. Sure, the taste is there, but, just not as strong as the fragrance would lead one to believe. That could be due in part to the fact that the Assam has such a strong presence.

Before I rate this, I think I will wait until I steep it again. Perhaps I’ll have better luck with it with a shorter brew time.

Thank you yssah for this one!

This is an interesting tea. I am not really familiar with the flavor of figs (I’m also terrified of them since they can essentially eat bees, no not the part about there just being insects it’s the part where the fig can just digest it, NATURE!) I know the flavor of fig but I’m definitely really just getting brown sugar.

I have an ounce of it so I will give it another shot soon, I did not get any of the fig pieces in my infuser but I’m not sure that really matters. In my mind it does.

Hmm. This one is puzzling. I am on my second pot of this, and I really don’t know what to think of it. When I think of figs, I think of something sweet like raisins. Brown sugar, well, I think it should be light in a mapley-type flavor but not quite there. The tea itself smells pretty good, and I do imagine there is some difference between this and the tea base on its own, but I really am not getting much in the way of flavor. Maybe I am just looking for the wrong flavors? I think the other problem is that the way the flavors play with the tea base reminds me of the Metro tea base I don’t like. It is smooth with no bitterness, and really might appeal to someone else. All of this is just my personal take on the tea, but I know I will not be reordering or remaking this one.

Now that I made it sound so good, does anyone want a sample? ;)

I bought some of this from Yssah with Ovation’s sad going out of business sale. thanks! I had a cup a while ago but wanted to wait to review to see what another cup tasted like…pretty much the same! The dry leaves are super black and twisty. There were MANY fig pieces in my infuser, so much that I added more tea leaves. Hopefully all of the fig didn’t find its way in my infuser this time! I steeped for a few minutes (wasn’t paying attention.) I think the only fig I’ve ever had is from those fig newton cookies. I had them at the babysitter’s as a four year old, mostly. Would a four year old like those? I did! Though they wouldn’t have been my cookie of choice. Other people have said they don’t like the dark tasting base with the brown sugar/fig flavors, but I think they are perfect together. I just wish for more of a fig/brown sugar flavor. The black tea base is definitely different but that makes it interesting. I really like strong dark teas, so maybe that is why I like this one. It’s kind of like malty molasses. (One of my favorite teas is even more like molasses— Golden Moon’s Sinharaja.) I think this was my least favorite from the many Ovation teas I tried (around 10?), but I still really like this one.

Got this in a trade from Tea Sipper and I thought I might try something I’m likely to really like after my wonderful tea experience this morning with 52teas.

From the other tasting notes on this tea, which I really should have read before I brewed it, I could have avoided the bitterness I’m tasting if I had brewed it for less time. The liquid was awfully dark after 3 minutes. 2 minutes would have been better. I have some more to experiment with though.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a fig in my life so I’m not sure how to pin down a ‘fig’ flavour. There is a sweetness in this tea, beyond the sweetener I added, that I assume is the brown sugar, but it might be partly the fig too. It definitely doesn’t taste like plain black tea though. Although the black base is really strong and that comes through clearly, must be the assam, that always seems like such a BOLD tea whenever I drink it. I’m not sure I like it as a base for flavoured teas.

Overall I do like this tea, just am somewhat confused by it.

Thank you Lariel! The aroma of this tea is very sweet. The flavor is mostly the black tea base. The aftertaste is light and sweet. There is a soft fruity note to it. I enjoyed this one! Thanks again!

This one came as a sample from LiberTeas – so thank you very much for letting me try it!

Ovation Teas has not even been on my radar until now so I just went to their website to check them out, they have a lot of interesting looking stuff.

I’m not really sure about this tea though. I thought the black tea base was fine for me personally (others remarked on the bitterness). I think it’s more the flavoring here that did not strike a chord with me. I do like figs, and brown sugar of course. I’m not even sure what this tastes like to me, a slightly sweet raisin-esque kind of concoction? I didn’t hate it but something was missing. I liked the flavor a bit better after adding soymilk but I don’t think I would purchase this. A little sad because I was hoping it would be fantastic…

I have tried this tea twice now, and it just doesn’t work for me. The tea taste both overly sweet and highly astringent. Not a good combination. The second time I had this I ended up with an awful stomach ache. I can’t say that it was from the tea alone, but I know the tea didn’t help.

I can’t see myself drinking this again. If anyone wants it let me know. Otherwise I’ll post it on the swap board later this week.

This one was interesting to me. First, I love brown sugar! I have tried figs before, and I know I like them. They have a certain starchy taste to it. This tea definitely has that taste. The flavor wasn’t very strong. The black tea was a little astringent, but it wasn’t terrible. I added brown sugar to this blend. I’m sure it would taste better with milk, but I’m not sure. I will try it next time. There is a definite fig taste to this tea. Good tea overall. This isn’t a very strong tea, but the flavors linger in my mouth.