Assam Gold Rain

I found this one just okay – for one thing if you use boiling water it becomes very bitter and undrinkable. So I am learning more about assams and darjeelings lately and I steeped this one for 4 minutes at round 200 F and it is better.

This has a very pleasant cocoa nose and for me the flavor is predominately fruity with a big tannin kick at the end. I did wish a bit for some more malt and it still seems bitter to me even at the lower temp. I’ve had a few other assams that I liked much better so I figure it’s the tea (and not me) It will be finished off eventually with some soymilk and stuff added to it, but if anyone would like to try it please let me know. :)

This is a tea of the month for April on the Classic plan. Unlike the other April TOMs, I have been drinking this one. I’ve had it plain, I’ve had it as the black tea added to stovetop chai. I just haven’t written a note about it.

I like the way it looks — it’s a salt (or maybe light cinnamon) and pepper kind of look with the tippy tan highlighting the dark brown. Distinguished. A touch of not really grey. Grateful Dead stuck in your head now, anyone? Guilty.

The dry leaves have a woody smell with a little damp canvas mixed in, that reminds me of waking up early at a camp site. I get a fair amount of the same from the tea’s aroma, though there’s a mysterious fruity undercurrent.

The difficulty I’m having with this (and other Assams, though I’ve only had them in blends) is there’s an aspect to them that I don’t find easy to love. It’s hard for me to describe, though I suspect the aspect that grates on me is what you’re supposed to love if you love Assams. I’ve read about it being described as malty, but it isn’t what I think of as maltiness. Malty to me is sweet, like the flavor inside malted milk balls. This isn’t sweet. I guess I’d call it more yeasty than malty, there’s something vaguely bready about it. It’s very bold, and to me it often comes across as pretty harsh.

Today I’m having this for breakfast with milk and some sweetener and that makes a huge difference. Perhaps, coming from India, this was a style of tea that was developed for the British milk and sugar palate? It certainly stands up to both. The yeasty flavor is still there, but it doesn’t grab the back of my throat with the additives.

I’m just not sure solo Assam is for me, but as I said, this is really my first attempt. I’ve had it in blends, but not straight up before. So I’m trying to keep an open mind.

Thank you to Wifey_Woman for sending me some of this tea!

I forgot to set the timer when I started steeping this tea (tomorrow my Breville is supposed to arrive, I await it anxiously!) so I don’t know how long I steeped it. Fortunately, I don’t think I over-steeped because it isn’t bitter.

It is very pleasant. Smooth, rich taste with a nice malty tone. A very good gold Assam.

PS: Wifey_Woman … I can smell the blueberry more than I can taste it!

A very simple breakfast tea to drink in the mornings, perfect for when your tea situation is particularly dire and you are in need for any loose-leaf tea you can get your hands on, so you find yourself turning to the Starbucks of the tea world and paying too much for a mediocre product. Mmm mediocrity.

This one was in a recent purchase for me. I wasn’t sure about it because other straight up Assams were a bit like drinking spaghetti sauce. However….this one was fabulous. Mellow. Malty. Had a nice kick to start the morning before a 3 hour drive to work. I don’t get it. A little snow in Northeast Ohio and people forget how to drive. C’est la vie.

Not bad. A solid tea. Only thing I didn’t like is the mad hoards of people in the store. All I wanted was to use my gift card and wow how annoying. I hate that they only have two people showing teas to people and taking forever to do it and 3 others roaming. You can tell them you kow exactly what you want but they still tell you to wait instead of getting it and ringing you up. Also, kept getting pushed into buying more expensive teas when I knew what I wanted. They don’t like it when you shoot them down. For me it was funny. So I got this tea and my very first Yixing Pot which was cool. Yay! For gift cards.

On of the new teas I purchased yesterday on what I should now call “Our crazy tea tour”. Check out my blog: http://littlemewbrew.teatra.de/blog/ for more on that. This tea is pretty good, I can’t say I’ve had an assam ever. But maybe I have but it was called something else? Anyway this is very malty and I really like that on this (finally) chilly morning in Upstate NY. I steeped it perfectly, no bitterness at all. However, there may be some bitterness to being back at work…I swear no one can do a thing when I’m out….right more tea!

Forgot I had this. It’s still good even though it’s a couple years old.

Experience buying from Teavana online http://steepster.com/places/2822-teavana-online-atlanta-georgia

Date of Purchase: Purchased at their 2011 end-of-year sale at a discount, and brewed up my first cup right away.

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: Pretty,: a few light-caramel-colored leaves mixed in with mostly dark chocolate-brown leaves; a little sweet, and like any standard Indian black tea, not too aromatic, and definitely not as yummy as it tastes.

Brewing guidelines: Ceramic cup and lid, tea in metal basket strainer; stevia added.
……….1st: Off boiling, mildly warmed cup; 2’ …Awesome!
……….2nd: Near boiling, warmed cup; 3’…….Still Awesome!
……….3rd: Boiling, warmed cup; 4’…………….Great!
……….4th: Boiling, very warmed cup; 7’………Still good flavor!
……….5th: Spot on Boiling, hot cup; 10’ ……..Oh, well, just mild flavor.

Aroma of tea liquor: < later >

Flavor of tea liquor: I really liked the flavor of this Assam. I am still new to the unflavored black arena, but this tea reminds me of a good Yunnan in that it was sweet and carmel-y; I think full bodied applies here, too. Oh, and I just remembered the malty question (“How do you describe what malty tastes like?”) I asked on Steepster a while back; I remember LiberTEAS (and others) trying to help me to understand what malty truly tastes like (like the wort of pre-fermented beer, OR bread-y, yeast-y; these all helped), and I remember someone suggesting to try a good Assam. Well, here it is, but I’m not certain I am any wiser. Next time I brew this up (I am writing this up a day after drinking it), I need to sit down and really take in the flavor of this Assam and pay attention to what comes up for me. Next time.

Appearance of wet leaf: Looks like mid-grade Indian leaf to me, although it says, FTGFOP-1. Really? It doesn’t look much better than the leaf in a Java OP I have. I guess I don’t know much about the grading system of Indian black teas, either. Which begs the question, what do I know, anyway? : p

Value: This tea is less than $1/oz at 75% off the original price (I am estimating it was about $3/oz.). I think full price isn’t even that far off the mark, considering the flavor.

Overall: This is what I consider to be my first Assam (although I have very likely had one before, and I didn’t know it at the time). A minor note: It gave the inside of my white ceramic cup a light chocolate colored stain that I don’t think any of the other black teas have done (but I guess I normally steep black tea in my traditional ceramic teapot, so doing it in a cup is kinda new for me, and said tea did sit for a while during at least one steeping). I admit I wasn’t expecting much out of this tea, as I get the impression the Assam’s are the run-of-the-mill Indian black teas. Well, either I am dead wrong (happens often enough) or this is an exceptional Assam, for, this … tea … ROCKS! I love the sweetness, and the caramel flavor. I am impressed that it yielded four good steepings. I look forward to brewing this up again (and I wish I had bought more, now that it’s sold out!).

Brewed 2 tsp of tea leaves at 208 degrees for 4 minutes, with 2 1/2 tsp of Teavana’s German rock sugar, no milk. The whole milk in tea thing kind of wigs me out, but I grew up in the South where you grow up with cheap ice tea in your baby bottle so take as you will.

First couple of sips I was wondering what is that sourness, but under it the usual caramelly malty flavor. For first half of the cup no astringency, but as I drink more it is beginning to dry my mouth out now. The flavor seems to deepen as it cools. Aftertaste has the astringency and still a hint of the sourness. Not sure what’s going on there. Could be aftertaste of the sugar, not the tea.

I’ve been working my way through a 3 oz packet of this, have only 1 or 2 steepings left in it. Almost all my tea is from Teavana at the moment, but I just placed an order with Upton so we’ll see. This Assam Gold Rain and their Golden Monkey are my top two at the moment — I have Copper Knot Hongcha and Nine Dragon as well. Will get to them in the days ahead.

This is the first Teavana tea that I have liked so far. I was prepared when I went in with what I wanted as I really don’t like the pushy clerks they have there. But I do like Assam tea and this is a very nice Assam. Its amber in color and has that distinctive assam smell and taste. The malty taste was there also. It wasn’t bitter at all and had just a little bit of astringency. I have had much better assam teas, but this one was nice.

Like any Assam variety, this yields a very strong-tasting brew that one can either love or hate. This is a tea that you need to keep a close eye on. If oversteeped, the result will put hair on your chest, among other things.

Nothing spectacular, but a solid black tea. Smooth and malty. That being said, you can get better for cheaper.

Also not a huge fan of it being called single estate and them not mentioning which estate.

Often this is my wake-me-up-cup. I alternate with Assam, EB and Irish Breakfast. I agree with others that it is a little weak in body and color, but the taste is great. I drink mine with a splash of milk. For some reason I like my black teas only with milk.

I desperately need to find something that this blends well with. I like it as a black tea, but I’m a bit bored of it now. It is a bit like drinking red wine, although part of me just wonders why I’m not actually drinking red wine instead.

I got this at a very discounted price a couple of weeks ago, so I’m betting this was an older batch of tea. It was okay, but I found it to be a little bitter even after I played with the steeping times. It didn’t make me a sudden convert to Teavana, and I certainly would never pay the full price for this tea. I definitely have just been drinking it for the caffeine boost in the morning. Not a tea I can lose myself in drinking.

Simply one of my favorite black teas, and the go to tea for all occasions. I also use it as a base for blends with tart fruits (like blood orange) with great results.

To quote Neal Stephenson, it is like drinking your favorite book.

good black tea. nothing special. smooth fully body tea. not as good as the nine dragon golden needle from teavana. I think this is a good tea for someone just starting out. great black tea smell.

Not the best Assam I have had, but good. A bit overpriced. Good strong breakfast tea. As with all Assams, I enjoy it with milk and sugar.