Before I begin this review, allow me to state that I am not particularly familiar with Nilgiri teas. For the most part, my Indian tea adventure has been limited to Assam and Darjeeling teas, both of which I quite enjoy. With the abundance of teas from these two areas on the market, I never got around to spending much time with teas from the south of India.
After infusion, the resulting liquid was a pale golden amber. Very mild aromas of toast, malt, honey, wood, menthol, and flowers were just barely detectable on the nose. In the mouth, I was able to immediately detect notes of menthol, wood, toast, malt, honey, flowers, and grape skin. The finish was fleeting, initially allowing only the subtlest traces of honey, malt, menthol, and wood to show, though I did pick up interesting tulsi, papaya, and mango notes at the end.
I wasn’t exactly blown away by this tea, but I also wasn’t horribly disappointed by it either. I really just tried it for the sake of trying something new. I did, however, appreciate the subtle complexity of the flavor and the smoothness of the body. This was a very approachable and unique tea, but surprisingly for a black tea, it was all about subtlety. I normally prefer my black teas to be robustly flavorful, filling, and lively, but this one was not anything like that. As a matter of fact, this was by far the lightest, most delicate black tea I have ever tried. Given my preferences, I probably would not reach for this one again, but I would encourage those who are open to new drinking experiences to give this one a shot simply because it is so unique.
Flavors: Floral, Grapes, Honey, Malt, Mango, Menthol, Toast, Tulsi, Wood
