This was one of my more recent sipdowns, as I finished what I had of this tea a little earlier in the month. I often start craving stronger, maltier black teas and heavier roasted oolongs this time of year, and around the start of the month, I found myself in a position where I felt like I needed to drink some Assam black tea. I had a couple long work days at that time and plowed through what I had of this tea to keep me going. This tea probably deserved gentler, more considerate treatment than I gave it, but I was still able to get some good notes out of it. Overall, I found it to be a very nice Assam black tea.
I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3 grams of loose tea buds in 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not rinse the leaf buds prior to steeping nor did I attempt any additional infusions.
Prior to infusion, the dry leaf buds emitted aromas of malt, cinnamon, molasses, tobacco, and honey. After infusion, I detected aromas of cream, brown toast, roasted walnut, and roasted chestnut that were accompanied by a very subtle straw scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of wood, malt, cream, cinnamon, honey, brown toast, molasses, cocoa, straw, smoke, orange zest, lemon rind, roasted walnut, hickory, and roasted chestnut that were accompanied by hints of grass, brown sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, earth, and tobacco. The finish was brisk, woody, and astringent, though some nice malt, cream, brown toast, roasted nut, straw, and molasses notes could still be detected.
This was a very good, very energizing Assam black tea. It was a little astringent for me, especially on the finish, but it was still most certainly an enjoyable, high quality offering. Fans of Assam teas would very likely be pleased with it.
Flavors: Astringent, Brown Sugar, Brown Toast, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Cream, Earth, Grass, Honey, Lemon, Malt, Molasses, Nutmeg, Nutty, Orange Zest, Smoke, Straw, Tobacco, Vanilla, Walnut, Wood
