I polished off a sample pouch of this tea to start my day. I think I’m going to spend much of the rest of this day cleaning house and catching up on reviews. I have a couple of others that I need to post. Anyway, this was kind of a standard Kenyan black tea in the sense that it was a strong, malty Assamica. It definitely did the trick as a breakfast tea.
I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.
Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted mildly malty, woody aromas. After infusion, I caught hints of camphor and anise to go along with caramel, cocoa, molasses, leather, malt, nuts, and wood. In the mouth, the tea was strongly herbal and nutty up front. Along with a somewhat menthol note of camphor and a hint of anise, I immediately detected notes of black walnut, beechnut, and roasted chestnut. The tea then opened up, allowing notes of cream, malt, butter, leather, brown toast, orange, and dark wood to appear. I could detect impressions of cocoa powder, coffee bean, and molasses lurking in the background. The finish was malty, nutty, creamy, and somewhat sweet with a returning hit of camphor and a belatedly emerging leafiness.
For kind of a standard issue African Assam-type black tea, this was very nice. It wasn’t quite as syrupy or as heavy as some of the other African black teas I have tried. I could see it taking additives well, though it does not need them to shine. I would have no difficulty recommending this tea to anyone looking for a respectable breakfast tea to get them going in the morning.
Flavors: Anise, Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Toast, Butter, Camphor, Caramel, Chestnut, Cocoa, Coffee, Cream, Dark Wood, Leather, Malt, Molasses, Orange, Roasted Nuts, Walnut
