Hawaii-Grown Black

I’m having a lot of trouble describing this tea. It is so unlike any other black tea I’ve ever had. It’s sweet, but a dark sweet, like grilled and sugared fruits. It’s got a bit of raw sugar or almost caramel flavor to it too that makes it cuddly. There’s something that’s maybe like a sweet rye bread. Or not. It’s just so hard to peg the flavors! It brings to mind Samovar’s Royal Garland a bit as far as overall taste profile – darkly sweet but clean but also a bit cuddly and comfort-food-like. There’s no bite or astringency in the flavor – it’s very smooth if a bit light bodied. I really can’t be more specific about the flavors other to say that it is surprising and different but good. INSANELY good. Like I kind of want to buy twenty pounds of this tea RIGHT NOW just to roll around in and go “OMG, GOOD TEA.” And that’s perfectly normal, right?

I know the rating I want to give this tea but I’m going to hold of for just a bit – I want to try a second steep first to make sure the insane goodness wasn’t a fluke. And why is Samovar out of this one now? Boo! How will I be able to buy my twenty pounds to roll around in?

ETA: Second steep @ 5 minutes. Nope, not a fluke. I just seriously think this is fantastic. It tastes like raw sugar and faint florals with an aftertaste of grilled fruit. I just love this. Though I will say, I made the husband try some and he said, “It is very good, but I just don’t see the fantastic.” That just means more for me!

And again ETA: Third steep at 8 minutes. Very bready and sweet though getting a tad light now. I tried to do a fourth steep at 20 minutes and while it was actually okay tasting, compared to the first three it was very much less than. But three steeps? I can deal with that!

Hey Steepsterites. Do you remember me? No? That’s cool. Can’t say I blame you.

Anyway, I hope all has been well in the Steepsterverse. I poked around a few times during the frenzy that was the final leg of the semester and saw that I missed a few contests, the start of a book club [how fantastic, btdubs] and the NYC meet up. Looks like y’all have been having a blast!

So yes, I actually only have a week before summer session starts up and life gets crazy go nuts again, but I did want to drop in and say that this tea has been maintaining my morning to afternoon happiness levels a really long time. Like, since the last time I wrote a Steepster log, easily. I received some when I went out to San Francisco and, while I was expecting it to be lovely and tasty because I enjoy the oolong grown on the same farm, I was NOT expecting it to be the extravangelical [not a word] explosion of starchy sweetness and tropical florals that it is. Hear my words: YOU SHOULD DRINK THIS TEA.

Okay, I’m about to watch a movie that has subtitles in it, so I need to go pay attention, but this tea has totally earned a 100 in my book.

Oh yum! Now I can see why everyone loves this tea. It’s amazing! Sweet, rich and flavorful! LOVE this!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Okay…so…I will also post this review under the Tea Hawaii Listing…

I received this ROCKSTAR Tea from Auggy! Woot Woot!!!!

I will agree with others in saying that this is – by far – a black tea of it’s own! It’s in a completely different category! It’s wonderful BUT…it’s certainly NOT your stereotypical Black Tea!

The leaves are glorious! They are on the biggest leaves I have EVER SEEN…EVER! They are FAB! And SCREAMING for multiple infusions!!!! The very slight sweet smell of the tea is barely there and it’s a light and mellow yet pleasant and sweet and juicy taste. In a way I am thinking about ROCK CANDY from the 80s…you know…on the stick!? But I can also comprehend the Rye-Bread comparison made by a few others. The product description from the company says roasted sweet…when I first read that all I could say is “REALLY?” but the more I drink it the more it makes sense! I suppose as an after taste and after thought I can taste the caramel notes.

WOW.

I just don’t know…there are some things that throw me for a loop – but in a good way!!! Trying to figure out HOW this tea is done so well and why more people haven’t tried it or even heard of it…just might have to be added to that list!

I’m going to infused the EVER-LIVIN’ out of these leaves…so stay tuned for the multiple infusion notes!

Le Sob

I didn’t have as much left of this as I thought :‘( In fact, I only had about 1 teaspoon left, and I brew with 12 oz, so I made sure to use EXACTLY boiling water and I steeped for 5 minutes instead of the recommended 2-4 so I could be sure to get as much flavor as possible out of this. On the plus side, I’m all caught up with the backlogs I wanted to do! So that’s good. I don’t know what you guys do, but I have my separate tea cupboard and then whatever tea I want to drink and review, I put it out on top of my counter (separated by variety) and then when I drink something, I either review it or if I don’t have time to review it at the time, I set it aside and that’s my backlog pile (for those who were interested).

Alright, SO. Now that I’ve successfully rambled on, onto this tea. There was a brief period where a lot of people were raving about the Hawaii-Grown Oolong tea from Samovar, and I sadly don’t have that one. But, I’m in a straight-black mood today and I went looking for a Ceylon to drink (which sadly, I don’t have :( I’m going to order from Upton soon and they have a bunch I’ve been wanting to dry!), when I saw this one and wanted to try it! I think the concept is really interesting plus it sounds yummy, so I brewed it up.

This one smells really good. Like sweet with an almost caramel-y note in it. Maybe a bit of rye? I’m not so good at describing scents…. Something to work on! Oh. My. Goodness. This one is so good! I can’t even! This is so deliciously sweet and mild. Someone described this as sugared and grilled fruits and that’s so true! It’s a nice, dark fruit taste. I also get a kind of creamy note on the finish. There’s a little astringency, but it’s not unbearable.

Oh yes, this one is super tasty! This one is going on the shopping list (which is waaaaaay too long)!

Thanks to Ian for sending me this one. Sometimes you need put all formality aside and just say DUDE! I have to be honest I’ve been giddy about getting to try this one. I have had pure Hawaiian kona and it is one of my favorite treats to have in the coffee world. I love my coffee just as much as I love my tea. So my expectations are high knowing the quality that comes from the Island state. Not to mention an American tea that can stack up to teas that have been produced for thousands of years in other countries. The dry leaf is intriguing. There is a sweet aroma emanates almost like caramelized sugar. The tea reminds me a lot of of Dawn(Arunachal Pradesh) from The Simple Leaf. This is a fabulous tea. Second steep with dinner of Salmon and Boxty(Irish potato pancakes). Great

Best tea ever! But why does it have to $25 for 25 grams? I could drink this every day! It is naturally sweet w/a starchy background. Oddly I detect a subtle sugar cane (like the kind that you chew and suck the sugar out of….) – yes that is what is tastes like- the starchy flavor of sugar cane.

Been trying shorter steep times: 30 sec, 1 min, 1,5 mins. – 2 tbs, 16 ozs. So far, flavor is strong.

This smells like Hawaii. I’ve been spending time there regularly since I was kid, and was overwhelmed by memories in a Proustian moment when I opened the packet of tea. Warm rain, damp earth, trade winds, and tropical softness are all in there, somehow, magically. The leaves are huge and dark, their twists unfurling majestically in the hot water.

Several steepings all reveal intense sweetness, a definite roasted sweet potato warmth, maltiness and a little bit of roastiness. No astringency or bitterness at all. I don’t think I’ll ever put milk, cream, or sugar in this – I just want to taste the tea and nothing else.

I’m already alarmed at how quickly and easily this 25g pack could be used up, and in the back of my mind I’m trying to do cost/cup calculations based on multiple infusions to justify getting more…

I received this from Geoff via seykayay — thank you both!

As everyone else has said, this is quite a unique tea (thanks LiberTeas for enlightening me on italics). The closest tea to it in my experience is Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf. No, of course that’s an entirely different tea. However, this as well as the top leaf opened with a very strong earthy note that to me, honestly made me think of their growing regions (both of which, Hawaii and Aso, are volcanic).

Besides that strong earth ‘volcanic’-seeming flavor, I felt like it was pretty smokey. People have mentioned it being like grilled fruit, but I unfortunately didn’t get the fruit part. I detected a very subtle aroma of fruit in the wet leaves (which yes they were pretty, whole, and large), and immediately hoped it would be present in the flavor/aroma of the tea. Alas, I pretty much got the grilled part and none of the sweet or fruit.

It was a little starchy after the grilled/smokiness faded. Unlike other people, this actually went for 3 full steepings: 1TB leaf, 4oz water (each time), 4 mins, 2 mins, and 5 mins.

Being that this is quite an expensive tea, I wouldn’t buy it because I didn’t love it (but I did enjoy it). At the same time, it was really a fun one to get to try. Thanks again for those who shared with me!

Tea Note #100! And what a beautiful one it is. Although I’ve had a fairly interesting black tea from time to time, I tend to prefer flavored blacks as I’m not such a fan of traditional black teas. This tea, however, has changed my thinking. It is the most extraordinary black tea I’ve ever experienced.

These leaves, when dry, are like a huge tangled mass of extraordinarily long black fingers that cling to one another. They’re beautiful and almost a deep violet-black color. They remind me of ravens’ feathers. The scent didn’t remind me of anything other than what I’d pick up as a regular black scent. Perhaps very slightly peppery, but that could have been my imagination as I was thinking of a way to describe the color and pepper came to mind.

205/30 sec – The flavor is simply extraordinary. It is amazing! I love it. Really. It’s a rich flavor with an almost honey-like sweetness, kind of a dulce de leche flavor without the fullness. Raisins. I can taste raisins and I think that’s the flavor that fills my mouth first and most fully. There’s a very slight spiciness to it and I’m thinking that may be that pepper scent I picked up earlier. There is NO bitterness to it at all. It is slightly vegetal. It’s a really wonderful black tea. It is an expensive tea, but it’s such a wonderful treat.

My second steep of this tea will be for about five minutes, which, for me, is really going out on a limb. I detest bitter black tea, but having read the other reviews, I get the impression that this one will not let me down.

Update: I just tried the resteep at 4.5 minutes and I’m not liking it as much. I’m getting a marked astringency although no bitterness… yet. I think it makes sense as the shorter steep time pleased me so much. Samovar recommends 45 sec for the first steep, but as the Breville only works in 30 sec increments, I went with the lower time.

It is a delicious, beautiful tea with huge full leaves. The taste is a sweet burnt sugar, with a slight caramel and slight hint of tropical fruit. It is a full mouth taste with no bitter and no astringency. I love this tea.

I received this in the mail completely by surprise from SeyKayYay. I wasn’t expecting it, but I was overjoyed to receive it. This makes the third US-produced black tea I’ve tried. The first and second belong to Charleston. And, I will echo every other description here when I say it’s unlike any other black tea I’ve tried. If I were to come up with a metaphoric comparison, it would be a Yunnan gold taste with an Assam body and a sweet Keemun finish. That’s the closest I can come up with. It’s also the only black tea I’ve come across that *requires * at least a four-minute steep to get the full effect. I tried it at three first, and it was too light. At even four minutes there was no astringency, no bitterness, a chocolaty palate, and a smooth maltiness. Different, indeed.

…AND it lasts two very strong infusions. Just F.Y.I.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/15/review-samovar-hawaii-grown-black-tea/

Like drinking sunshine.

I think I drank this tea under it’s name of “Makai Black” direct from the Tea Hawaii Company, owned by Eva Lee and her husband. I received it from my sister, who lives in Hawaii, and I’m waiting to hear the story of how she obtained it.
See my tasting notes under “Makai Black” by Tea Hawaii.