I’ve been trying to get into more unique black teas recently. I review a lot of teas from India, China, and Sri Lanka, but I do not always pay attention to teas produced in other countries. Until recently, I did not have much interest in African teas, but after being blown away by a couple of white teas from Kenya, I have been keen on trying more teas produced outside of the so-called “Big Three.”
I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion process I tend to favor for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped 1 teaspoon of granulated tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. Obviously, no additional infusions were attempted.
I got a strong aroma from the dry tea leaves. I noted a combination of earth, wood, and coffee aromas that kind of ran together. After infusion, I noted even more pronounced aromas of wood, coffee, and earth joined by scents of nuts, toast, and malt. In the mouth, I picked up on a particularly robust combination of coffee bean, earth, wood, brown toast, fresh bread, dark chocolate, leather, malt, hickory, and black walnut notes. The tea was very brisk in the mouth, with a pronounced astringency that left a dry, woody, gritty impression on the finish.
Overall, this was an interesting black tea, but I doubt I would be in any rush to come back to it. I do not normally mind brisk, astringent teas, but this one was a little much, even for me. I did, however, enjoy its woody, nutty character. I think fans of contemporary English breakfast blends would perhaps get a kick out of this one, but fans of sweeter, smoother teas would probably want to avoid it.
Flavors: Astringent, Bread, Brown Toast, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Leather, Malt, Walnut, Wood
