Assam Extra Fancy

I stopped into Peet’s and got this on my way to work. Not sure if it is EXTRA fancy but it seems to be pretty good. ;-) I’ve definitely had some assams that were maltier and richer than this one but it’s good to know I can get a decent cup of tea when I’m out and about. I am pretty sure I could not drink this one plain. It needed a decent amount of soymilk to make it smooth and mellow out the tang.

The last thing I should be doing this late at night is drinking black tea, but I’ve been saving this to try when I had a chance to relax and enjoy it, and this is the first bit of time I’ve had.

It’s a striking color, first off — it came out a dark, rich red. I usually don’t care about the color of my tea, but it’s gorgeous. It smells great, too.

There’s a lot of maltyness, which is exactly what I was hoping for. But it doesn’t stop there — there is a nice astringency to this tea, but it has a little bit of a sweetness to it, too. It ends up nice and complex and really delicious.

This is really everything I want in tea. If it wasn’t this late, I’d brew up another pot, but I guess it’s time to switch to something herbal if I want to sleep tonight. (Plus it would probably be better at breakfast!)

This assam brews a deep yellow-amber liquid. The flavor is smooth, full-bodied, rich and malty. There is a slight astringent bitterness that is easily cut with a splash of milk, which also complements the malty flavor quite nicely. A good, strong, morning cup of tea.

The aroma of this tea really didn’t strike me as unique. It just smelled like black tea. In the cup, it had a amber orange color, reminding me of a cinnamon color. I don’t know why, it just does. The first sip tasted a little bit sweet to me, and malty. As it cooled, the flavor was very mild. There is one very impressive factor; It is incredibly smooth. It doesn’t at all taste like any other black tea I have had but I felt it was still not enough to set it apart from the other teas I have tried in the past. I will definitely try this one again, it is a good tea, just not my favorite.

A longtime breakfast favorite. Rich and full-bodied, with a good amount of complexity to keep it interesting. The main flavor/aroma characteristics are malt, cooked honey and red wine.

This tea, when made in the Western Style by Peet’s will not be as good as the Gongfu style! 4-5 Minutes?! WHAT! NO! 1 tablespoon of this tea, a short rinse and infusing 6 oz at a time can do the best tricks!
1st: 3-4s (explodes with flavor!)
2nd: 4-6s (explodes even more!)
3rd: 5-8s (flavor begins to dissipate)
4th: 9-15s (The Finally! Last flavor kick)

Great Assam

A favorite. Helped me come down from my coffee addiction.

Bold, full-bodied, malty and delicious.