Assam Mangalam Second Flush FTGFOP1

This is my first cup today. Earlier, I just wasn’t feeling very good so I went back to bed and slept a couple of hours and I feel much better now. I am one of those people that if they don’t get the required amount of sleep, I start feeling really sick with Flu-like symptoms. Achy, cold-sweats, and feeling nauseous… and that’s just exactly how I felt this morning. I hope my body gets accustomed soon to the change of sleep patterns due to school starting up again.

Anyway, on to tea! It’s been a while (at least a week!) since I’ve had a really good Assam, so when this sample arrived today from Zen Tea I jumped all over it, deciding this would be the tea to start my day.

And it’s AWESOME! Deliciously rich. Sweet with caramel-like undertones. Delicious malt notes and an amazing creaminess to it. One of the nicest Assam teas I have ever had. It isn’t bitter, but then, I did take precautions to avoid it by steeping it in 200°F water instead of a full boil and steeping for just 2 minutes in my Breville One-Touch. This rendered the perfect cup of tea. LOVE this!

I’m not familiar with Assam teas on their own, although they’re in quite a few flavoured and breakfast blends I’ve had. I thought trying this and Butiki’s Taiwanese Assam would help me understand what “Assam” means, but the two teas are different, both in geography and taste. At least I know a little bit more than I originally did, but that doesn’t say much.

I really enjoyed this tea and every time I drank it I noticed something different. It’s fun for myself to note that I never would’ve liked this tea a year ago; it’s the mouth drying astringency that I’ve warmed up to recently.

I enjoyed drinking this with and without milk as both emphasized and curbed different things in the tea. Without milk, it really drove home that this is a full bodied tea with a kick, with a good dose of malt and astringency and a touch of dried fruit. I often had it like that for early mornings, when I needed something to wake me up.

I chose to drink it with milk today as I didn’t want to deal with the astringency (ok, so I haven’t quite warmed up to it). I guess it’s common sense that milk brings out cream but this gets really creamy! It’s like the difference between milk in a Cream of Earl Grey versus milk in a normal Earl Grey- it multiplies the creaminess instead of just adding cream. I don’t know how else to put it without sounding even sillier.

The cream is good but my favourite part of this tea is its quite sweetness. It’s a “brown” sweetness- like raisins, maple syrup, or dates. The dry leaf and now empty cup smell of raisins and cocoa and the lingering aftertaste is fruity dark chocolate.

Even though they can be quite astringent, I really like Assam teas. This one is no exception. Steeped according to directions (1 tsp, 8 oz, 3 min, 203-ish F), this tea is really nice. Yes, there’s some astringency, but the flavour is rich and deep and I like it. Next time I will try a 2.5 min steep to see if I can avoid the astringency entirely.

With no astringency, this is a black tea I could enjoy without milk or sugar! (I added 1/8 tsp sugar and a tiny splash of soy creamer after I tasted the tea.)

I’ll have to do a side-by-side comparison of this and the other Assam teas I have, to see if I can figure out which I like better, and why.

I feel like I’ve really been slacking on leaving reviews for the various samples I’ve recieved, but that’s going to change today. Yup. I’m inspried today. I’ve got all day to myself to spend with the new Coheed and Cambria album and tickets to the show on tuesday and so this is possibly the greatest thing that’s happened to me all year. dkalfjioeahfenl =).

Okay so onto the tea. This is a pretty nice black tea. Not bitter at all really, but it does have a little edge at the end of the sip which I do appreciate. There’s a great rich flavor here, I’m actually getting maple. This is a great breakfast tea and it would go awesome with pancakes. This experience is exactly the reason I switched from coffee to tea. Every tea I taste has a completely different mood to it and I can always attribute it to something I’d like to be doing while drinking it. It’s inspiring in a way. Very happy with this sample.

With this being a good morning tea I just had to try it with a bit of cream and sugar (sometimes my coffee addiction does come out). I really did enjoy it much more without any additives. All they do is dull down the feeling I was getting from the tea. I’ll be sure not to add anything to it in the future.

“Your selfishness has robbed you of the man you could have been. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. I love you dearly, my friend”

Because I just had to.

Sample package label:
“Golden tips evoke the hot sun of the early June Second Flush Harvest. One of finest producers in region delivers a beautiful example of what is possible under the right conditions. Slightly heartier and creamier than some whole leaf Assams, this selection picks up deep malty notes of cocoa and subtle fruit.

Preparation: (1 cup) 1 heaping teaspoon, 95*C (203*F), 3 min.”

6-oz water with total dissolved solids (TDS) of 19 ppm, boiled, left to stand so only steaming hot. (I do not have a quick-reading (tea) thermometer with this level of precision.)

1 heaping Tevanna teaspoon, without sweeteners, milk or cream.

The fragrance of this tea reminds me of fine pipe tobacco.

Amber brown hue

First 3-min Infusion:
There is a VERY ROBUST, full-bodied, creamy smooth morning tea with a light woody/earthy fragrance and without any bitterness or astringency.
2nd 3-min Infusion:
A little less robust, but just as enjoyable as the first cup.
3rd 3-min Infusion:
Definitely, not as robust. However, on my second cup of this Assam, I tried a 4-min 3rd infusion and found much more pleasing results.

Impression: An excellent, VERY ROBUST, full-bodied, creamy smooth morning tea without any bitterness or astringency that will go the distance. Well Done!

Thanks to Zen Tea Life for providing this free sample.

This is my first assam! It’s quite strong and malty – it makes me think that this would be the ‘coffee’ of teas! (That is, if coffee wasn’t just a vehicle to deliver cream/sugar to me…)

It’s cooled off a bit since I first steeped it, but I’m still sipping away at it and enjoying it. It sorta reminds me of Ceylon Best, but maltier. There’s no unpleasant astringency either so that puts it ahead of my Murchie’s blacks.

I guess I need to keep drinking these unflavoured blacks to get a better sense of what’s what!

I think cream/sugar would be a mistake here as there are a lot of flavours present I wouldn’t want to cover up!

Update: I re-steeped it in the afternoon, and it was even creamier!

It’s funny how my taste in teas has changed over time. I find that now I am more drawn towards straight teas, but somehow most of the ones I own are flavoured. I am so happy that I ordered this as one of my samples! It is naturally sweet and actually reminds me of my favourite aspects of Nepal Black.

I steeped this one twice, and I think it would be good with or without a bit of milk. It doesn’t really need sweetener but my boyfriend put some sugar in his and it was definitely tasty!

I’ll keep this one in stock!

I was looking for something that would taste a little like Irish breakfast tea. it has a dense smooth flavor with hints of malt. taste good with a dash of honey. its is a good tea warm up in the morning. if zen tea ever decides to produce an Irish breakfast blend it should include this tea.